Ságvári loess erosion

Itinerary

• We start south from the bus stop following the S sign, passing by the Bújó-lik.
• At the first major junction by the signpost, we make a round trip detour towards the Outlaw Cave following the SΩ mark.
• We return to the signposted intersection and head north on the S+ trail, which also passes by the Képes Tree.
• We turn left at the P+ sign and follow it to the church.
• At the church, we return to the bus stop via the S trail.

Detailed description of the tour

The world of loess paths

We start south from the bus stop following the S trail. On Petőfi Sándor Street, we pass the Workers' Saint Joseph Church built in Baroque style in 1756. We cross the Jaba stream, which developed in a tectonic fault trending east-west, sloping towards the Sió valley. Its source is in Pusztaszemes, and its water flows into the Kis-Koppány, which leads to the Sió, near the boundary of the village of Ádánd. At a triple junction, we turn right. Here we reach the first section of the loess paths, which make up a significant part of the route.

The loess is a calcareous, unstratified sediment composed mainly of coarse quartz sand grains, formed in the periglacial zone at the southern edge of the Pleistocene ice sheet on cold steppes. It was transported and spread by the wind over about 13 million square kilometers of dry land on Earth. Around Ságvár, we find the so-called dry land loess, where the falling dust settled on grassy pastures and bonded among the vegetation. Its current thickness varies between 30 and 50 meters. Due to its vertical capillary system, it can stand in steep, falling cliffs. On the surface of the loess, a so-called brown forest soil with good fertility has developed, influenced by climate and vegetation.

The Lyukas Hill

We exit the deep path at a clearing, offering a beautiful view toward Ságvár and the eastern end of Balaton Uplands. On Lyukas Hill, in the 1930s, archaeologists uncovered one of the most significant Hungarian camps of the Gravettian culture, dated about 17,700 years old, spanning 50 by 50 meters, with remains of two semi-subterranean hut foundations. Its inhabitants lived in a much cooler climate and survived by reindeer hunting. Approximately 1 meter below, another settlement of the same culture, dated about 18,900 years old, was also found with remains of hearths, tools, many reindeer and a mammoth bone, and antlers. The Bronze Age urn cemetery indicated an already developed handicraft industry.

After a short, overgrown section, we reach the Bújó-lik, a tunnel dug in the early 19th century on Lándor Hill. According to locals, it was dug by the Reformed pastor András Vasas from Csicsva, because his vineyard was on the other side of the hill. One year, he allegedly had an excellent harvest, so he placed barrels of wine on both sides of the hill for workers passing by to drink freely. Church records suggest the pastor had no vineyard, only a cellar on Lándor Hill, which he reportedly handed over to the rector for use. The curve in the middle proves that the tunnel was dug from both sides. In its time, horse-drawn carts could pass through, but today it is already filled in.

At the far end of the passage, we head north on a gently sloping road with a view of Lake Balaton, leading down among fields used for agriculture. We cross the Jaba again and take a left on the dirt road. (After 500 meters, a right detour can be made to the memorial of pilot Mátyás Lőncz, who made an unfortunate landing here during World War II.)

Detour to the Outlaw Cave

At the first major junction, a signpost stands, from where we continue on the SΩ sign towards Outlaw Cave. Entering the forest, a panel introduces the history of the executioner János Kovács and his house once standing here. Its retired owner built a now vanished forest edge shelter in the post-World War II years. From here, our increasingly steep path soon climbs to the entrance of the Outlaw Cave. Similar to the Bújó-lik, this cavity is not a geological cave but was dug by humans in the loess covering the area.

The Outlaw Cave, deepened on Malom Hill, is also called the "Room 12", after the number of chambers inside. This unknown origin hiding place was a bandits' shelter in the early 1800s. Near it, at the meeting of Miklósi Road and the road leading to Jaba, stood a tavern and the Double Well (one considered medicinal, the other rusty water), where travelers often rested. On them could easily fall the outlaw Patkó Pista and his band active in the Small Koppány valley. Back then, the cave entrance was narrower than today, offering good shelter even for a larger band of outlaws. The cavity system has a total length of 52.75 meters.

Bögöcse

We return to the signposted intersection and head north on the S+ trail, which runs left at the poled well, along a game fence. Before the path splits, we ascend left onto the loess ridge called Bögöcse. Its pasture is decorated with brightly colored plants such as spring Adonis, Hungarian and spotted spurge, and pink-flowered hedysarum. Climbing, on the right, a forest pine with fox-red trunks decorates the forest scene. At the end of the panoramic ridge, we descend again to an intersection beside which the Képes Tree is found.

Képes Tree

The legend of the Képes Tree says that around 1520, the Virgin Mary appeared with her angels in the night sky above Andocs. By the next morning, a small towered chapel stood in the middle of the village with an altar statue depicting Mary and the infant Jesus. The legend holds that the angels brought the chapel from Kalocsa. The statue still stands on the altar of the Andocs sanctuary church, visited for centuries by pilgrims from all over the country who seek the miracle-working Virgin Mary. Several ecclesiastical communities organize pilgrimages here annually – the Székesfehérvár pilgrims traditionally arrive on the same route and always rest at the same places. One of these stations is the Képes Tree near Ságvár, where pilgrims pray to the Virgin Mary. This more than 350-year-old pedunculate oak has a trunk circumference at breast height of 572 centimeters and a height of 25 meters.

Loess pillars and loess cliffs towards Ságvár

Remaining on our trail, we soon reach another deep path. Loess pillars appear in the hooked wall and sometimes in the path. These are harder formations cemented with calcareous binding material in the loess, generally spherical, oval, or irregularly shaped, often branched concretions. They formed when part of the lime content of the loess was dissolved by downward percolating waters (rainfall), then precipitated in deeper layers creating characteristic shapes.

We can observe how the loess cliffs fall apart in smaller and larger blocks, and also the rusty layers of limonitic bands can be examined in the hooked wall, at the end of which we join the road leading to the Flóra Hill near Lulla. Turning left, we cover 2.7 km on the P+ trail. From the road, we branch off at the red closed section on the right, descending steeply further. After our path turns left, we soon reach more loess cliffs, with another artificially dug cavity on the left side.

Exiting the forest, we soon pass the Aranyhorog Sport Fishing Paradise, then crossing the Jaba stream, we return to the village. Our trail leads back to the Workers' Saint Joseph Church, from where we follow the already known S trail back to the bus stop.