Sárvár – Káld (OKT day 5 tour)

The tour starts by the lake shore, among lakes: the Boating Lake next to the rain shelter features the blue trail's Sárvár stamp. The lake system is the "descendant" of an old brick factory, as its clay was extracted here from the early 20th century, then when it closed, lakes were created in the remaining pits in the 1970s. We skirt the bath building along the city's main road – in Sárvár in 1961 thermal water was searched for bathing purposes and found nearly 1000 meters deep. However, the Blue Trail leads toward another water, the Rába, after whose bridge we turn left at a crossing and walk on among the houses of Hegyközség, gently ascending. The area of the settlement with vineyards and forest bordering it, situated at the outskirts of the city, was once inhabited by displaced workers. At the end of this section, we turn onto a wide forest road and then climb up a narrow path along the gravel cover of the Rába.

At the top, we cross the highway and pass through meadows framed with pines, with a distinctly mountainous atmosphere, though the road noise is not welcoming. The Blue Trail turns into the Haraszt Forest, passing straight lines through the patchy forest with pines. Forest bike tracks, wood piles, hunting stands, clearings, fences, and fields – the decorations of the flatland blue trail alternate as we pass a farm. To the south, across the road, operated from 1914 a temporary camp in Kissitke, where a thousand Russian and Serbian prisoners lived in tents and dugouts, which was the largest prisoner camp of the Monarchy built on the border of Ostffyasszonyfa. The camp existed only until January 1916, during which cholera and typhus epidemics broke out due to miserable conditions.

Forest follows meadow, meadow follows forest, forest clearing follows clearing forest; meanwhile, we cross the dismantled line of the former Zalabér-Batyk–Sárvár railway, which was in operation between 1913 and 1975. Finally, we reach a wide meadow, turn right at its edge, and cross a new highway.

We cut across a field that at first looks uninteresting, but unexpectedly from the other side unfolds the most beautiful view of the entire section: the light-walled, truncated tower of the Sitke Calvary Chapel and the sight of Ság Hill protruding from the plain. The chapel, without windows and built in neo-Gothic style, was erected in 1871, its towers carved from sandstone, one of which lost its peak due to a lightning strike. Interestingly, the ruined building was restored in 1986 with the earnings of a concert organized by Fecó Balázs, and since then concerts have been held annually on the broad, sloping square.

The next section is not outstandingly beautiful but very atmospheric: after a short forest strip we wind alongside vineyards and orchards and holiday homes at the foot of a hill, with wide fields opening to the right. Though hidden by vegetation, here lies the westernmost member of the Kemenes basalt volcanoes (surrounded by one of the largest tuff rings in the country); its albitite is still mined today. Eventually, the slope of Hercseg Hill falls away, a blue-trail (summer) buffet stands on the left, then the panorama unfolds from Kemeneshát toward Bakony: you can see as far as Kab Hill and High Bakony, and the plain is dominated by the Somló massif.

At the end of this atmospheric section, we turn right – here a dilapidated station building is easily identifiable at the end of the street – but there are no tracks. This was the same line we crossed earlier between Hegyközség and Sitke. We soon reach the main street of Gérce and turn left. We find two stamps in the village, both on the right-hand sidewalk: one hanging at the town hall on a fence corner (there is also a water tap here), the other further ahead on a utility pole.

Gérce – Rózsáskerti Forester's Lodge

Leaving the village main street, the road leads upwards; turning back, Ság Hill appears closer and larger than before. We walk among trees beside the cemetery and sports ground, cross the main road 84, and reach the gate marking the Farkas Forest on asphalt. We will spend the next hours walking in Vas County's largest and oldest continuous forest. On the right side of the road stands the Rózsáskerti Forester's Lodge, which has the Blue Trail stamp hanging on its fence near the corner.

Rózsáskerti Forester's Lodge – Hidegkúti Hunting Lodge

From here, we walk on asphalt through a forest sprinkled with benches and rest spots – soon we find on the left the first larger rest area where a rain shelter and fire pit offer opportunities for grilling or even bivouacking.

