On hills along the Danube

Itinerary

During the route, we must follow the P marker all the way.

• Follow the main street to the Árpád-era church in Nagybörzsöny! Here the P marker turns south and turns off towards the fishing pond.
• After the fishing pond, the P marker crosses a pasture, at the southern end of which it enters the forest and begins a long ascent on a dirt road until it reaches Gömbölyű-kő.
• After Gömbölyű-kő, we start a gentle descent, at a poorly marked dirt road junction choose the left branch, this will be the P marker which leads across Kis-Koppány. From there we descend steeply to Koppány saddle.
• In the saddle, we find a Y-shaped junction, for us the left branch is the correct choice again. 150 meters ahead we reach another junction, where signs help orientation: the P continues straight south, burrows into the forest, and goes downhill.
• We cross the stream several times until eventually it turns right and the trail turns left. We arrive at the village border on dirt roads among the arable lands surrounding Márianosztra.
• The P marker crosses the village on Kossuth Lajos Street in a west-east direction, but before its end, it turns left on Dózsa György Street. Dózsa György Street changes direction to the right at the third corner. Without junctions, continuing straight it passes through the forest on the hiking trail.
• In Kóspallag, we again walk on Kossuth Street into the village center - here we turn right onto Váci Street! At the end of the street, we join the Malom-völgyi stream.
• 1.6 km after the village border, we reach a junction: the hiking trail marked P takes a sharp right turn, passes along the shore of Torony-alja fishing pond, crosses the Kóspallag road, then turns south again.
• We cut through a long clearcut area, then reach the asphalt road of Törökmező. The hiking trail turns right from here and makes a loop to Törökmező tourist house, but later returns to the concrete road. Although it leaves it to the right, it stays alongside, then crosses it and follows its left side in the forest.
• Soon we return again to the paved road. When we arrive at the parking, the P crosses it and leads between the trees. From here, winding, we descend to Nagymaros.
• We join Rákóczi Ferenc Street and follow it for a good 30-40 minutes until we reach Magyar Street, where by turning left we can reach the train station and with an additional 5-minute walk the ferry.

Details about the route

From Nagybörzsöny main square, following the main street, we climb up to the Árpád-era church standing at the village’s highest point. First, we descend beside the village edge fishing pond, then turn onto a seemingly endless, monotonous but tiring ascent up to Gömbölyű-kő. First, we cross a pasture, then start a long, monotonous forest walk. The dozer road mostly leads straight, passing few junctions up to the clearing. It is somewhat difficult to get lost but be careful, as the marker is not easy to follow everywhere. (At one point, the forest dirt road crosses a streambed and sharply turns right. Here, at Csörge-well, a few meters after the corner, we can turn left and following a well-trodden path we can walk up along the longitudinal clearing of Bizmet-meadow to the mountain-edge Gömbölyű-kő. Looking back from the meadow, there is a beautiful view of the Ipoly valley, with the cooling towers of the shut down Mochovce nuclear power plant standing out on the plain. The hiking trail reaches the trees at the upper point of the clearing by turning right.)

The secluded, seldom-visited Gömbölyű-kő offers an unusual, surprising sight. As far as the eye can see, smaller and larger ridges line up behind each other, and the background is provided by the Csóványos-Magosfa range. The viewpoint is among the best in the mountain range; it reveals Börzsöny in an unusual and exciting perspective along its length. The clearing at the forest edge on the ridge itself is a charming, pleasant place.

From the viewpoint, we start a long descent. The hiking trail starts to flatten briefly, during which we cross the small peak of Kis-Koppány, whose southern slope offers a view similar but limited compared to Gömbölyű-kő. We descend to a saddle from where a short but tiring climb allows a detour to the panoramic top of Nagy-Koppány. This brings us to the world of the southwestern volcanic cones of Börzsöny. We are at a lower elevation in the central part of the mountain area: several smaller eruption center domes rise here (such as the mentioned Nagy-Koppány, Só Hill, Kopasz Hill, Nagy-Galla, etc.). Almost all repay the effort of steep ascent with magnificent views.

Towards Márianosztra, we continue in a narrow, lively winding, sometimes groved stream valley. Finally, we climb out of the gorge-like cut and onto a dirt road running along the edge of the village’s fields, which in rainy weather can be unpleasantly muddy and rutted, making the journey quite difficult.

Probably for everyone, the stage around Márianosztra and Kóspallag is the least memorable section of the hiking from Holló-kő to Vörös-kő. Between the two villages, it is a simple forest walk, but in about 1 hour we reach Kóspallag. After the village, we follow a pleasant stream valley, walking along the friendly wooded shore of Torony-alja fishing pond. Although we continuously ride ups and downs among the forest hills around Börzsöny, it is really only before Törökmező that the distant high Börzsöny ranges remind us again that we are in a mountainous region.

In the kilometer after Törökmező, it is worth looking back from time to time, as the more attentive can spot Nagy-Hideg-hegy clearing and on it the tourist house. It’s not necessary to take a detour to the Törökmező house, but it’s worth stocking up for the next approx. 2.5 km, which we cover along an asphalt road (the trail follows the road in the forest). The Visegrád Mountains ranges appear from time to time, but the Danube remains hidden from our sight. If we want to see it, it’s worth visiting the Gubacsi-hálás clearing. This is a short walk from the P marker, but a rewarding investment: from a steep mountainside, the entire Danube Bend unfolds before us from Vác to Prédikálószék. Opposite is the Visegrád castle, and in front of us the mountains of the far shore, the next region on the Holló-kő to Vörös-kő route.

Remaining on the P, we turn among the houses on the village edge and after a long street walk, we reach the train station, later the ferry dock.