On the neglected terrains of Gerecse

Itinerary

• Starting down from the bus stop, turn immediately right onto Béke Street. Follow the street called Változó straight to the edge of the village.
• Here we reach the P marking, turn right and walk all the way to the Somlyó slope.
• The branch marked K▲ leads up to the Somlyó.
• After returning from the summit, follow the P marking right towards the guesthouse, where it's worth walking out to the wooded ridge for the view.
• Return on the K marking.
• From Koldusszállás, continue on the K marking below the Pes-kő cliff.
• Enter Vértestolna on the K+ marking.

Detailed description of the tour

At the edge of Tarján

We start our tour from Tarján, located in an area of basin hills formed in a northwest-southeast oriented trench that structures the Gerecse mountain range. This medium-sized village was depopulated during the Turkish period and again during the plague epidemic; later, when it came under the Esterházy family, it was settled by German colonists. Their lives were connected to the forests surrounding the basin like rings: they were engaged in forestry, producing potash, and fruit farming in the gentler terrain. Their proportion remains significant in Tarján today, with about one-third of the population identifying as German.

From the bus stop, turn onto Béke Street and cross through the garden houses until the edge of the village. Turning right on the P marking, we ascend the hill along the expressively named Kenderföldek (Hemp Fields) – although today, instead of hemp, fields of giant sunflowers and grain sway in the sunshine. From some points above the path, the barely raised yet distinctive peak of Somlyó appears. Upon reaching the forest, our path turns left and follows its edge for a while – a poor, grassy pasture devoid of pleasures. From one point, we can look back at the village nestled below the steep slopes of Nagy-Gerecse, then enter under the trees and climb a gentle ascent.

The Somlyó

The section leading to the foot of the Somlyó offers both serious challenge and pleasure: the otherwise small forest block is exclusively used for economic purposes; in the strict sense, natural conditions remain only in traces in this exploited area. We walk in a plantation forest composed of wide forestry roads, rocky paths, clearings, younger and ageing stands waiting to be cut, where the human regulatory role has loudly replaced ecological processes, ugly signs disfigure the terrain.

An old hornbeam and the tourist path joining with the K marking (where we must turn left) mark a boundary on the slope called the telling Szénégető (Charcoal Burners). On the Somlyó slope, we walk in a much nicer environment on an oak forest dozer road climbing upwards. Shortly, the path marked K▲ branches right to the flat, dome-shaped summit of the Somlyó. This short detour introduces a huge change to the view: the 447-meter high summit is surrounded by an extensive rocky grassland steppe meadow on which the trail winds. With a little imagination, the landscape resembles a sparse savanna, emphasized in summer by the blazing sun and heat. From the top, we can mainly scan the Vértes, the hills above Tatabánya, Nagy-Gerecse, and the surrounding basins. We can also recognize the cliff of Pes-kő, which we approach at the end of the tour.

The guesthouse

Returning to the marking, walk down right to the guesthouse! With its open door and covered veranda, it makes an ideal shelter even for overnight stays, and the clearing beside the building is perfect for stargazing. Of course, you can rent the house if you want (there are also football goals nearby). Walking out to the rocky ridge and descending a little along its washed slopes, the most beautiful panorama of the tour opens: the broad Héreg–Tarján basin’s villages lie in the background with the impressive crest of Gerecse-tető, with its rocky outcrops here and there, standing green, dwarfed by the other heights of the mountain range. The forest paths close off the color palette of the arable fields of the inhabited basins.

Trudging under the highway squeeze

We turn back from the house and follow the National Blue Trail K signs in the next hours. In terms of experience, the clear highlight of our tour was the Somlyó; unfortunately, the next kilometers hold no particularly memorable sights – we must wait until the end of the route for those. We reach a concrete road and pass by an old abandoned quarry. Leaving behind the industrial buildings of Tornyópuszta – and the accompanying stench – we briefly cross the hillside on concrete, while the cliff of the somewhat distant Pes-kő brightens ahead. Turning left, leaving the highway, we descend to cross the concrete swath connecting Tarján with Tatabánya. Be careful, as the next meters await us on a busy road edge!

On a path, we wind down to the Bodza valley – the idyllic arable land’s atmosphere is much spoiled by the M1 motorway that blocks its end, causing significant noise. Before the road, we turn right and enter a somewhat nicer, closed mixed forest than before. From the name Tarjáni-malom-árok (Tarján mill ditch), we can guess the small creek previously utilized, which we cross before briefly climbing to later pass over the Hallgató blunt ridge along a fence. We reach the connecting road to Koldusszállás and soon stand before the multi-story hunting lodge building also decorated with a pond.

Leaving the house, our path turns right and we set out in the most beautiful forest of the route on the final – but still rather lengthy – section. Of course, we have no chance to experience a real nature moment here either, but it’s worth observing what lies beneath our feet: in the stones of the forest road appears a reddish limestone known as tardosi red marble, which you can find in the interiors of many nearby Budapest buildings – mainly as decorative stone.

Below the Pes-kő

Behind a sizeable clearing already shines the massive limestone wall of Pes-kő. The K+ marking leaves the Blue Trail to the right here, offering a chance to close our route with a loop about 30-45 minutes later, as it returns to Tarján. The Blue Trail leads to the forest edge, and to the right, the ridges of Baglyas-hegy and Somlyó rise in the undulating landscape.

A nice, closed forest section lies ahead, yet the hornbeam-ash canopy hides the region’s main attraction: looking left, mossy boulders stand orphaned on the forest floor, giving an idea that the terrain must hold a rock mass higher up. The Pes-kő is a huge rock wall built from Dachstein limestone. Its name derives from the Slavic word “pest” meaning cave in Hungarian, and as with well-karstified limestone in general, it holds cavities. Although the Blue Trail once crossed the summit, the two small source caves are today strictly protected due to the special vegetation on the cliff and nesting birds of prey, so the hiking trails avoid the area. As in many places in Gerecse, here too, a strike-slip fault tilted the mountain block sideways: under tectonic forces, rocks unable to fold break along faults and their blocks rise (or slide down). The Pes-kő marks such a north-south fault line, while the small Sasbérc’s western side slopes gently into the Vértestolna basin. (This structural line continues in the sharply cut southeastern face of Nagy-Gerecse as well.)

We walk roughly level, then turn slightly left. Young forest edges the hiking path, which suddenly takes a sharp right and reaches the country road. The K+ marking leads along the asphalt into Vértestolna. The village was only settled in the 18th century, when the owners Esterházys settled German families on its land. The village sign indicates that the German heritage remains part of the village to this day.