Foothill hike from Kőszeg to Bozsok

Itinerary

• From the bus stop, we set off southwest, turn right onto Kossuth Street, then immediately turn left onto Szűk Street.
• At the end of the street, we follow the P trail to the left.
• We take a short detour to the Gerebincs spring on the P● trail.
• We follow the P trail to the Velem bus turnaround.
• We continue along Kossuth Street on the K+ trail.
• From the edge of Bozsok, we reach the bus stop following the K trail.

Detailed description of the hike

From Kőszeg to the forest

From the bus stop, we take a few steps southwest, then turn right onto Kossuth Lajos Street. Here we also encounter the P marks, which we can follow all the way, or we can shorten the urban walk by turning immediately left at the first opportunity into the unmarked Szűk Street and walk through it. At the end, turning left again, we meet the P marks which we will follow all the way to Velem. We pass along Temető Street near Bread Hill, which was once sawed off by Tamás Ditch below from the ridge of Szabó Hill. According to a local legend, during the famine that broke out in the Napoleonic wars, the new owner bought this small hill for 7 loaves of bread - this has not yet been confirmed by historical facts.

During the hike we traverse foothill surfaces mainly formed at the Miocene and Pliocene boundary, developed from a large amount of debris due to fragmentation by irradiation, on which Pliocene loam and Pleistocene loess deposits settled. Partly thanks to this, the Pogány Valley cellars exist, which we will soon pass by. The formerly independent settlement of Pogányok now only remains as one of the field names of Kőszegdoroszló. Its earliest mention is from 1279 as "villa Pugan", known as a village serving the local castle of the Kőszeg family. The settlement was abandoned shortly afterward for unknown reasons, and later only mentioned as wasteland in sources. The southern location contributed to the long-standing successful viticulture and wine production here. From the vegetation growing on the flat, marshy shore of the Pannonian Sea that once covered this area, lignite deposits formed under the Pogány Valley surface, on which a small lignite mine was established in 1919 - it was closed in 1924 due to water breakthrough. In the same year, drilling deepened in the valley found lignite at 10 and 26 meters, and brown coal at 60 meters.

Through the forest to Velem

After the cellars and holiday homes, at the sign indicating the boundary of the protected area, we enter the forest. We cross the stream and after a longer stretch along the contour, we begin to climb on the side of the increasingly deepening stream valley. After a short steep climb, we reach the Terv Road, an asphalt forestry road connecting Kőszeg and Velem, where turning right we can take a short detour to the Enikő Spring, which was marked in the 1970s and feeds the Doroszló Creek. From here we turn back on the asphalt, and after about 300 meters turn left into a brushy regrowth to continue the walk. After the large beech, we turn left onto a small path 200 meters further.

We continue along the erosion under the older mixed forest and spruce forest to the P● marking leading to the Gerebincs spring. Apart from the local name, it is also called the Electric Spring on most tourist maps, as it was occupied in 1968 by the ÉDÁSZ nature-walking group from Szombathely, who also built a resting place near the quarry in the 1970s.

Continuing on the P trail, we climb through mixed pine forest, and as we descend into the hollow, the pines beside us become sparse, and we reach a coppiced sessile oak forest. Until World War I, this was the most commonly used forest renewal method for deciduous forests, where trees selected for coppicing were felled outside the growing season with a smooth, slant cut leaving the lowest possible stump. Shoots sprouted from the felled tree stumps and roots, and during the first years the shoots produced a relatively large timber volume because the remaining roots supplied them with ample nutrients and water. Later their growth slowed significantly and their lifespan did not reach that of seedlings raised from seed.

After the small climb, turning left after the Cák Creek pallet bridge, we reach a meadow at whose edge we turn right. In spring, there is a good chance to encounter one of the most common orchid species in our country here, the purple-flowered early-purple orchid. After a short climb, we reach the Eresztény or Wisinger-major, where a mature Atlas cedar stands in the garden. We soon cross a dirt road. After the locust grove, we reach a wider road, from which we turn right after 10-15 meters and descend steeply to the creek. The path makes a hairpin turn here and rises from the far side of the Borha Valley to the Velem Delta resting place.

