On historic paths in the Arka stream gorge

Itinerary:

• We arrive at the Boldogkő Castle following the KL mark, and we also descend into the village on this path.
• We follow the K mark through Arka and along the Arka stream gorge to the border of Mogyoróska.
• We make a short detour to the Bónyi spring on the K● mark.
• We enter Mogyoróska following the K mark.

Detailed description of the route:

In Boldogkő's impressive knight's castle

We start our route from the parking lot of Boldogkő Castle, on the hillside above the village. The fortress built on a rocky ridge floats like a giant ship in the broad bed of the Hernád valley, above small villages surrounded by fields and orchards. The wider area’s center, the historically significant city of Kassa in the Carpathian Basin, was connected by the main traffic route running along the Hernád from the country’s central and eastern regions. The castle was intended to control this strategic artery from the Tartar invasion until the Habsburg era.

The origin of Boldogkő Castle is linked to castle-building after the Tartar invasion. According to folklore, Béla IV, fleeing the nearby battle defeat at Muhi Plain, was hidden in the neighboring Aszaló by a cooper named Bodó, who was later made lord of the area by the king on the condition that he builds a castle. Seven beautiful daughters helped him, each of the noble suitors was obliged to build part of the castle during the engagement year. Thus Bodó's castle was completed in seven years, where the seven daughters' weddings were celebrated with great joy. The legend traces the name Boldogkő to these weddings.

In fact, the castle foundation was built in the era of Béla IV after the Tartar invasion; with royal permission, Count Tyba of the Tomaj clan constructed it. With the extinction of the Árpád dynasty kings, the area passed to the Amadé family, who, after their defeat at Rozgony, had the king donate it to the Anjou-supporting Drugeth family. Probably most of the walls were built then. Over the following centuries, due to its busy location, the castle changed hands often, ultimately becoming uninhabitable in the kuruc era due to imperial forces. Its last permanent residents were Jesuit monks from Lőcse in the 18th century, who replaced many ruined parts with pointed-arch brick walls. Its current state was shaped according to the original fortress function, and had military history exhibitions inside.

We descend the rocky ridge from the west on a path marked KL directly at the base of the walls. The sometimes rubble-strewn, rocky path steeply leads to the meadows surrounding the village. Along the way, we enjoy beautiful views of the Hernád valley and the western side of the volcanoes from Magoska to Sátor Hill near Abaújszántó. Passing the cemetery on the left, arriving beside the local house, we enter the village where we connect with the National Blue Trail K marker, which we then follow until the end of our route.

In the valley of the Arka stream

Heading north, we leave the settlement along the Arka stream in the increasingly narrowing gorge. On the asphalt road towards the neighboring Arka, we pass the protrusion of the volcanic cone of Magoska, the Leány Hill massif. The road winds between very steep and rocky sides until after two kilometers, the widening valley basin reveals the first houses of the village.

This dead-end village is barely inhabited today, its old timbered houses remain as holiday homes. We pass in front of the late 18th-century copper-roofed Reformed church, then passing the cemetery from below, we leave Arka to the north. Our route goes above the village edge orchards, offering a great view of the volcanic massif of Magoska, the houses and towers of the settlement hidden at the foot of the mountains. Skirting the orchard from the west, we descend through a shrubby hillside to the stream.

From here, the Arka stream valley shows its wilder face as we get closer to the volcanic side, its origin. The gorge-like narrowing valley walls are increasingly rocky and stony with cliff edges bordering the stream creeping between andesite lava tongues. The path mostly follows the valley bottom, on the flat flood plain of the stream’s meadow. After a ruined mill building and the confluence of the Láng valley entering on the opposite side, we cross the water; from here, the path really begins a game of tag with the stream bed. The stream squeezed between two steep rocky slopes seeks the possible path by winding around lava streams’ andesite tongues. The softer parts’ basins are filled with flat terraces of water used by the path too. The area is covered by a beautiful, mixed-age, mixed forest: hornbeam and beech, favoring the moist, cooler areas, are predominant, but riparian alder, ash, and maple trees are also typical.

In the wildest, most secluded section, we wind along with the stream among the lava tongues for nearly two kilometers, until we bypass a rocky tongue on the left and arrive at an open area. At the wooded Hosszú meadow, a ruined forester’s house and a crumbling well remain as memories of the former forest life. We climb around a rocky fragmented shoreline section through old beech forest, but from the hornbeam grove on the other side, the K marked wide cart road leads further.

On the meadows of Mogyoróska

Leaving the ancient atmosphere of the gorge, we proceed on a more open, brighter terrain. Alternating meadows, forest patches, and riparian groves, we approach the mountainous interior. At the edge of a large meadow, we leave the watercourse and ascend the gentle hillside on the right-branching cart road, from where we get better and better views of the surrounding area.

After a rest area set up under an old oak, from the highest point of the meadow, the castle of Regéc, surrounded by mountains, also appears, but the most prominent sight is the wreath of volcanoes opposite. The series of elevations over the meadows between Regéc and Mogyoróska is opened on the left by the highest Gergely Hill, whose dome-shaped mass includes the Kis-Szár-kő in front of it. Next comes the triple peak of the Bán Hills and Nagy-Szár-kő, with a round clearing in the hillside in the middle, from which the best view opens towards Regéc. On the edge, the long ridge of Nagy-Bekecs is visible, from whose gentle southern side protrudes the fortress-shaped Regéc Castle Hill with its grinding tooth-like fortress at the top.

From the eastern end of the meadow, we make a short detour on the K● mark to the Bónyi spring just under a hundred meters away. Surrounded by old beech trees, the spring flows surely from a small cut, beside which is a rest area equipped with a rain shelter, benches, and tables. Because of the meadow by the stream once filled with flocks, the natural spring was a popular resting spot for animals and shepherds—as also testified by the shade-providing old trees.

Over a few hundred meters, we re-enter the riparian forest to bypass the Bosturnya ridge extending from the south, but on the other side, on the groved meadow below the village, we fully switch to the other side of the stream and climb steeply to Mogyoróska, situated on the hillside.

From the lower end of the village, we ascend to the settlement built on the hillside, branching out in a star shape with three streets. Originally belonging to Regéc Castle, Mogyoróska became uninhabited during the kuruc era, later resettled by Ruthenian settlers. Accordingly, the church in the village center is Greek Catholic, decorated with a beautiful iconostasis. Walking towards the center, the view of Regéc Castle, reigning high above, becomes more defining. Although our route ends here, it is worth crossing through the castle to Regéc along the K mark—this, however, is presented in another route description.