Baja crossing – Hajós wine cellars (AK-02)

After resting and stamping, continue from the Gemenc Vándorpont in Baja! Walking along the narrow asphalt road beside the timber yard, after a few hundred steps, we reach the Türr István bridge crossing the Danube. Pass under the asphalt strip, then immediately after the underpass, climb up the narrow, steep staircase to the embankment running down from the bridge, where the pedestrian-bicycle path combo follows the route of the Alföldi Kéktúra. At the end of the descent, turn left at the junction and continue northwards.

Cross a small bridge over the Danube Valley Main Canal – to the left you can clearly see the sluices before it flows into the Danube – then a large "S" bend leads us onto the concrete road running on top of the Danube embankment. Here begins a very long, seemingly monotonous walk, as we will march 12.5 kilometers on this concrete, later asphalt-paved road atop the embankment before turning off towards Ósükösd. We slowly leave the town behind. On the right side of the embankment, the building of the Tanyacsárda appears – where there is also a Kéktúra stamp on the fence –, and after 500 steps, we pass in front of the waterworks site.

We walk long along the left side of the road, beside enclosed drinking water wells, then these also fade away, and only the continuous wall of the floodplain forest stretches beside the embankment. If we pay attention, we might notice small weekend houses, holiday plots, fishing cottages hidden among the trees. Cultivated fields spread widely on the right, with scattered farms appearing. Unlike the Gemenc side, car traffic on the embankment is quite heavy: we will almost have to step aside for vehicles every minute on the narrow road barely wide enough for two cars. Walk carefully to be able to step onto the grass in time when vehicles approach!

After roughly two kilometers, the concrete road turns right beneath us, and only a narrow asphalt road just wide enough for a car remains under us. Traffic on this section is not smaller either! Walk even more carefully here to avoid oncoming vehicles in time! After about another two kilometers, in a left bend of the embankment, we glimpse Kurkó lake to our right, the local fishing paradise; then another two and a half kilometers later, the hangar and grassy runway of the Érsekcsanád airfield. Here, the road below widens, becoming a concrete surface again, similar to the embankment's Baja end. Passing the airport, the water-pumping monument pumping the water of the Vajas-fok canal comes into view. From here, it is worthwhile to take the paved path on the left to possibly step out onto the Danube shore nearby and rest at the shaded waters instead of the barren embankment.

Returning to the concrete strip, we soon reach the road crossing the embankment beside the holiday settlement buildings, coming from Érsekcsanád, running down to the nearby waterfront at the ferry dock. Next to the ferry stands the Rév Csárda, open Wednesday to Sunday from noon until eight in the evening. It is also worth stopping here to rest on the terrace. After the ferry, the road narrows again, and monotonous embankment kilometers follow. On the left, we see the floodplain forest, while fields are on the right. It feels truly refreshing when, after long hours, we finally reach the turnoff from the embankment near the Dunaidűlő holiday settlement: after so much asphalt and concrete, we finally feel the earth road under our feet.

After roughly a kilometer of walking, we reach the bank of the Vajas-fok and notice the bridge crossing it. The marked route of the Alföldi Kéktúra remains on this side of the canal, but if we want to stamp, we must walk over the bridge to Ósükösd on the opposite side. The small settlement consists of only a few houses; the key house building is unmistakable! The Kéktúra stamp can be found on one of the brick pillars of the summer kitchen beside the main building.

Returning to the opposite side of the Vajas-fok, we continue south on the canal-side bike paths. A few minutes later, these paths leave us at a left bend of the Vajas-fok, but we stay by the shore, trying to break through a tangled, weedy strip between cultivated fields and ditches to the next concrete bridge about one and a half kilometers away. Meanwhile, we enjoy a beautiful view of the winding, reed-edged, wild Vajas-fok among the fields.

