Beautiful view: Kevély loop with extras

Itinerary:

• Start from Csillaghegy on the hiking trail marked with P
• At Róka-hegy, take a detour on the P▲ trail
• Then continue again on the P hiking trail, all the way to Kevély pass - optional detour to the Ezüst-hegy quarry to the Papp Ferenc cave
• From Kevély pass, the K▲ trail leads up to Kis-Kevély, from where you need to return back to the pass
• From the pass, follow the trail marked Z to Jenői Tower
• From the tower, a forest path leads to the decorative ruins of Eger castle
• From the ruins, follow the blue T trail of the Kevélyhegyi Nature Trail to the Teve rock
• The Nature Trail brings you all the way to the center of Pilisborosjenő, from where you walk along the main street's sidewalk to the center of Üröm
• From Üröm, follow the red T marking of the Üröm Nature Trail to Róka-hegy, where the P+ hiking trail reconnects with the familiar P▲ and then the P hiking trail all the way to the finish

Detailed description of the tour:

In the first half of the Kevély loop, not much navigation is needed, just follow the P hiking sign starting at the Csillaghegy HÉV station – with a few detours. The first of these begins at the end of Hegymászó Street after reaching the forest from the city. Despite its name, the street is somewhat gentle in slope; at its end, the P trail turns right, while on the left begins the P▲ marked hiking trail. This leads to the former Csillaghegy mine, now the Róka-hegy Nature Reserve.

The ▲ mark usually indicates steep paths leading to mountain peaks, and here there is no shortage of steepness. The 80-meter elevation difference is often overcome on built-in (but somewhat slipping) wooden stairs, with two intermediate viewpoints where you can catch your breath. On these resting levels, the sightseeing helps reduce the panting: you can see Budapest well, but the yellow rock formations of the former mining yard attract the gaze even more.

Mining continued on the southern side of Róka-hegy until the 1950s, and for a while, sheep and cattle grazed in the abandoned mine. In 1977, the Metropolitan Council realized the flora and fauna hidden by the grassy areas next to the cliffs, and the entire former mining yard was declared a nature reserve. However, the protected status did not always protect it from frustrated visitors, which is evidenced by the sign of the maintainer Pilis Parkerdő, pleading to take your trash home, not trample the rock outside the paths, and beware of vandalism.

After the Róka-hegy detour, we return to the P trail, which passes by Üröm and leads straight northwest to the foot of the first bump of the Kevélyek, the Ezüst-Kevély. Here, a smaller detour awaits, related to the Papp Ferenc cave hidden in the courtyard of the Ezüsthegy quarry. This quarry yard is much less spectacular than Róka-hegy's, but the upper chamber of the cave on its side is safely reachable with a little climbing. Going lower without equipment and caving experience equals a neck break. The cave's inner walls are decorated with "cave paintings" sprayed by recent prehistoric humans. (An inscription carved into the stone on the outer wall says Papp Ferenc cave, but according to some opinions, the real Papp Ferenc cave lies a few meters away.)

Returning to the P trail, we climb further up the ridge of the Kevélyek towards the peak. The number of hikers per square meter noticeably increases; the ridge between Ezüst-Kevély and Nagy-Kevély, dotted with panoramic points, is a popular hiking spot. Many simply walk past the Kőkunyhó a little inward from the trail, which is a mistake. In the 1990s and 2000s, Ezüsthegyi Kabóca, who researched nearby caves with his companions, lived there. Before that, an elderly couple lived as hermits in the hut until the 1970s; before World War II, mining explosives were stored there.

Not far from Ezüst-Kevély on the ridge is the double rock crest of Nagy-Kevély, offering a very good view westward; eagle-eyed visitors can see all the way to Soroksári Road and far beyond. The often sunlit rock pasture ledge is a favorite destination for hikers, but paragliders also often come there. A wooden lookout tower once stood on the top of Nagy-Kevély; its stumps still protrude from the ground. It is incomprehensible why nowadays, when everyone builds lookouts with EU funding in all kinds of impossible places, they do not fix the old tower here.