The origin of the name of Farkas Forest is explained by four theories, three of which link it to former owners or important families in the region, while one attributes the name to wolves that once lived here. By the late 19th century, the forest vanished essentially due to wood-burning for glassworks and grazing; in this state, it was acquired by the Bavarian royal princely family in 1875. To apply modern Bavarian forestry techniques, Bavarian foresters were brought in, including Lőrinc Scherg, who transformed the area again into closed forest. His joint grave with his wife can be reached by a path branching off left from the forestry road after the rest area – this is also marked with a K sign.

We then walk a long way on the straight asphalt road with mossy edges, but the walk is not boring as the forest around is of varied age and species composition: hornbeam, occasionally beech, maple, ash, alder, and linden, mixed in mostly oak forests. (There are also patches of forest and black pine; for sightseers, several rest areas are available.)

An interesting detour beckons on the left, a short educational trail about 10–15 minutes long: it meanders through an old, natural forest section, with stations enhanced by colorful mushroom identification boards. At one end station, there is also a rain shelter and fire pit; the clearing was formed by the fall of two old oaks: a storm in 1995 uprooted approximately 300-year-old pedunculate oaks, which might have been left as heritage trees from previous logging. They were called 'witch trees' here (basafák in the Great Plain), as local folklore suggests witches met at their bases. Remains of oaks predating the formation of Farkas Forest lie on the ground, visible even in death. A memorial cross stands at the site for a notable figure in Hungarian oak forest management who also worked in Farkas Forest; a board tells of a dismantled 120-year-old beech as well.

Toward the end of the long, straight asphalt stretch, we find our path’s oldest and most natural forest section: oaks over 250 years old, as well as hornbeams and lindens older than 120 years, live in this diverse area. Since no forestry management has taken place here for at least 130 years, an information board calls this forest section a primeval forest, where logging is still banned.

At a junction, we arrive at Hidegkúti Hunting Lodge; across from it, ancient oaks shade a rest area. Next to the hunting lodge, a chapel stands in the meadow, a pleasant spot for resting before heading under a slight ascent toward Káld. The stamp is found at the fence corner; behind it, since 2023, a tourist house operates with 16 beds.

Hidegkúti Hunting Lodge – Káld

We take a left bend and walk on a gently rolling, slightly ascending highway to the second forestry wayside cross, where we turn left. At the next right turn, going straight, a slight detour takes us to the memorial cross of Vitéz Noble Molnár László, who in August 1944 crashed here with his plane and was the leading Hungarian air victor of World War II. On the same path, following the K▲ marking, after 10–15 minutes, we reach the Scherg Lőrinc lookout, offering views over the Kemenes Plain, the table mountains, and the towering Bakony in the background. The Blue Trail zigzags with right angles along the slightly undulating edge of Kemeneshát, through still mixed and impressive forests. The elevation change is negligible but the terrain is a bit livelier than before.

Before the end of a long straight awaits a startlingly thick, dried tree trunk on the right side of the road. The moss-covered Old Avas Oak is named after the forest section – "avas" once meant protected or reserved forest, used for acorn collection, not timber production. It can also mean "old" forest. Like the Witch Trees, this oak gave up its life in 1995 at about 250 years.

The Blue Trail turns left, and with this, the previously dense, unaffected forest disappears; here we can already see traces of intensive forest management. However, between the trees in a pleasant spot is the Lajos-beech recreation area, with a rain shelter and fire pits and benches situated in various nooks among the trees, offering opportunities for grilling or bivouacking. The namesake Lajos beeches stood lower in the forest and were felled by a windstorm in 2005; they were the heralds of the beech forest established by Lőrinc Scherg in memory of the former owner, King Ludwig III of Bavaria.

At a gas pressure booster station we reach the edge of the forest; hence from above the fence we get the last view of Ság Hill. At the end of this long forest road lined with rest spots, under a similar wooden gate as seen at the Rózsáskerti Forester's Lodge, we exit the Farkas Forest. In Káld, we can choose between two stamp points: one in the pub on the main street, and the other on the fence of the school, both passed by the Blue Trail.