A well-worn earth road arrives at the bridge from the west. We turn onto it and cross over the water. We enter the long, three-kilometer straight, and the tower of the Saint Anne Chapel appears directly in front of us. It seems close, but we have to trudge for about twenty minutes on the soft, sandy, cultivated soil road before reaching the chapel's grove. Here we enter the realm of sand, which continues with minor interruptions to the outer edge of the Duna-Tisza interfluve towards the Tisza.

The chapel stands on a grassy meadow lined with trees; next to it, there is an open pilgrim lodging building. It is worth sitting down on the grass in the shade of the trees here and taking a siesta. A memorial plaque above the chapel entrance states it was built in 1747 by forest ranger Gergely Pocsai (Potskai) in honor of Saint Anne. According to local legends, the reason for the construction was that he mistakenly shot the girl named Anna, who brought his lunch, while hunting.

Continuing from the Saint Anne Chapel, the village of Sükösd comes increasingly into view, but we still have another one and a half kilometers to walk on the sandy road to reach the Danube Valley Main Canal bridge, then climb the hill to the village. Here, the field road gets a worn asphalt surface, arriving in an “S” curve at Sükösd’s main street, Dózsa György street. The K route signs turn left here and continue north along the right sidewalk, but it is worth stopping for a break at the Gruber Brewery and Restaurant about one hundred steps south at the road junction.

After resting, we continue along the main street, which is also the section of main road 51 passing through the settlement, and in about 7-8 minutes, we reach the right-turning Darálo street. Walking along it, we enter the territory of Sükösd. Passing agricultural sites and smaller businesses, we leave the village behind, but the paved surface does not end here: after a few hundred meters, it turns left into a horse farm. We stay on the wide field road heading straight, walking another 700–800 steps on the soft sand.

At the “Y” junction, we turn right and continue on the sandy road past the inhabited buildings of Bori-tanya. The barking of dogs from a garden accompanies us for a long time. On the right side of the road, a forest starts, and we reach the southwestern corner of a large field. Here, the sandy road takes us left to lead along the southern side of the cultivated area. After a few minutes, we reach the southeastern corner of the field and enter the forest. The previously straight road becomes a little more winding here but remains easy to follow. We pass a deserted, silently decaying farm marked as a hunting lodge on the stamping booklet map, and after about a ten-minute walk, we reach the former Józseftelek farm.

At the farm clearing, just before the barely visible ruins, we leave our well-worn path, turn left, heading north on less traveled tire tracks. We walk about a thousand steps on this road before reaching the next junction at another cultivated field edge. Here we turn right and continue about one kilometer on a sandy dirt road, then sharply left at a junction. We march another 500 steps on these tire tracks, cut through rows of young acacias, and then reach another sandy dirt road.

We remain on this winding sandy road between fields and forest patches for a long time. Heading roughly southeast, we slowly climb onto the wide and flat plateau of Ólom-hegy. We can reach the summit, the highest point of Bács-Kiskun county, on short bicycle tracks marked K▲ by leaving the K route. The geodetic measuring tower standing there usually has an open door. Climbing the internal ladder to the roof level offers a beautiful view of the surroundings.

Where the K▲ returns to K, we find the stamp box at the junction of hiking trails on the information board.

At a forest road junction, our path sharply turns left, north-northwest, at the next choice turning right, then slowly heads southeast again. We leave the forest behind us. The sandy road runs along a wooden fence for a long stretch. In the distance to the right, the mobile phone relay tower in the village of Rém appears. Later, our again soft sandy road winds among sand dunes until we exit onto the narrow, worn asphalt road coming from Rém. We turn left, heading north, along the poultry farm fence, where the asphalt ends at its far corner, and sand returns underfoot.

We walk three kilometers along this long, straight road between fields and forest patches until reaching the next direction change. At a junction, we turn right – from the previous northwest direction to northeast – slowly leaving the fields behind us. We move along the edges of forest patches of different ages. After another three kilometers, we turn north, cutting through huge fenced clear-cut areas, then after half an hour of further walking, we glimpse the central site of the Szentgyörgy Forestry ahead. Passing a beautifully built forest rest behind us, we walk on the sandy road in front of the buildings, then continue on the forest road.

