Börzsönyi Blue Tour, stage 2: Bernecebaráti-Nagybörzsöny

Itiner

• From Bernecebarát to Nagybörzsöny follow the sign K.

Detailed description of the tour

Bernecebaráti-Kemence

You can quickly leave the Bernecebaráti valley behind you, because the signpost , the K sign leads uphill immediately after the first corner. The settlement was formed by the merger of two Árpád villages, one in the valley and the other higher up on the plain of the Ipoly. (The name Bernece means muddy, clayey land, referring to the waterfront conditions.) At the end of the street, the Church of the Assumption dominates the view, as it stands on a hilltop above the houses, with a wall surrounding its garden, making it look like a fortress church. Before turning left at the top of the hill, it is worth taking a few steps further.A few more steps in a straight line to reach one of the most atmospheric spots in the village on the opposite slope. The hobbit-like cellars are a remnant of the area's wine-growing past: the wine from Bernecebarát was so good that at one time the village had to pay taxes on it instead of grapes. There were more than 500 cellars in the village, built of mud-brick and with a hipped roof.

We continue our walk along the hillside, passing the centuries-old stone crosses of the Swabian cemetery. To the left, you can see the village winding into the hills, with the peak of the Magosfa in the background. In the next cemetery lies Pista Sisa, who died in the 19th century. He was a notorious outlaw of the area in the early 19th century, with an adventurous life: He started out as a shepherd, but after a few lost sheep he was tortured by a pandal, who years later was beheaded with Sisa's knife. After 21 years in captivity, he became a gamekeeper, knowing the mountains of the Börsegön well.

Shortly after the cemetery, we turn right and cross a small ridge rising to the top of the mountain; abandoned cellars carved into the rock line the road. At the top of Templom Hill stood a fortress of Árpád-era origin, the present road crossing a trench deepened for defence. Beyond, you come out into the valley of the Kemence stream and turn left along a bushy but easy-to-follow stretch towards Kemence. Just before crossing a wide meadow, you can see the Szokolyi cross, whose origins lie in the BernecebaraAlajos Szokolyi, the first Hungarian Olympic podium finisher (flat track), who also hired Pista Sisa as a ranger.

The trail winds under the trees, beside the Kemence stream from the High-Börzsöny, before you reach Kemence. The Börzsönyi Blue Hike makes a detour to the centre of the village, where you'll find a shop, restaurant and pub, but if you miss these, you'll be back in the village.If you miss them, it's worth keeping straight on along the end street of the village, which will take you to the terminus of the Kemenence small railway. This is the next confirmation point of the tour, but you can also get stamps (among other things) at the nearby Csarnavölgyi beer bar. From here you can also travel by small train, and you will get a discount on the ticket price for showing your certificate booklet.

Kemence-Csarnapuszta-Hamuház

At the terminus of the miniature railway, you can also visit an exhibition about the history of the local miniature railway, full of industrial ingenuity. The Börzsönyt was built in the 20th century. From the beginning of the 20th century, wooden tramways were built on the Bör Börsönköy, with the Kemence line to the centre of the mountain range being built in 1910. In the 1960s, freight traffic on public roads 'took over' the work of the tramways, but there was still a desire to use the Black Valley branch for tourism. However, in the 1990s, massive floods swept through the valley twice, washing away the track and its embankments. The Friends of the Little Railway then restored the lower section, which it still operates today. The sign at the Csarnapuszta stop on the right-hand side of the road is the ticket office if you arrive on foot rather than by train.

The Börzsönyi Kéktúra also follows the stream and the tracks of the small railway on the asphalt road, turning towards the centre of the mountain range. The name of the village and the Kemence stream comes from the Slavic word kamenica, meaning stony, and the watercourse from the Csóványos block: On its long journey it collects most of the streams of the High Mountains, so that it is capable of serious flooding, which spreads huge stone boulders in its bed.

Leaving the restaurant and campsite, we cross the stream at the leveling base of the börzsöny. This takes us into the Black Valley, also known as the Black Valley (from the Slavic word for black), and although we are still in the middle of the valley, we are still in the middle of the valley.The forest closes in and the atmosphere changes from before. The hike continues under steep slopes in a mountainous environment, crossing the tracks of the railway and the stream several times. The name Black Stream needs no explanation because of the light conditions in the valley and the dark stone blocks.

Soon you arrive at the terminus of the railway, the end of the built section of the tour and the gateway to the Börzsö Wilderness. Walking past the fence of the Feketevölgy Pension, you come to the end of the used railway track, behind which you will find thebehind it, you enter the valley of the Carniolan, where you will immediately be confronted with all the features of the valley. In the dark valley floor between the steep, high slopes, the stream, which occasionally escapes from its bed, has scattered the rocks and theThe banks have been scattered, and the trees are sparser than on the surrounding slopes. This is Hungary's largest area of protected forest, where the last felling took place shortly after the middle of the 20th century. The terrain is made truly photogenic and unique by the washed-out track of the small railway. The floods that swept through in 1999 have left bridges, waterways and bridges hanging over the stream.The flooding in 1999 left behind slanting tracks and the remains of washed-out embankments.