Similarly, it is quite incomprehensible that the hiking shelter boom bypassed the site of what was once the most popular shelter near the capital, located in the Kevély pass between the peaks of Nagy-Kevély and Kis-Kevély. Only a sign announces that the building material of the former Kevély pass tourist shelter was carried on backpacks on Sundays by members of the Természetbarátok Turista Egyesület (Nature Lovers Hiking Association) in the 1920s. The shelter worked well for a long time, then it fell into disrepair in late socialism. The regime change did not help; due to some dark matter, a day before the Budapest Nature Lovers Association could take it over in 1992, someone set it on fire and burned it to the ground.

Leaving the pass, the hiking trail marked K▲ leads to the last peak of the Kevély ridge, the white rock crest of Kis-Kevély. In terms of panorama, it offers not much more than the viewpoints of Nagy-Kevély, but to the north, you can see a larger arc of Pilis and the Visegrád Mountains. This is also a detour and the northernmost point of the loop route. From here, we gallop back to the pass and then descend the Z trail, passing under the Gyopáros cave to the upper starting point of the deep ditch of the Solymári valley.

It is a bit deceptive that this steeply descending, deep, winding, sometimes gorge-like ditch is also called the Solymári valley, just like the huge valley by Highway 10, which is much larger by comparison, but that is the name. Our Solymári valley, which I will rather call Solymári ditch from now on for clarity, is a surprisingly spectacular geographical unit. Due to its wildness, it is somewhat similar to the Salabasina ditch described earlier, but – probably not by chance – older military, mountain training elements are hidden in it, and it is surrounded by beautiful rock towers.

We descend along the Z trail alongside the ditch. The trees shade the winding path; sometimes you have to fight through a fairy-tale weave. On the other side of the ditch, according to the map, there is a military training ground, but it is hardly noticeable. At most when we pass under the huge white Solymári cliff hidden among the trees, which is a beautiful, steep cliff, and nearby is (not) the former military cableway starting station.

Below, a thoroughly dilapidated, old military wire rope suspension bridge crosses the ditch toward the military area. Not very reassuring, but I like those exactly. The bridge is passable back and forth, you just have to be careful: rusty wire strands stick out from the cable, and they tend to scratch the palm. From the suspension bridge, the Jenői Tower is not far along the ditch. The impressive rock tower was beloved by climbers for a long time. It used to stand freely according to archive photos, dominating the landscape. Today, the trees of the forest roughly hide it, and there is no view from the top.

Here, the route turns and heads back through forest paths. Several unmarked paths can be found leading to the next stop, the decorative ruins of Eger castle, where classic battle scenes of the film "Egri Csillagok" were shot. The fake castle always attracts quite a crowd, mostly with children, which is quite understandable.

From here, turning toward nearby Pilisborosjenő, the route passes by the rock formation called Teve rock, once dubbed Devil's castle. The interesting (camel-shaped) rock formation and the surrounding main dolomite formed 220 million years ago. Its rock was penetrated by siliceous, hot aqueous solutions, making it extremely hard. The siliceous parts resisted erosion, while the surrounding parts wore down nicely. So this natural "mining yard" was shaped not by people's metallic claw but by the power of nature.

From there, just a comfortable, short walk along the road to Pilisborosjenő. Looking toward the church, you can clearly see in the distance a luxury housing estate resembling a hacienda built into the western side of Róka-hegy, whose most decorated example is the halted construction above the ravine. From here, the Kevély loop is just an easy walk through Borosjenő and Üröm to Róka-hegy, where the tired body and soul can be refreshed in several shops and hospitality establishments with various isotonic and other drinks.

The P+ marked hiking trail from Rókahegy connects back to the already known P▲ trail from the start of the tour, which leads back to the Csillaghegy starting point.