Hike to a forgotten castle ruin among the hills of Cserhát

Itinerary

• We start from the Csővár town hall on Mikszáth Street.
• From the right, the PL trail joins on Jókai Street. We follow this until the ruins of Csővár castle.
• Returning to the saddle below the castle, the P trail leads us to Nézsa.
• The P● trail starts in the center of Nézsa; we leave the settlement along this path.
• In the absence of markings, we cover about 2 km on the road between Nézsa and Csővár.
• After exiting the forest, at a fork we turn left until we reach the P● trail again.
• We turn left on this trail, making a detour to the Kilián spring.
• From the spring, we return along the P● trails back to the starting point of our hike.

Detailed description of the hike

To the castle towards the tower

We arrive at Csővár via rough Cserhát roads. We start our hike near the town hall, from the parking lot in front of the building or from the neighboring bus stop.

Crossing the Sinkár stream, then turning right, we head down Mikszáth Street. After a few steps, at a playground we turn right onto a path along the stream. Information boards display photos of Csővár’s tradition-preserving programs; to the left we pass an outdoor fitness park, then along rustic lantern posts, we reach a board presenting the history of Csővár castle.

We turn left, returning to Mikszáth Street in front of a small shop. The castle ruins are already visible as we proceed straight uphill. A rusty old water pump and a construction plant appear on the right as the PL trail joins; we follow it straight ahead. We wind through towered, long peasant houses, seeing wells, vegetable gardens, and occasionally vineyards or cornfields in the gardens. In a newer part of the village, we walk along Rákóczi Street among Kádár cubes until after the last lamppost we leave the village for good. Although there are no markings, a "castle" sign hidden in the bushes clearly indicates to continue straight. Here, in the parking lot of the castle road, we turn right onto a bulldozer road.

We cross the Sinkár stream (in dry weather preferably just the riverbed), spotting a picturesque, solitary forester's house on the right, with beehives behind, and the church of Csővár visible alongside. After a left turn, our path starts rising in a young black locust stand, the direction clear so the absence of markings is not bothersome. The clay soil slows our steps when wet, but soon we reach a flat road, then at a T-junction – following signs and boards – we turn left.

On the rising path, we cover about 300 meters until we reach the saddle, also a tourist route junction: from the front, the P trail arrives from Penc, turning right towards Vas-hegy – meanwhile, we remain on the PL trail going left. The dirt road becomes rocky, with typical mountain rocks, limestone and dolomite, their white rounded pieces sticking out under our feet. We quickly reach the 320 m high peak of Várhegy.

A forgotten, impressive ruin

A nice clearing with a fire pit hidden under trees and an information board about the castle's history greet us at the top. We enter the former fortress through the gate ruins. On the left, the impressive, well-visible ruin of the former three-story tower of the inner castle rises into the sky. It is worth walking to the end of the path stretching among the ruins to the eastern cliff of the hill where, in a secluded spot, the remains of the palace's vaulted side wall stand, and a great view opens toward Csővár and its surroundings. The former castle is cut by several smaller paths, so if we explore these, be very careful! Next to the Old Tower, a large enclosed cistern may pose a danger.

The castle was built by Béla IV after the Mongol invasion and became the southernmost stronghold of the Nógrád castle system. Later, it was repeatedly seized by nobles opposing royal power: at the beginning of the 14th century, Máté Csák captured and destroyed it, then after reconstruction, in 1444, the local Csői-Nézsai family, together with the Hussites raiding Upper Hungary, made it the center of their looting. Later, King Matthias donated it to his son, János Corvinus, to ensure his recognition among the nobility. In 1551, it fell into Turkish hands, who ultimately set it on fire and abandoned it. The castle was never rebuilt; locals even used its stones for construction.

New slopes, new views

We return to the saddle on the PL trail, then face-to-face switch to the P trail, beginning the climb to Vas-hegy. On the left, remnants of a few years old logging and timber piles lie. After a short ascent, we reach the southern grassy peak, then continue until we reach the 358 m high Vas-hegy, from where we have a view to the north: Vár-hegy near Szanda, in the distance the Karancs-Medves area, and to the south, beyond the pines, the recently visited Csővár castle ruins.