The path follows the valley floor, joining the remaining rails in some places and skirting the stream in others. There are also many fords to cross, which are difficult at higher water levels, and at lower levels just a walk on stones jutting out of the water. The stream is also home to stone crabs and mackerel, one of the valley's most unique inhabitantsthe rare black stork, but lynx and wolf also frequent the vast woodland - the former having been present for decades. The forest's undisturbed nature is also due to the structural features of the mountain range: the Carniola valley, an eroded remnant of a former volcanic crater, drains all the rainwater from the centre of the caldera, which is the only gateway to the 600-938 m high mountain ring. Due to its high frame and relatively harsh terrain, the caldera is uninhabited and has not been used by small railways for decades. (Although a reconstruction of the track was considered in the late 2010s, it was not realised for environmental reasons.)

The Börzsönyi Kéktúra leaves the Fekete or Csarna valley at the Hamuház, where there is a large wooden hut (used as a loading shed) and a small wooden house with a covered terrace. This is also the next confirmation point. Its name is a reminder of the former ash burning: the material from the burning of beech trees for the production of glass was collected here before being processed. This is also where the wagons of the railway trains from the centre of the mountain range were marshalled, the switchand some rusted chills can still be seen near the house.

Crematorium-Mining village

The K sign keeps straight on and leads upwards to the edge of the caldera. At first, along the sides of a narrow stream ditch, over the forest road, the and then, bypassing a side branch, you enter the area of a forest clearing. This indicates that we have left the protected area, but the missing trees allow us to survey the surrounding terrain: the Miklós-top-Magosfa-Csóványos line undulates high above. Another short climb in the grip of young forest, and you reach the lowest point of the caldera, the Pintér hegyese and the Vár beech, where millions of years ago the waters of the mountain centre flowed out - before the present valley of the Csarna stream opened up. Cross the forest road immediately, although you can turn left on it to reach the same place, as the signs on the other side go a little downhill and then back up again, next to the wheel track.

Eventually we do turn downhill and go round a steep, dry and wet circuitand slippery slope down to the meadow of Bányapuszta. In the sunny area there is a forester's lodge, with a pass next to it. The site is now deserted and dates back to the 18th century. In the 18th century it was the forest centre of ore mining, and the extracted metals were transported to a nearby silver mine.The ore was processed in a nearby smelting furnace, later to become a forestry plantation with several buildings and small pastures. (For a while, hikers also found accommodation here.)

Bányapuszta-Nagybörzsöny

Follow the valley of the Bánya stream down the Magyar valley. The signpost initially follows the forest road winding over the stream, under beech. At the fork in the valley, where a forestry building is crumbling, a rest stop is on the left and the Katalin spring is at the bottom of a boulder. Drinking is not recommended as it may contain dissolved metal compounds: groundwater seeps through the fractured, cracked rocky bedrock towards the subsoil and from there reaches the surface.The original purpose of the 2 km long tunnel was to collect the water and prevent it from flowing into the mine shafts. (Silver and gold have been mined in the area around Nagybörzsöny since the 13th century.) Until the 1990s, there was also a large swale in this clearing, which was later incorporated into the forestry road.

Shortly after the fork, the sign turns left off the forest road. Although it is possible to stay on the wide wheel track, it is recommended to follow the K signs, as they are now the mostThe K signs lead to a path running along the valley floor on the other side of the watercourse known as the Börzsönyi stream. The narrow trail is the most beautiful part of the hike: thanks to the moisture provided by the stream water, lush undergrowth and sparse, mixed beech forest cover the terrain, with a strikingly natural forest image. Mostly following the remnants of the embankment of the former railway line, before climbing a short way around a rocky slope and turning out of the valley. We don't stay on the ridge for long, skirting a field and turning back to the valley floor, where we return to the tarmac road.

Soon we arrive at the houses of Nagybörzsöny, but it's another 10-15 minutes' walk to the village centre. Nagybörzsöny is the most lively village on the western side of the mountain in the mid-2020s, with restaurants, buffets, vendécafés, restaurants, cafés and exhibition areas await hikers in good numbers, thanks to the small railway and hiking trails. The Mill and the Mill Garden Restaurant are opposite each other, and you walk past them before you reach the main square, which is important to remember.You can choose which one you want to stamp in, or you can read the code on the sign at the end of the main square. The village had four mills at the beginning of the 20th century, the one on display was completed in 1951 and used to grind wheat.