From Magyaregregy to the Csepegő-ditch

Itinerary:

• From the Magyaregregy, Kossuth Lajos utca 89. bus stop, we climb up the P+ trail to the Vörösfenyő hostel.
• From the hostel, we descend left on the Z+ trail into the Csepegő-ditch, then arrive at Vékény.

Detailed description of the tour

Beautifully renovated houses of Magyaregregy

The tour starts from the Magyaregregy, Kossuth Lajos utca 89. bus stop, from where we head northeast towards Bonyhád on the P+ trail. In the small park next to the bus stop, we find a resting place made with an interesting technique using pebbles and wire mesh, as well as an information board titled “Farewells in the 20th century”, since the street leads up to the holy spring and pilgrimage chapel of Magyaregregy. The trail initially guides us along the main road before turning right onto József Attila street, towards the creek bank. On Rákóczi street to the left, we can see an exhibition formed from Arnold Ádám's tavern and butcher shop. However, before entering here, it is worth admiring the beautiful house with painted shutters and its garden on the right.

Some residents of Magyaregregy are proud of their traditions: they research, maintain, and collect objects, photos, and stories of rural everyday life from the last century. Although there is no folk house in the village, the 1930's butcher shop and tavern building complex is all the more interesting and special. According to locals, rural tourism began around then in the area, likely as a consequence of the Treaty of Trianon territorial changes. The building was bought from the last owner of the tavern by the village, and currently also houses the municipal library. Enthusiastic locals collect photos, jam jars and butter pots preserved in the attic, plates here, but the most exciting and impressive part is the butcher shop’s interior, the chopping blocks and the sales section, which bring the world of rural citizens vividly to life upon entering the room.

Around Magyaregregy, there were no good arable lands; the buildings stood on so-called narrow plots, so when families grew, the front porch houses were often demolished and modern box houses were built in their place. In most cases, only the brick-patterned, painted stable-carriage house buildings located at the back of the plots, occupying the full width, have been preserved. In one guesthouse yard stands a beautifully carved pig trough from 1913. In another yard, they proudly show the Banat lily, one of the many rare plants of the Eastern Mecsek, and except for the Zengő side, it does not naturally occur anywhere else in the world.

After leaving the butcher shop, about a hundred meters later, a bell tower and the old elementary school building — now a private house — welcome us at a small flowered square. The strange, red heart-shaped wire box at the power pole is a selective waste collector specifically for plastic bottle caps.

Climbing up the hill ridges

On Arany János street, along the P+ trail, we begin the ascent. We go uphill on a deeply rutted road, shaded by linden and hazelnut trees. Upon reaching the hilltop, we continue among remnants of old vineyards and orchards. Westward, a panorama opens all the way to Komló. On the left side of the road stands a small white house — it might have been a wine press house or guesthouse in its heyday. Its façade is decorated with a painted still life full of fruit, dated 1972, referring to the former village edge fruit growing. On our right stretches a neat vineyard with hidden beehives. Walking further along the ridge, one of the characteristic representatives of our country's forests, oak-hornbeam forest, welcomes us, mixed with early maples and linden trees. Later, the first larger beeches appear, creating a beautiful, old forest.

In this section, in spring, we often encounter the blue oil beetles (Meloe violaceus). In folk language, they are called “God’s cow” (elsewhere this name refers to the ladybird to cause more confusion). The name derives from the word “ünő” meaning female beetle. Medieval records tell that powder made from these beetles and the ash beetle was used to try to cure rabies. Whether it worked or not is doubtful, but if the beetle is disturbed, it releases sticky, yellow sap along its leg joints, so it’s better not to bother it. Neither males nor the females with their large abdomens can fly. The latter’s abdomen is swollen with an enormous number of eggs, which are necessary because the beetle’s lifecycle is very special: the female digs a hole in the ground to lay its eggs. The hatched small, yellow, agile larvae climb onto flowers and enter solitary bees’ nests by hitching on the fur of solitary bees (not attacking social honey bees). There, they eat the eggs and accumulated honey and pollen stores. Thus, in the following year, oil beetles emerge from the ground instead of bees.

At the Vörösfenyő hostel

Reaching the top, two houses appear beside the junction. The summer hostel of the Mázaszászvári Miner’s Sports Club Nature Lovers Department from Nyárád is currently in need of renovation, with cracked walls and a dented roof. The Vörösfenyő hostel is in somewhat better condition, a beautiful example of the workers' movement social life from the 1950s and 1960s: mining union hiking sections built and operated this tourist house starting in the 1950s. Nowadays, this hostel managed by the Hétomb Nature Lovers Association offers a real time travel experience: with oil lamps, water carried from a well, wood heating, nicely maintained external toilets, and intermittent mobile signal helping disconnection from modern civilization.