Once we crest the summit, we spot Nézsa below us. Among two downward trails, we choose the right one, starting a descent on a bald, steep, rubble-strewn slope until we enter the woods. Our path soon leads into a cart road arriving from the right; we follow it for a few hundred meters. At the fork, we turn right, and at the next one again, with the ground becoming swampy underfoot near the Nézsai stream and Ezersziget fishing lake. We pass a hut labeled "Noah's Ark," then at the fishing lake fence, we turn left. We cross the stream and pass old but still operational farm buildings before reaching Nézsa.

The turning point

On the right, an old small trailer sadly stands on the arable field, with inscriptions indicating that plant protection products used to be available here. The P trail turns left on Alkotmány Street (we can shorten the hike by going straight ahead and then turning right at the P● trail, skipping the sights of Nézsa). We walk along it towards the village center. On the left, at the junction with Széchenyi Street, we can find a pre-regime change "April 4th Road" sign. On Ady Road, we turn right; beautiful renovated houses replace the poorer views. This leads us to Nézsa's main road, across which there is a nice grove and a sidewalk where we continue our hike to the right. A few steps later, we reach the currently operating school, the nicely renovated Reviczky castle and its protected park. The "anti-regime" building – like many others – operated as a hospital during the World War and was condemned to demolition by the consolidating communist regime. Finally, locals succeeded in preserving it and converting it into a school.

From the school, we continue on the P● trail starting here, alongside the P and Sᵯ signs. In the direction sign at the Legénd fork, we can also see the settlement's Trianon and 1956 memorials. In front of St. James Church, we turn right on the P● trail. After a right turn and a bridge, we turn left and continue the hike on a hard-packed dirt road between arable lands. Unfortunately, markings are scarce again, but the winding road is well traceable. We cover over a kilometer; at the top of the ascent, an open gate stands on the left. Although the map shows the P● trail turning left here, this is not marked in reality, and the path leads into an impenetrable black locust-thicket in about 800 meters, so we recommend another route.

Next to the gate, we continue straight ahead. Soon, a cart road joins from the left (along which the boundary of Nógrád and Pest counties runs), and we enter a beautiful open-canopy oak forest. Don't be surprised if a car occasionally passes, as locals use this unofficial road between Nézsa and Csővár, cutting a nearly 20 km loop. We exit the forest; the road continuing straight ahead leads to Csővár, but we turn left onto a connecting dirt road. We climb to the ridge of a plowed hillside, then descend on its other side, crossing the Sinkár stream again and arrive in the forest. The P● signs are already visible from afar, turning left they lead us to the Kilián spring.

Temporary revival, seasonal spring

In the 1950s and 60s, Csővár’s development accelerated thanks to improving public transport and the introduction of electricity. Welfare brought with it colorful and ornate local folk costumes. This castle ruin restored during this period, caves uncovered in the limestone formation, and the nearby tourist hostel built in Penc increased interest and thus tourism. The Budapest Red Meteor Tourist Association regularly led hikes to the area and took care of this spring. The flowing spring was named after György Kilián, one of the illegal communist movement activists between the two world wars, who was somewhat idolized during the Rákosi and Kádár regimes. After the regime change, it was officially referred to as Mária Spring, but both the inscription on the shelter and the original name are gradually fading from public memory. The spring only works seasonally.

We turn back from the spring. Leaving the aforementioned intersection, we immediately turn right onto a grassy, winding path. Our path is bordered on the left by a fence, then after a huge oak – on which we still see old, non-standard P● marks – we arrive at the first houses of Csővár. Following Jókai Street, we reach the main square and bus stop, but the markings tempt us to a detour: on Dankó Street, we can visit the village's evangelical church and wonderfully cared-for cemetery.

Leaving the cemetery gate, we turn left and return to the starting point of our hike on Madách Street.