Capturing castles with summit assaults

Itinerary

• On main road No. 24 we head north following the S trail.
• We take a short detour on the SL trail to the Hanák Kolos Lookout and the memorial column.
• We continue on the S trail, then turn right onto the S● trail.
• Upon reaching the Kalló Valley, we head north on the P trail until the S● trail leading to the Saint Ladislaus Spring.
• Turning back, we reach Kékes via the K trail.
• From Kékes, we descend on the K+ trail.
• At the junction of the KΩ trail we take a short detour to the small Hermit Cave.
• Returning to the K+ trail, we follow it to Mátrafüred.
• On main road No. 24 heading southeast on the S trail, we soon reach the terminus of the Mátravasút railway.

Detailed description of the hike

From Mátrafüred to the Hanák Kolos memorial column

At the terminus of the Mátravasút railway, we cross the main road and head north on the S trail, then after the black pine grove we turn right to Kalló Street, then left onto Muzsla Street, where at the end the trail turns right. We enter the forest between two large black pines and first ascend to the 484 m high peak of Muzsla. From the lookout built here in 1894, there is a beautiful panorama over Mátrafüred, Gyöngyös, and Sár Hill. At the benches at the base of the structure, we can rest a little before continuing. On the hilltop, the remains of a 0.15-hectare earthwork fortification can also be found, which based on József Dénes’s research, may have been built at the end of the 10th century – beginning of the 11th century and possibly were early fortifications of the Aba clan. According to tradition, one of the Turkish camps was here, and from here Bene Castle was shelled. The Rákóczi Spring, the next stop on our tour, springs 450 meters from the earthworks.

We continue along the ridge through blackthorn shrubs and then enter an oak forest without hornbeam. Soon we see the Rákóczi Spring, which many consider the healthiest spring water in the Mátra. The water source near Mátrafüred was originally called the Közel Well, whose enclosure was prepared in 1929 by the Mátra Society. The original relief depicted a horse being watered and a sorrowful Kuruc soldier. According to legend, after the fall of the War of Independence, Rákóczi also visited the spring when leaving the country, which was his favorite resting place; this was the last time he drank fresh water. The Kuruc troops who accompanied him returned from the Hungarian border to Tokaj-Hegyalja, but on their way home they came back here once more and drank from the spring—though by then they were deeply sorrowful as their leader was no longer with them.

From the spring, we continue along the S trail to the junction with the SL trail, where a short detour leads to the memorial column of Hanák Kolos, a Gyöngyös lawyer who founded today's first Hungarian tourist association, the Hungarian Carpathian Association Mátra Division. He is associated with the Mátra’s first guidebook and first marked hiking trails. Here stands the lookout named after him, built in 1888, from which the Sár Hill and Gyöngyös can be seen in the distance, with the Great Plain in the background. Going a bit further, from the edge of the former Nagy-Lapát peak quarry, the southern mountains of the Mátra form the landscape before us; below us is an adrenaline park set up in the mine.

Through the Kalló Valley to Kékes

We return to the S trail. On a path cutting through dense brushwood, a short section offers a nice view of the Kékes massif and towards the Great Plain. After a few hundred meters, we turn right onto the S● trail, which merges a few meters north of the Gyökeres Spring and the former Nékámszállás into the P trail in the Kalló Valley. We continue north to the K● trail leading to the Saint Ladislaus Spring.

This is the most famous spring in the Central Mátra after the Rákóczi Spring. Its water is fed by precipitation falling on the slopes of Kékes. Alongside the Csór marsh reservoir, this spring supplies water to Mátraháza and the State Sanatorium. Around the spring, there is a rest area and a fireplace. According to legend, once when King Saint Ladislaus was fighting the Cumans in the Mátra, a drought was so severe that all streams and wells dried up. Our great king camped with his troops around the then settlement of Bene, while the Cumans were near Visznek. When the soldiers could no longer endure the shortage of water, Ladislaus, with some trusted commanders, went up the Kallók Valley to find water. Finding none, they began a fervent prayer, after which the king shouted, "The God of the Hungarians cannot abandon us!" He stabbed his sword into a rock from which sprang a spring that quenched the thirst of his soldiers as it fed the Bene stream.

Turning back from the spring, we follow the K trail along the foot of Tölgyes Ridge, in the beech forest of the Somor stream valley. After the rest area of Jávors Spring, we cross the asphalt road; from here, only a final climb remains before reaching the highest point in our country. It is worth visiting the circular press café located 42 meters high in the TV tower, which offers a stunning panorama that surprises in all seasons. Around us are the Mátra mountains, southwards the Great Plain, eastwards the Bükk Mountains, and westwards the Karancs Mountains are visible. To the north, we can see into Slovakia, where on clear days the High Tatras are also visible. After sightseeing, it is worth viewing János Kányai’s mini bottle collection.

Return to Mátrafüred

We descend on the K+ trail. Below the parking lot, we pass the Jávors Spring, named after the mountain maple (Norway maple) that once grew here. We cross the paved road and continue southwest under the waterworks. Leaving the beech forest, we climb a ladder to the young red pines of the menes trail pine forest, protected by an electric pasture fence, among which occasional thick stumps from the previous generation can still be seen. After the next fence, we descend through the extensive earthwork fortifications of the Bronze Age all the way down to the junction of the KΩ trail, from where a short walk takes us to the small Hermit Cave.

According to legend, Valgatha, the former Czech bandit leader, once lived as a hermit in the cave. Among other misdeeds, he had the beautiful fairy Ilus’s fiancé, knight Dezső, stabbed, and took the girl to Déd Castle, from which she returned mad years later. Recovering from his mortal wound, the soldier swore revenge and defeated Valgatha with his men, gouging out his eyes and chaining him. According to stories, in later years, the blind man living as a hermit in the cave was cared for by friends from the nearby Vörösmart village.

Returning to the K+ trail, we soon reach a clearing, Széles-parlag, from which there is a nice view of Sár Hill and Gyöngyös. Soon we arrive at the Vaskapu rock formation with its toppled andesite blocks. About 100 meters from here, we find another wall ruin, the northern part of a two-part stone earthwork fortification. Below it lies the area called Turkish Market, which was reportedly used as a marketplace during the Ottoman conquest. After this, another stone earthwork is visible, which formed the southern side of the earthwork.

After a longer walk, we reach the ruins of Bene Castle. The irregular pentagonal fortress, approximately 40 x 45 meters in size, was probably built after 1275 by János, son of Csobánka of the Aba clan. The building was first mentioned in a document in 1301 when János’s sons divided their inheritance among themselves. In 1327, Charles Robert donated it to Tamás Szécsényi, and later Sigismund of Luxembourg confiscated it from his great-grandson. Its further history is unknown; by 1497 it was already mentioned as an abandoned castle.

From the ruins, we quickly descend to a five-way junction where we continue to follow the trail. The path, trodden down to the bedrock, steeply descends after a small clearing to the confluence of the Csatorna and Somor streams, which here unite into the Bene stream. Soon there are resting and fireplace places along the stream bank. The trail reaches the main road, where heading southeast on the S trail, we reach the railway station within minutes.