Beautiful view: Hetyke peaks and a lichthof cave in East Gerecse

Itinerary:

• Leave Tokod Heroes' Square following the 'K' sign of the National Blue Trail along Szabadság Street, with the sign leading all the way to the summit of Nagy-Gete.
• From Nagy-Gete, descend back along the 'K' sign to Sörház Valley, where turn left onto the 'K+' route, following the sign all the way to Hegyes-kő.
• Hegyes-kő and the next stop, the Mogyorós Kőszikla, are again connected by the 'K' sign of the National Blue Trail.
• A short 'K'▲ sign leads out to Kőszikla (easy to miss).
• From Kőszikla, it is preferable to bypass Mogyorósbánya valley again on a 'K+' marked path, then the trail rejoins the National Blue Trail coming from below, leading to the foot of Öreg-kő.
• The caves of Öreg-kő and the summit are reached following the 'KΩ' sign.
• From the summit, a forest path circling Muzsla Peak, then the 'Z' marked trail leads to the center of Mogyorósbánya, from where you can return to the Tokod start point following the Maria pilgrimage route.

  Detailed description of the hike:

Starting on Szabadság Street, on the 'K' hiking sign towards the highest peak, Nagy-Gete, at 457 meters. This is immediately the hardest part of the hike, not only because you must descend 327 meters in elevation, but the climb is often unpleasantly rocky, slippery, steep, and tiring.

At the summit, however, there is a natural resting place with a panorama where you can sit for a long time enjoying the view. From here you can clearly see the other stops of the hike: the hard bud of Hegyes-kő, the rock ledge of Kő-hegy, and the cliff face of Öreg-kő, as well as beyond them, the wide-spreading Nagy-Gerecse. Downhill, we descend on the 'K' sign halfway to Sörház Valley, where we switch left to the 'K+' sign.

Be careful here, because you need to deviate from the hiking path along a forest trail to reach a hidden forest pond after about a hundred meters walk, but the joy of discovery compensates. It is unknown why the lake was created, as no fishing or other activity can be seen nearby, and the shore looks too natural for regular use, but it is certainly a pleasant place.

The 'K+' marked hiking trail leads from here along the fields across wide hilltops towards Hegyes-kő. The last time I saw such a cheerful, hilly area was around Burgenland, and from the dirt road you can almost fully overlook the surroundings, and Hegyes-kő shows its most beautiful face.

It takes about 5 minutes to climb the beautiful limestone ridge on a rocky path from the hiking trail. From the top you can see Tokod, look at the hump of Nagy-Gete from where we came, and Esztergom with the Danube bridge, the Basilica, and in the background on the Slovak side, the Kovácsi rocks. Hegyes-kő is a popular local spot, although sometimes unfortunately off-road motorbike gangs also venture up.

From here, following the 'K' sign, we jog down to Bajnai Road valley, from where the road takes us beside the Tokod wine cellars up to the next stop, the Mogyorós Kőszikla. In December, the cellar resort is already deserted, but in summer there is quite a bit of life. The road rises comfortably, then a forest road, then a path, and if we are not careful, we might easily miss the most beautiful crag of Gerecse, the Mogyorós Kőszikla. A very short hiking path marked 'K▲' leads to the cliff tens of meters steep.

The ridge opens a northeast view, which we roughly know from Hegyes-kő, but here the real attraction is not the panorama, but the cliff wall steeply plunging into depth, a rare sight in Hungary. At the top, carabiners mark that rock climbing activities used to take place here. The cliffs, just like the summit of Gete, are decorated by a large cross.

Speaking of the cross, after returning to the hiking trail, we again leave the National Blue Trail 'K' mark and continue on the 'K+' signed path. Partly because this does not lead down to the valley of Mogyorósbánya, requiring another climb, and partly because walking beside the fields the southern view also opens here. 'K+' eventually joins again the National Blue Trail coming from Mogyorósbánya, leading straight to the foot of Öreg-kő.

The Blue Trail does not take you to the top of Öreg-kő, which is unfortunate, because this way you miss some sights unique in the whole country. A path starting with an artificial staircase leads up the mountain (follow the 'KΩ' sign), then turns into a steep mud slide without stairs. The climb is not easy, especially in slightly rainy weather, but can be managed carefully. First is the Baits cave, then a bit further the Jankovich cave, the latter being more interesting because the cave hall behind the eight-meter-high entrance is illuminated by light coming through a wide upper shaft, like a giant skylight. The cave was named after Béla Jankovich, an education politician (Minister of Education between 1913-1917).

It is worth going higher on the hiking path, as several scenic viewpoints can be found from where you can look around the landscape that is probably gradually darkening into twilight. Along with the daylight, we can also start descending the mountain, then in the dark, on easy and quick foothill trails through Mogyorósbánya, in about an hour and a half we can gallop back to the Tokod starting point.