Adventure on the edge of the Tési Plateau

Itinerary:

• From Kisgyón we follow the K mark to the forest sanctuary.
• We switch to the K▲ mark in the Kígyós valley towards the Német-földek.
• We turn to the P mark through the Hárs hill towards the Hamuház.
• With a short detour we visit the entrance and sinkholes of the Alba Regia cave on the KΩ mark.
• We return to the P mark and follow it to the Hamuház.
• Below the Hamuház we make a few hundred meters detour north on the KL mark to the Csiklingvár.
• From the Hamuház we again follow the K mark through the Tűzköves valley to the dozer road.
• We reach the protected geological excavation on the KΩ mark with a small detour.
• We return to Kisgyón on the P mark through Szalmavár.

Detailed description of the route:

Memories of the former mining past

We start our journey from the Kisgyónbánya Nature Lovers’ settlement at the former miners’ housing. In the mid-20th century, a mining community was established in the widening Dültfás valley to extract the substantial coal deposits found there. We start our exploration on the asphalt strip leading to the old mines following the K mark. Soon we reach the former mining center where the bus station, school, narrow-gauge railway crossing, and mining administration and dressing buildings once stood. These have all been demolished by now; only terrain features hint at the buildings’ locations, and some rusted letters of the Kisgyónbánya sign remain on the entrance plaque of the square. At the edge of the wooded square stands a statue with a captivating gaze from the former miners, commemorating those miners who were ideologically deported and likely executed during World War II. This chained upper-body but proud-faced basalt-carved miner figure creates a tangible atmosphere on the now wild square as a reminder of the mining history.

On the other side of the grove, we step onto a gravel road leading into the thickening forest. Despite the low terrain of about 250 meters, old beeches accompany us in the valley. This is a characteristic of Bakony: on northern slopes, beech trees appear at relatively low elevations due to the Atlantic air masses arriving through the Danube valley. If we pay attention, we may discover some side valleys where the collapsed entrances of former mine shafts lie hidden in the dense forest. Concrete supports rising in the forest recall traces of a lost civilization, as if we were witnessing relics of a prehistoric culture beneath the dense vegetation.

At the valley’s end, we arrive at a bay where a tall wooden cross stands on the flat terrain, the miners' forest sanctuary. The place is full of reverence; miners prayed here before work for the Creator’s grace and the help of their guardian angel. Faith in God was crucial in mining communities in the old days due to the extremely dangerous conditions they spent underground daily. Under the vault of the dense forest canopy, the dark tension now reminds us peacefully of their sweat-soaked past filled with coal dust.

In the forest of Bakony

After the forest sanctuary, we continue on the K▲ mark through an area showing traces of forest management. Although dense beech forests alternate with harvested or regenerating woods, human influence remains obvious. Only a few places in Bakony’s forests are under nature protection; the mountain range is primarily a forest and game management area focused on resource utilization, which is especially visible here on the Bakony’s edge.

Along the winding ascent following the Kígyós valley, we pass through a forest rich with old trees and lush vegetation, marking the beginning of our route’s ascent. The path follows the valley’s edge and reaches the double building of Károly-lak in old forest after the logging. Here we find an old, masterfully crafted beam house with a carved veranda and a newly built stone house satisfying modern needs. The Károly-lak, functioning as a forest accommodation and somewhat difficult to reach by vehicle, can be rented from the forest management overseeing the area.

At the upper part of the valley, we leave the straight road, the K▲ mark, and turn right following the P mark crossing the Német-földek to the top of Hárs hill. This short, gentle ascent effectively takes us onto the Tési Plateau. We accomplish the route’s slight elevation gain at the Hárs hilltop.

Natural entrance to the limestone plateau

The P mark crosses a dozer road on the hill’s far side and reaches a fork in a young forest. We make a short detour on the KΩ mark. A few minutes’ walk along the winding path brings us to Bakony’s most impressive cave. Although currently overshadowed, the Alba Regia cave has a depth of around 200 meters and more than 3.5 kilometers of passages. Only skilled cavers with a guide may enter the cave, as the underground space has narrow passage systems and high carbon dioxide concentrations. However, surface karst features are also spectacular: the limestone plateau is cut by sinkholes and deep craters, with rocky surface spots protruding. Let’s explore the area more and discover the rare karst phenomena in Bakony!

The area surprisingly has many karst forms. On the eastern side of the Tési Plateau, numerous former sinkholes and swallow holes are found. The nearby Burok valley in its upper section hides many cave passages in the rocky sides. At the Csősz-puszta adjacent to Tés stands the local cavers’ research house, home to the Alba Regia Cave Research Association led by Uncle Pipi. Since the 1960s, they have researched the plateau achieving great results: they discovered the most significant caves of Transdanubia on this outstanding flat limestone region.

Back to the plateau’s edge

After the karst features, we return to the P mark and continue northwest soon arriving at the Hamuház. There are several forest stone huts with similar names in the country. In the 18th century, one of Hungary’s most important export products was potash from wood ash. These buildings burned the vast forests’ wood and extracted pure wood ash, leached and boiled to produce potassium carbonate, used as raw material for soap and glass production. The Hamuház’s timber-framed brick building clearly reflects the German culture that was dominant in Bakony for centuries, as this building style is typical in German regions.

From the Hamuház, we make a short detour on the KL mark to the Csiklingvár. North of the dozer road, a path branches to a hill surrounded by a ditch with a regular shape next to a gully. Few walls remain, only a stone pile joined with mortar on the northern side, but the characteristic form shows the former fortification. Its origin and function are little known, but presumably, it was a hunting castle belonging to hunting nobles or kings in Bakony, as the nearby place name Királyszállás (King’s lodging) suggests.

Returning to the Hamuház, we continue east on the K mark, initially on the dozer road, then leaving the plateau along the Tűzköves valley, which branches left. The valley’s brook lined with old beeches cuts deeper and deeper, only visible from above on the tourist path. However, it’s worth visiting its lower part on the KΩ mark, where a spectacular protected geological site is located.

Experts found the rocky cut related to mining while studying the geological structure of the area. They uncovered sediment layers representing the entire Jurassic period, considered rare across Europe. This is interesting mainly because many ancient animals, especially ammonites, are preserved in the Jurassic sediments. More than 100 ammonite species have been described from here, several for the first time worldwide. Some specimens can be spotted on the exhibited rocks. A smaller detour leads from the route to the geological site. When the K mark reaches the dozer road, continue on the K mark, then within a narrow hundred meters take the path leading down into a ditch to the site.

Continuing further on the K mark would bring us back to the already visited forest sanctuary, but it’s more advisable to descend from the dozer road bend on the P mark. We climb the side of Szalmavár for a longer section, cutting corners on a clear-cut and leaving the forestry road. Soon we return to Kisgyónbánya, the starting point of our hike.