Beggar's Lodge – Bánya-hegy Forestry House (OKT 27th day hike)

At the pleasantly situated Beggar's Lodge adorned with a lake, we find two stamps. The first is placed at the crossroads of the asphalt forestry access road and the Blue Trail, closer to the Fagyűjtőtelep entrance road bus stop, from where we must start our hike. Following the K markings, we soon arrive at the Beggar's Lodge hunting lodge; the other stamp is found on a pole next to this.

The origin of the name is explained by a story that sounds like a legend: in the 18th century, a tree thief was caught by the forester and as punishment had to live for 10 years on the clearing next to the site. To ease the loneliness, he gladly welcomed beggars as guests. Although the name does not remember this now, originally there was a shepherd's lodging here, which later became a forestry house; after World War I, a small economic railway also ran here from Bánhida (now part of Tatabánya).

After stamping, we briefly start on the dirt road, then soon make a right turn where the hike continues with a discreet ascent. In the first half of the hike, we walk almost entirely on a forestry access road, and the landscape is not very varied: a hornbeam-oak forest surrounds us. It's worth observing what's under our feet: the transport road stones show a reddish limestone known as Tardos red marble, and thanks to nearby mines, we can recognize it in numerous Budapest building interiors – primarily as decorative stone.

We turn off the main direction at the bridge of the Tarján-malom drainage, arriving at a 1-2 m high cliff, a loess depression road. The somewhat more exciting section is short, the almost straight forest road monotony soon returns. Nearby, on a meadow, stood the Peskőalja shelter operated by the Gyopár association in the first half of the 20th century.

As we trudge towards Vértessolna, we can't see it because of the trees from the road, but almost overhead lies the Pes-kő rock. The site accessible by unmarked paths is the most wild lookout point in the southern Gerecse, featuring a roughly 100 m long, maximum 1–2 m wide rock walkway and a spacious cave. For those who love such places and have time, Pes-kő is worth detouring from the Blue Trail. It is reachable from both Vértessolna and Beggar's Lodge, roughly a 5-kilometer extra with about 100 m elevation gain. From the top of the steep rock face, there is a view of the Héreg–Tarján basin between Nagy-Gerecse and Baglyas Hill, as well as the forest stretching out before us.

The Blue Trail bypasses Vértessolna but leads near the settlement, and we also need to walk a bit on the Vértessolna connecting road. Afterwards, heading towards Fábián-kő and Pörös Hill, we walk on more exciting paths and roads, crossing several smaller and larger meadows. These provide a clear view of the massive block of Nagy-Gerecse, which almost fills the entire background with its characteristic shape and towered ridge. It's worth paying attention not only in front of us but also if we look back: Vértessolna, the Kappan-bükk and the rock faces of Szénás Hill are also memorable sights.

The winding section between Pörös and Bánya Hill is the most beautiful part of the hike; our path is flanked on both sides by smaller rock blocks. At Hajagos, the Z-marked hiking trail joins from the right, which has just left behind the biggest, "notorious" ascent of the Gerecse 50 endurance tour. The oak-hornbeam mixed forest densely covers the hill, so it may only appear from the map that the quarry of Bánya Hill is located on our left.

Inside, the rock commonly known as red marble is quarried, which actually is not marble but a very dense, hard limestone. Because the intense effects necessary for marble formation are missing, the imprints of the ancient fauna are still visible: round ammonites, crabs, sea lilies, and other small creatures’ fossilized skeletal fragments and imprints can be observed.

The rock deposited in huge slabs, making it easy to quarry; its layers are separated by air chisels and blasting, then cut into pieces by machines. Its ribbed-brown-reddish color is due to iron and manganese oxides that entered the limestone during sediment formation. Due to its excellent polishability, workability, and special color, common language calls it marble, making it an important building and decorative stone. Large-scale mining began during the Roman Empire. Over centuries, it was used for numerous buildings, statues, and tombstones both domestically and abroad (e.g., Wawel in Kraków, the royal palaces in Óbuda and Visegrád, the Bakócz Chapel in Esztergom, etc.). Its heyday was in the decades of the dual monarchy when it was transported in massive quantities, mainly for major construction in the capital. Nowadays, quarrying takes place only on Bánya Hill above Tardos.

Our hike ends on the meadow opposite the Bánya Hill forestry house, where there is a firepit. The Blue Trail stamp hangs on a wooden post by the road. From here, we can descend to Tardos via the Z marked path, but since this is used by the quarry trucks, it is more advisable to stay a bit longer on the K marking and turn left onto the K▲ marked path to descend – the nearest bus stop is a bit over 2.5 kilometers from the stamping place.