I have now completed three major stages on the Blue Trail.
That's 157.9 kilometres so far, but if you include the detours caused by getting lost, that's nearly 180 kilometres.
Yesterday was a really special day. Every year on 10 May, we celebrate the Day of Birds and Trees - a typical Hungarian tradition and one that is mainly celebrated in schools and kindergartens. The children are taken out on a trip to a nearby place, and then they draw and paint, but what? Lots of birds and trees, of course!
Fortunately, there was no shortage of these, although there were some minor inconveniences. One was the big mud at the beginning of the hike, which was very slippery, but with the help of my hiking poles I made it through this section without falling. Another was the wet grass which soaked my shoes and socks. My feet felt good soaking in the cooling dew, but my toes were not happy at all. When they get wet in shoes for a long time, they often get wounded.
There were also many small insects that flew into my eyes, but luckily no mosquitoes at this time of the year. There are ticks, though, so I made an essential oil mixture at home with water, mint, tea tree and eucalyptus oil and put it in a spray bottle. I sprayed my legs and arms with this all the time. As a result, I only found one tick on my neck, but it hadn't started sucking my blood yet, I easily picked it off by hand.
I started my hike in Városlőd, at the pub, where I stamped my notebook and had a good coffee. Had a nice chat with the owner. He told me that there used to be a majolica factory near the village, but it closed down. In nearby Herend, however, there is a famous porcelain factory, but even that can only be maintained with state aid.
I'll be going back to this pub again, because I'll be continuing my next hike to Nagyvázsony here.
From here I set off into the unknown. Perhaps not so unknown, because the landscape is characteristically familiar, with lower and higher hills, small fields, large pastures, dense and lush forests.
It must have rained the day before, because the grass was very wet and some parts of the path were slippery with mud. It all had a tropical rainforest feel to it!
The colour green dominated strongly, shining in all shades and embracing me with its calming and healing aura. Only the sound of familiar birds made me feel that I was not in the tropics, but in Hungary. And of course I didn't have to worry about poisonous snakes or crocodiles!
The path led along a very narrow, wet lane next to the electric shepherd. I could only go very slowly here.
That was mud indeed! Red and very sticky!
A highly protected orchid species
A flightless beetle
A spring is nearby
Fairyworld
Play with light and shadow
Group of Red Hats
Forest rest area near Németbánya. Here I rested and ate and drank.
Unfortunately, a lot of trees are cut down!
Németbánya - Deutschhütten, a small Schwabish village
A typical Blue Trail stamping site
A blue beauty
Lush and mud
The bear's garlic is already in bloom and its characteristic scent is everywhere.
Lime-burning kiln
Bakonybél is only 2 km away! Next to the lime kiln you have a beautiful view over the village.
I went through an open gate into the garden of the Bakony Hotel.
Hotel Bakony
An old pony in the garden. The poor thing was depressed, apparently not cared for enough by his owner. Its hooves were overgrown too!
It was a really great hike, but I overworked myself a bit because I arrived in Bakonybél more than an hour earlier than I had planned. My soles and heels hurt too. I couldn't wait to sit down and take off my shoes. At the bus stop I did. My socks looked like this:
No problem, I thought! It's worn out anyway. I turned on the audiobook app on my phone and listened to the story of Anastasia by Vladimir Megre.
All this happened yesterday, it was wonderful! I'm just about to finish now, because I'm off to Curves training! I've been going for a week, one or two sessions a day and I love it! I'll tell you about it!