Behind the houses, two mine carts commemorate the founding Komló Miner’s Nature Hiking Department, repurposed for rainwater collection and garbage storage. Beneath the namesake red pines, under one roof, there are tables and benches; down on the meadow, a memorial pole and a campfire site dedicated to the members of the Hétomb Nature Lovers Association are found. In Hungary, red pines — the only deciduous pine in Central Europe — mostly are planted, growing naturally only at the top of the Alpine forest limit. Its name derives from its crimson-red cone flower cluster, and it is spectacular also in autumn before leaf fall. Its wood is an excellent building and carpentry material.

Look for the knot in the sedge

From the houses, we head northeast switching to the Z+ trail. We proceed down a gently sloping ridge, and for a while, the P+ trail running parallel to us is still visible on the right. About 1 km from the house, we reach an almost level, winding dirt road. The road making two right-angle turns skirts a wet, tussocky habitat. It is worth detouring 50 meters left from the road here to observe the unique flora of the depression formed in the clearing. Water accumulating in the depression saturates the soil, so tree roots cannot grip the oxygen-poor medium, creating a natural clearing inhabited by water-loving plants. The wet labyrinth between the tussocks formed by sedges and bulrushes is called a semlyék. Over many years, these areas are filled with soil formed from decomposed plant material, and the clearing is reclaimed by new trees. Until then, it provides a wet habitat for animals and plants, offering nesting and feeding grounds.

After the detour, we continue descending until the dirt road meets a gravel road coming from the left, which was destroyed by a landslide at the entrance to the Csepegő-ditch.

Descending into the Csepegő-ditch

The Eastern Mecsek mainly consists of two types of rock masses: marl and limestone marine sediments from the early Jurassic, and volcanic origin rocks such as trachydolerite and phonolite deposited upon them in the Lower Cretaceous. Alternations of solidified basaltic lava flows and tuff layers deposited in aquatic environments can be observed in many places here — a fine example is the Csepegő-ditch. Karstification typical of the Western Mecsek is rare in the Eastern Mecsek because Jurassic sediments do not react as strongly to water, and the lack of swallow holes makes the valley network here much more varied than in the other mountain part. Fossils of shells, snails, and ammonites can be found under the tuff layers.

The Csepegő-ditch begins with a gradually deepening, meandering streambed that runs parallel to the trail. Adventurous hikers, hunting for caddisfly larvae and leaf-footed crabs, can follow the streambed for a while. Below the first waterfall, the stream forms a small pond. Above it, ferns, mosses, and wood sorrel create a charming small garden on the rock. From there, the bed deepens gradually; after about 400 meters walk and numerous crossings, on the left side under the road, we find a larger landslide with a campfire site, a perfect resting spot. From here it is worth making another detour down the streambed because that is where the most spectacular formations are. Even more so because from this point, the trail runs about 20 meters high on the side of the deep valley, so the half-dark, wild streambed is hardly visible. Moreover, at several places at the trail edge, the mountainside has inconveniently slipped close, so we should be careful! About 100 meters later, we see a “wall” standing perpendicular to the valley, made of harder volcanic rocks, over which a small waterfall flows.

As the path joins a bulldozer road and reaches the stream, it is worth proceeding upstream in the bed to visit the Csöpögő spring. There, we can see a small rock staircase with a waterfall and a spring emerging from the rock face whose name is readable on a black granite plaque. Under the stable water outlet, a beautiful travertine deposit can be observed. On the other bank, it is worth wandering a bit along the remains of an old path running up and down the valley in the wild gorge. In one cliff of the valley, about 500 meters upstream from the spring, a small Virgin Mary statue can be seen.

Along the Völgysegi creek

Returning to the Z+ trail, we soon reach the main valley of Völgysegi creek. A striking view greets us, evoking a real computer desktop wallpaper. The valley hosts Magyaregregy and Vékény, the start and end points of our tour. The watercourse was lined over a 53-kilometer length by mill channels. It originates on the main watershed of the Eastern Mecsek on Hármas hill, coming from Zobákakna, and after collecting the streams flowing west and north of the mountain region, it flows into the Sió. Its catchment area defined the historical Völgyseg region, which, thanks to fish-rich waters and extensive forests, has been densely populated since prehistoric times. In the Middle Ages, the valley belonged to the Szászvár serf villages on the right bank.

After reaching the meadow, follow the forest edge left up to the willow tree line growing along a perpendicular drainage ditch, then turn right there and walk to the bed of the Völgysegi creek. At the corner of the fence, turn left, then follow the rarely used marked path for about 400 meters. The nettle-filled path falls into the creek in many places, so it is worth holding on to the fence. Near the end of the tour, at the edge of Vékény, at the farm buildings, a chained, poisonous dog may scare us, but fortunately its chain does not reach the side of the road where we can sneak past it. Opposite the endpoint, the bus stop, there stands a two hundred-year-old watermill, which operated as a campsite until recently, but its Dutch owner no longer welcomes visitors gladly.

From here, we can return to Magyaregregy by bus or on foot. It is worth resting in Kárász on the way back, where we can visit the barber and stable museum, as well as the mushroom house, and at the liquor shop, taste 14 types of pálinka from local distilleries.