Pénzesgyőr Gorge Circular Hike

Itinerary

• We start westward from the bus stop following the Z sign.
• Before the entrance to the gorge, we turn left onto a narrow path following the Z▲ sign, taking a detour to the Judit spring.
• From the Judit spring, we descend on the Z▲ sign to the entrance of the Kertes-kő Gorge, from where we do not change signs until we reach the other side of the main road.
• Following the P+ sign to the right, we cross the main road and follow it to the Zoltay spring.
• Soon we reach the Z sign, where we turn right and return to the starting point. 

About the hike in detail

Pénzesgyőr

The village of Pénzesgyőr was formed on July 1, 1956, by the unification of Pénzeskút belonging to Lókút, Kőrisgyőr belonging to Szentgál, and Kerteskő belonging to Bakonybél. The latter already appeared as a property boundary in the founding charter issued by King Saint Stephen for the Bakonybél monastery. Its former name was Antalháza, after Dr. Antal Rainprecht who managed the property—he was the steward of the bishopric of Veszprém, the chief ispán of Veszprém county, and founder of the Hungarian section of the Pan-European Movement. On his estate, the Directorate of Experimental Farms established the famous Kerteskő Stud in 1952, which was transferred to the Bábolna State Farm in 1962. From 1970, the world-famous sire Imperial stood there. During the Turkish invasion, the population fled; resettlement only began in the 18th century.

"Pénzeskút likely got its name from the coins of Saint Ladislaus dug up from its wells and scattered everywhere in large quantities," writes Béla Dornyay in his scientific, detailed travel guide about Bakony. The wasteland was populated in the 1780s primarily with Swabian, Slovak, and Hungarian settlers by Count János Esterházy.

Kőrisgyőr, founded as a part of the Szentgál estate, is the youngest wasteland of the settlement. Its first settler was the inn builder János Fogl in 1892. Since all of Kőrisgyőr settled on Zirc Limestone, or on thin loess covering it, due to the rocky subsoil there was only one well in this village area. Apart from this well, the population obtained water from the Gerence stream and rainwater captured from the rooftops until the late 1980s.

Towards the Kertes-kő Gorge

We head west from the bus stop, then turn left after the cemetery bend following the Z sign. Passing pastures on the right and soon a Zirc limestone outcrop on the left, we can also see how the Quaternary loess settles on it a bit further. Before the road takes a sharp left bend, we turn right off the road into the forest, where the herbaceous layer frequently features the spotted lungwort. This plant, which blooms mainly in fresh hornbeam and beech forests, helps the insects that pollinate it with a special technique. Its flower petals are initially purple, then change to pinkish-red due to a pH change during fertilization, signaling the insect that it is late and it should look for another purple flower.

We cross a small stream flowing into the Gerence, then reach the edge of the Kerteskő estate meadows and follow the wire fence on the right for quite a stretch, while the meandering Gerence murmurs on our right in the alder grove surrounding it.

The Gugyor and its surroundings

Not long after the fence, we pass under power lines. The narrow path turning left with the Z▲ sign leads up over the Kertes-kő Gorge to the summit of the approximately 40 m high rock called Oltár-kő, whose name may originate from the pre-Roman Christian conversion era of the Hungarians. The rock is made of Zirc Limestone formed about 100 million years ago during the Cretaceous period in a marine transgression. In the shallow sea environment thick, asymmetrical-shelled rudist bivalves multiplied in rock-forming quantities, whose irregular circular or elliptical fossils can be found in many places in the gorge and surroundings—for example, at the next stop of the route, at the Judit spring at the end of the Z▲ sign. On the travertine barrier of the spring, water runs down with small cascades from about 40 meters high. This formation was formed from calcium carbonate precipitated from limestone due to escaping carbon dioxide from accelerated karst water reaching the surface. We descend back into the gorge on the Z▲ sign but do not cross it—however, it is worth making a short detour to the depth of the stone gate.

The narrow valley and the rushing Gerence stream in it have created a unique cool, humid microclimate. On the cliff walls, besides moss and fern species, we can also find one of the small "jewels" of the plant world—the moss-covered thyroidwort that forms a cushion-like rock cover. This protected plant, belonging to the carnation family, lives only on mossy cliff walls because its tiny seeds can only germinate on the moist debris of moss cushions. It blooms in May with small white flowers generally pollinated by small flies. Protected species can also be found in the water, such as the agile stonefly, which rarely appears among the stones in the streambed.

On the way to the Zoltay spring

At the end of the gorge, we head northeast further along the Z▲ sign, leaving the valley of the Gerence stream. Starting left on a wide dirt road, then shortly turning right off it, we reach a large wildflower meadow (with species like autumn lion's tooth, meadow buttercup, field scabious, cat's tail, common plantain, etc.) where, after passing the hunting stand, we reach the P+ sign. We cross the main road and continue parallel to it southeastwards through a hornbeam-oak forest which later changes to beech. Crossing a recently paved forestry skid trail, we maintain our direction parallel to it. Behind a hunting stand, we turn out of the forest onto a field edge path, from where there is a nice view of the Pénzesgyőr basin. After the fields, we continue passing a weedy grassland on the right, then cross a dirt road and go straight into the forest again. After crossing a small streambed, we reach a recently cleared woody pasture. We bypass it from the side of the stream, where the Boltos well springs. Our path soon reaches a wider dirt road, where we turn right and soon reach the abundant Zoltay spring, which springs on the side of Köves hill. It was named after engineer Ferenc Zoltay, who founded the Nature Friends Association Fűzfő Branch with 27 members in 1960, which became the Nature Friends Department of the Fűzfő Athletics Club in 1962. Its members occupied the spring in 1978 and erected a memorial post in memory of their deceased hiking companions. The nicely developed area next to the spring with benches and fire pit is an excellent resting place.

Back to Pénzesgyőr

We soon reach the Z sign again, where we turn right and continue our path along the left bank of the erosion in a mixed beech forest until we reach the fields. After the small willow belt accompanying the erosion, we cross a dirt road on a hill ridge, with a nice view northwest to Nagy-Som hill and southwest to the meadows spreading on Iharos hill. From here, bypassing a field bordered by an electric fence, we descend into the valley. The next shrub layer is crossed again by a path, then after the hunting stand, we turn left at the end of the meadow, and our path bordered by willows approaches the manor over marshy goldenrod and nettle. On the gravel road, we first turn right, then left onto Haladás Street. Finally, we turn right onto the Main Street and, keeping our direction past the cross erected in 1947 in memory of the founding of the Pénzeskút parish, we reach the bus stop.