Gorge hike in search of legendary springs

Itinerary

• We start from the bus stop heading south on the P+ trail.
• At the Csúcs-hegy junction, we turn right on the Z trail.
• On the side of Öreg-Kerülő Hill, we take a small detour on the Z● trail to the Bányász-kút.
• We return to the Z trail.
• At the end of the gorge, we go up to the Judit spring on the Z▲ trail.
• We return to the gorge and continue on the Z▲ trail.
• Before the asphalt road, we turn left on the P+ trail.
• At the Csúcs-hegy junction, we turn right on the Z trail and return to Bakonybél.
• We walk on an unmarked path turning left onto Kossuth Street.
• Arriving at the Main Street, the S markings guide us back to the bus stop.

Detailed description of the route

From the bus stop to the Borostyán spring

We start from the bus stop heading south on the P+ trail along Petőfi Street, whose last house on the left belonged to Tamás Cseh, recipient of the Kossuth and Liszt Ferenc awards. Continuing, at the edge of the settlement to the left, away from the road, on the hillside called Szőlőgyöp stands the so-called White Cross, erected by János Hajik and his wife in 1936 in honor of the Hungarian Great Lady. An interesting fact is that the villagers used to pilgrimage here on St. Mark’s Day one year, and the next year to the cross at Pápai Street to bless the border and the wheat. It is only 400 meters from here to the Borostyán spring.

This old sacred site is first mentioned in a papal bull by Pope Gregory IX in 1230, which states that on top of Saint Gellért Rock - identified by researchers with the Borostyán stone - there was a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In 1825, a later destroyed chapel was built in its place, on the site of the building still standing today, completed in 1889. The 14 stations of the Calvary depicting the Passion of Christ were completed in 1888. In a stone recess next to the chapel stands a Lourdes Mary statue erected in 1908. According to tradition, Saint Günther, the first abbot of the Bakonybél monastery, also lived as a hermit here - which is why the stones rolled down from the hill are called Saint Günther's tears. A pond, artificially created in 1996 in front of the chapel, is fed by spring water from the Borostyán spring.

According to the legend of Saint Gellért, a Benedictine abbot, he retired from the royal court to the Bakonybél monastery between 1023–1030 and built a hut nearby where he lived a life of devout prayer and solitude. One day, while writing, he fell asleep in front of his hut and woke to find a fawn escaping from a wolf settled next to him for protection, knocking over the ink he was writing with. After feeding the animal, it did not leave him. On another occasion, carrying wood from the forest, he found a wolf lying at his hut door with a gaping wound on its side. Seeing the hermit, the predator came over and collapsed. Saint Gellért washed and bandaged its wound, took the wolf into his hut, and the wolf, like a thankful dog, licked the hermit’s hand and gently lay down next to the fawn.

An interesting folk custom is connected to the Saint's path: the Pilate Beating. On Maundy Thursday night, young men carried straw dummies fastened to wooden frames to the chapel, where they lit a big fire and then burned the straw dummy representing Pilate because "he handed Jesus over to the Jews." Before burning, the dummy was thoroughly beaten with sticks. Often the flames were fed all night as it was believed that when Jesus was interrogated, the guards warmed themselves by the fire in the yard. According to some sources, the Pilate burning tradition linked to winter burial lived on in the village until the 1960s.

From Csúcs-hegy to Bányász-kút

From Borostyán spring, we proceed eastwards on the P+ trail toward Csúcs-hegy. On the initially steep path, we exit the torchwood forest and ascend past pasture sections fenced with electric fences on our left. We cross a wide gravel road on the right, with the limestone formation of Szőc standing out on the slope. The path soon reaches another gravel road. Despite the nearly 100 m altitude difference, we are still on the Bakonybél basin bed. We turn right on the Z trail for about 100 m, then turn left off it. Shortly afterward, we begin descending and meet the gravel road again, continuing on it. A little further, we turn right onto a path passing a beautiful rock circle on the left. We leave the Z trail on the Z● trail to the Bányász-kút, also known as Tücsök spring, under the old beech trees on the side of Öreg-Kerülő Hill.

The Gugyor

Returning to the Z trail, we turn left into the Kertes-kő gorge. Caution is advised as we need to step across slippery stones over the creek in several places! The Bakonybél monastery’s founding charter issued by Saint Stephen in 1018 mentions this place as a border point. In Bakony, narrow valleys bounded by steep cliffs through which a creek flows are called gugyor. The Gerence gorge here, although only about 300 meters long, is very scenic. It is bounded on either side by 30–40 m high zircon limestone cliffs formed about 100 million years ago during a Cretaceous marine transgression. In the shallow sea environment, thick, asymmetrical-shelled rudist bivalves proliferated; their irregular circular or elliptical fossil remnants can be found in several places, such as at the Judit spring, where we must detour. At the end of the stone gate, we turn right on the Z▲ trail leading to one of the area’s outstanding geological values, the Judit spring tufa formation. Water flows down from about 40 m height with small waterfalls into the gorge. This formation consists of freshwater limestone precipitated from calcium carbonate due to carbon dioxide release from the accelerated karst water. We soon reach benches standing before the trapped spring. It is worth carefully stepping onto the rock named Oltár-kő, from the top of which (especially during leafless times) there is a view into the gorge. Its name may originate from times before the Hungarians’ conversion to Roman Christianity.

From here, we return the way we came to the Gerence, where we turn right and cross the gorge. The narrow valley and the rushing Gerence formed a unique cool, humid microclimate. Besides mosses and fern species on the cliff walls, we can encounter one of the plant world’s little “jewels,” the mossy crusta, which forms a cushion-like rock coating. This protected small plant belonging to the carnation family lives only on moss-covered rocks because its tiny seeds can germinate on the wet substrate of moss cushions. Its small white flowers bloom around May, usually pollinated by small flies. In the water, we can also encounter protected species, such as the agile sculpin, which rarely appears between the riverbed stones.

Through a wildflower meadow to the Borsó spring

At the end of the gorge, we continue northeast on the Z▲ trail, leaving the Gerence valley. Reaching a wide dirt road, we turn left, then soon take a right fork off it. Across a large wildflower meadow (autumn lion's tooth, meadow buttercup, meadow knapweed, field sowthistle, common St. John's wort, etc.), passing a hunting stand, we reach the Bakonybél paved road. Before the asphalt, we turn left on the P+ trail leading into a mixed torchwood-coppice oak forest. After 100 m, on the left, we find the Borsó spring.

Again Csúcs-hegy and then Bakonybél

The forest gradually changes to beech. After crossing a stream, we reach the Csúcs-hegy junction 700 m away, where we turn right and continue on the Z trail out onto the meadow. From here, Kőris-hegy, the range formed by Parajos-tető and Tönkölös-hegy, are clearly visible. At Pityer Hill, the trail reaches the paved road, which we take along Jókai Street, arriving back in Bakonybél. At the village sign on the left, under three pine trees, stands the Red Cross crucifixure made in 1933. From here, turning left on Kossuth L. Street, then left onto the Main Street, we return to the bus stop.