Bean Soup Inn – Nagybárkány (Day 45 of the OKT Hike)

The Alsó Gorge, formed between Mount Bézma and Mount Nagy-Mező, has been an important transportation route for centuries, as it offers the easiest way to cross the north-south ridge. According to a map from the first military survey at the end of the 18th century, a carriage road leading toward Alsótold and Cserhátszentiván already existed at that time (the previous day’s section of the Kéktúra trail also follows the latter route). It’s no surprise that an inn was established in the 20th century to serve travelers; it closed for a few years but has been welcoming guests again since the late 1980s. This is the Bableves Inn, where you’ll find the hike’s first stamp on its terrace .

The cart path starting next to the building leads briefly through the forest before reaching the farm fields of the Nagy-mező basin, wedged between the ridges. Once home to the Lyukvökgypuszta farm, and later a collective farm (TSZ), not even traces of its buildings remain today. Manor estates were common in the area anyway: the buildings of Nagymező—which once served as a hunting lodge, then as a tourist lodge, and later as a Pioneer camp—still stand, while on the other side of Tepke, the former Nádasd and Dobospuszta estates have been destroyed, even though for a short time they even belonged to an independent administrative unit called Csontfalu.

Today, vast fields and pastures dominate the landscape, with the forested ridge in the background, toward which we climb gently but steadily. To our left is a fence, to our right a narrow strip of trees, and as we enter the woods, the terrain becomes slightly rougher—we reach the saddle via a trail that turns into a steep ascent. We pass the P trail marker leading toward Pásztó, then climb 1.5 kilometers along the narrow ridge trail, amid scree fields of andesite, to the summit of Tepke. The stamp is located on the information board.

The 22-meter-high steel structure standing at the summit originally served as a deep-drilling tower for the Eger Oil Company; slightly modified, it has functioned as a lookout tower on Tepke since 1966 (incidentally, the Karancs lookout tower was also completed as part of this project). A full panoramic view unfolds from the summit, even if the forests along the ridge slightly obscure the view to the north and south: to the west, the entire Cserhát range is visible, the Hollókő Castle is clearly recognizable, as are the twin cones of Vár-hegy in Szanda; in the distance, the Naszály and Börzsöny ranges frame the view (though on a clear winter day, you can see all the way to the Buda Hills), and slightly to the right of them rise the Polyána and the Low Tatras. Looking east, the Zagyva Valley and, beyond it, the entire Mátra range are visible; the Bükk Mountains also peek out from behind it, while to the south, one can observe the foothills of the mountain range merging into the Great Plain.

Tepke – Nagybárkány

Although Tepke is the main attraction of the hike, we’re still only a quarter of the way along the route. The good news, however, is that we’re already on the ridge, so we won’t have to tackle any significant climbs. We’re walking along a typical mountain trail, weaving around fallen trees in a grove-like forest with dense undergrowth. The acorns of the oak forest were once consumed by a large wild boar population, and according to Mátyás Bél’s records, before the Mangalica breed, a black-haired pig related to the wild boar was raised in the region. The swineherds living in the forest were believed to possess supernatural powers: according to popular belief, they could heal, but they could also curse people or animals. Most older herdsmen were rumored to be witches; it was believed that they could not die until they had passed on their knowledge.

We leave behind the highest point of the hike, Purgá, then Macska Hill, and descend into the Garábi Saddle. From a bare, jagged outcrop, a view opens up to the north, dominated by Garáb, which clings to the foot of the steep slope.

When the andesite ridges of the Eastern Cserhát were formed, they belonged to the outskirts of the Mátra; they only became separated from it later, when the Zagyva Trough subsided. The elevation of today’s Tepke Ridge prevented it from being flooded by the Pannonian Sea, so sedimentary rocks are found only on its lower levels, in the basins.

From the saddle, we climb up to the summit of Nagy-Kő-tető, “adorned” with a radio tower, and then our trail turns right. We follow a cart track to the small bivouac and rest area at the Négyfenyői shelter. Inside, the makeshift bed is tiny, and there are no windows; outside, however, on the clearing next to the fire pit, there’s room for several tents. On the next section, roughly 4 km long, we wind our way along a forest road; our descent isn’t strictly monotonous, but on average we’re heading downhill. We reach the outskirts of Nagybárkány via a trail, arriving at its former pastures, from where we can see the town’s basin and the surrounding mountains—the Mátra range already looms in the background, and the size of the neighboring hills almost “elevates” the already imposing mountain range.

We pass by the town’s Neo-Romanesque church with its brick-clad tower, then, on Kossuth Street, we stamp the final stamp of our hike at the gazebo in the town hall courtyard . From here, it’s just a few steps to the bus stop in this cul-de-sac village, but it might be worth walking out to the Nagybárkány, Bejárat út stop, where more buses run.