We continue with sharp bends among the forest groves and, after about three-quarters of an hour from the site, we glimpse the buildings of the Dohányostelep farm group beside the road. Leaving these behind, the outer houses of Érsekhalma appear. With a small right-left zigzag, we join the main street passing through the village, cross the settlement, and continue on the bike path beside the access road of Érsekhalma after the last houses. We arrive at the busy main road 54. Near the intersection, bus stops appear, which is an excellent disembarkation point on our route, with frequent service to Baja and Kecskemét.

Crossing the main road, we continue on a narrow asphalt road starting on the opposite side. The asphalt strip begins to descend after a while, sinking deeply between the loess cliff walls until it reaches the bottom of the ridge. We glimpse the outer houses of Hild ahead. From a path starting by an information board, we can climb back sharply from the Kéktúra route onto the right loess cliff top to the recently uncovered ramparts of the Bronze Age earth fort. It is worth walking all the way to the northern edge of the plateau, from where there is a very beautiful view over the Kiskunság plain.

Descending back to the asphalt road, we zigzag among Hild’s sites, then crossing the paved loading area of the plants, we reach the public road bridge crossing the Danube Valley Main Canal in a few minutes. We walk over it, then at the far end, turn right onto an earth road running along a deep ditch. We walk roughly four and a half kilometers on this almost straight road. On the right, we sometimes glimpse the water mirror shining several meters deep in the ditch; on the left, fields and forest patches alternate. Midway, we can spot the Cifra bridge crossing the canal marked on our map.

The earth road and the Danube Valley Main Canal alongside it can be seen from afar, as well as tiny cars passing on the country road crossing the canal, but it still takes a long time to reach there. The Alföldi Kéktúra second section ends where our route reaches road 5312 between Hajós and Jánoshalma. If we want to stamp, turn right onto a cycle path and walk on towards the wine cellar village. With a comfortable walk of about fifteen minutes, we can climb up to the hill following the canal bank and arrive – with a small detour from the route – at the Judit Pension, where the Kéktúra stamp box is mounted on the outside wall.

If we are here, do not rush further; it is worth looking around this charming wine cellar village, which was established after the Turkish occupation when the Archbishop of Kalocsa settled Swabian farmers in the area with significant tax incentives encouraging them to introduce viticulture. The winegrowers dug out their wine cellars on the loess ridge edge rising above the Danube Valley Main Canal and built above them buildings serving as press houses. This is how the wine cellar village of about 1,300 press houses arose with its winding, zigzagging streets. In the 1980s, many cellars were converted into hospitality establishments: they offer locally produced wines, primarily Kékfrankos, Kadarka, and Szürkebarát to guests. The celebrations of Hajós and the wine cellar village are also related to wine: this is the annual Orbán Day Wine Festival held on the last weekend of May, attracting many visitors with its cultural programs.

Another attraction we definitely want to highlight is the Baroque-style Hajós archiepiscopal castle, built in 1740 by Archbishop Gábor Patachich of Kalocsa and later expanded by Archbishop József Batthyány (at which time the four corner towers were completed). The oldest castle in Bács-Kiskun county was renovated in 2009 with EU support and furnished with period-appropriate furniture. Although the entrance and photography tickets are nowhere near cheap, the sight is worth the investment; it is a beautiful little jewel box of a castle!

The village of Hajós is farther from the Danube Valley Main Canal on the opposite side than the wine cellar village is on this side, but there is a little trick to avoid the approximately 4 km round trip between the wine cellar village and the castle during the detour: daily intercity buses can quickly connect the two points. Unfortunately, there is no bus stop at the canal bridge, where the Alföldi Kéktúra also passes, so the shorter (wine cellar village) detour cannot be avoided in this case either.