We then move level to the asphalt road, then cutting across its curves, we descend steeply to the edge of Velem. We cross the asphalt strip and the creek, and continue on Nuschy (József) Promenade, named after the town's chief clerk from the 1930s-40s. After the dilapidated bridge, we can take a short detour to a romantic bench on the small hill of the stream valley. According to oral tradition, many love stories have formed in this idyllic place. Soon we are at the resting place around the Vasa well. The spring, which used to have a larger water supply, got its name from the rust deposits precipitating from its water; it is also called Vasas or Vas Well. Its water is not drinkable.

We leave the promenade via a small wooden bridge. Within a minute or two, we reach the village bus turnaround. In the nearby park stands the Stirling villa, which now operates as a folk art creative colony. Between December 27, 1944, and March 19, 1945, fleeing the Szálasi government westward due to Soviet threat to Budapest, the Prime Minister's Office was set up here as the village was not threatened by air raids. Behind the building, the Holy Crown was guarded in an underground bunker together with the coronation jewels. Across the street, there is a small historical park.

Velem - Bozsok

From here we continue along Kossuth Street on the K+ trail, then after the waterworks we leave the houses of the settlement. On the asphalt road, after the protected area sign and the erosion, we turn left onto a path along which a large stump recalls the former sweet chestnut grove here.

At a wide dirt road intersection, we reach a well-maintained shrine. Turning left, we walk along a promenade under mature sessile oaks. When we leave the waterworks fence, on the right we already see the meadow below and the alder grove accompanying the flowing Bozsok Stream. This small stream, which had a beach more than a hundred years ago, sawed off the Holt Hill on our left from the ridge of Kalapos-kő-Széles-kő. At the meadow's end, before the fence of the Sibrik Castle park, we reach the gravel road accompanying the Bozsok Stream, on which turning left we approach Bozsok. On the right, stairs lead up the side of the hollow to a crucifix placed in a built stone column. From here it is only a few minutes to the K trail along the border of Bozsok, where we continue straight ahead.

Archaeological finds show the area of this small border village was already inhabited in the Stone Age; Roman villa remnants have been uncovered on the edge. A branch of the water pipeline supplying Savaria started from the valley above it, whose protection was probably ensured by a castrum at the site of Sibrik Castle. The first written mention as Villa Bosuk is known from 1279, when it belonged to the castle of Saint Vid. It was completely destroyed during the Turkish invasion, then repopulated by Croatian settlers who were fully Magyarized by the end of the 19th century. After several later noble families, in 1538 György Sibrik received the village as royal donation. In 1552 Gregor Sibrik divided the Bozsok estate into two parts: the northern area became the property of the elder Osvát's son, while the younger Mátyás received the southern part. Sibrik Castle standing on the former was first mentioned in 1554 as a noble manor house, which in 1614 was converted into a castle due to the Turkish threat. The inscription above the keystone of the basket arch gate also dates from this period, whose Hungarian translation is: "Protect, Lord, him who enters here and leaves from here – 1614". The castle took its present form in 1815, then in 1906 the family sold it to Gyula Végh, later director general of the Museum of Applied Arts. The 8-hectare castle park, under protection since 1960, owes its current appearance mainly to his wife, Countess Mária Wimpffen. The building now operates as a hotel.

Continuing south along Rákóczi Street, we soon reach the St. Anne parish church, behind which stands the ruins of an old monastery. The rectangular building built in the 15th-16th centuries was according to some sources owned by the Paulines, others mention it as belonging to the Premonstratensian provostship. Its northern and western walls remain relatively intact, on which we also find arrow slit-like windows. This building, currently under monument protection, was already described as a ruin by a source from the early 17th century.

Heading towards the village center, from here it is only 600 meters to the Bozsok bus stop, the endpoint of our hike.