Chestnut circle – an eventful, barrier-free circular route between Kőszegszerdahely and Velem

Itinerary:

Follow the yellow Alpannonia® signs throughout.

Route description:

We start our tour from the parking lot of the Community House in the center of Kőszegszerdahely, located above the medieval fortified church. We head towards Velem for 100-200 meters, then when the road splits, we take the right branch (Hegyi street) heading toward the village border.

The Chestnut circle is marked throughout with yellow Alpannonia icons painted on waist-high wooden arrows (no signs found in the last 1-2 kilometers of our tour), which are worth following. We proceed on paved road, slightly winding, on a solid surface, which ends right at the village border, and is replaced by a long, straight gravel meadow road perpendicular to the hill slope, flanked by plowed fields. A sharp left turn a few hundred meters later opens a vast, full panorama over the valley hidden Velem and the surrounding hilly landscape, while on the right, charming, well-maintained holiday homes with gardens and orchards line up.

The entire tour is characterized by tree species variety, which also extends to the gardens: almond, walnut, sweet chestnut, apple, cherry, plum, fig, and hazel dominate the cultivated fields, with their wild relatives on the surrounding hills and mountains. Now we head towards the village, with scattered houses and holiday homes lining our way. Steeper side roads and quite steep hills join the sheltered ascent and plateau on the right. Upon arriving in the village, right at its border, one such steep side road leads up to the former spring, which we found closed and serviced, but the road leading there is fantastic: it preserves 200-300 year old peasant houses and cellar farms. It is worth making your way with a wheelchair up to the second peasant house, experiencing an authentic peasant atmosphere that still operates and rarely seen as a museum village. The "weight of time" can be observed in the building technology of the little houses: timbered adobe walls on natural stone foundations with straw roofs smile awkwardly at us.

After this short detour, we return to our main direction and approach the main street of Velem (Rákóczi street) perpendicularly through its atmospheric old streets, stretching through the village in the valley. To the right, we see Saint Vid hill with the white tower of the Saint Vid chapel in its side. We descend along the typical buildings of the village, turning left on Rákóczi street, where a genuine village restaurant is found a few hundred meters away, ideal for a rest stop.

However, the main street of Velem presents a decision to the hiker: the determined, experienced hiker with a physically sporty companion and a durable wheelchair may choose the harder road offering a real forest experience. After passing the Heroes’ Gate commemorating the village’s World War I and II victims, we climb for a long stretch, first on bitumen, then gravel, into the Velem chestnut forest. Interestingly, the chestnut groves here bear the burden almost intact, despite the silkworm moth epidemic that devastated many chestnut stands in recent years. We cannot speak of uniform, large-scale chestnut groves but rather patches, though this special, beautiful species capable of living a long life regularly blends with many "residents" of the forest: dormouse, wild cherry, ash, oak, alder, beech, elm, and shrub stands surround the chestnuts. Only the bold hiker can truly experience this section by diverging left from the forest road onto a path that is relatively passable in dry weather and makes a nice large curve turning our tour into the descent branch. Here and there, the effective assistance of our companion is needed, but overall, this is perhaps the most beautiful and nature-close section of our tour. While descending on a real forest path, it is definitely worth proceeding backward cautiously with the wheelchair, guiding it with the larger wheel. Fallen branches, wild boar rooting, water erosion, and roots sometimes hinder smooth progress – later, discarded and only partly covered red bricks on the trail remind us of human presence.

We descend about 1 kilometer through this cool forest, then the "red brick road" signals the third and final section of our tour. Those who chose the easier way join the longer route at this point from the main road of Velem by following the S↺ sign to the P sign. After shaded, gradual descents, the meadow environment marks the border of Kőszegszerdahely. Besides signs indicating the route being worn out, this forest transitional section is not exactly easy riding: tilted, gently sloping water-eroded traps may lurk under the surface, making short sections impossible to pass without the help of our companion.

The landscape opens up, offering us a beautiful panorama; then, as we slowly pass among vineyard hills, we spot the village’s church tower. The clay road gradually gives way more and more to gravel, then among the roofs of houses, bitumen strips appear. On one of these, we join Kőszegszerdahely’s main street, turn left, and the main square church appears a few hundred meters from our starting point.