Secrets of Borsó and Gergely-hegy

Itinerary:

• From Hejcé, the P◼ trail leads to Fehér-kút.
• From the Fehér-kút hunting lodge, we start heading left (north) on the P trail.
• At a fork, turn left onto the P▲ trail to reach Sólyom-kő, and after the rock follow it until it rejoins the P trail.
• Briefly follow the P trail to the left.
• Straight ahead, ascend the summit of Borsó-hegy on the P⩍ trail, then return the same way.
• Descend back to the Fehér-kút hunting lodge on the P trail.
• From the lodge, follow the Z trail along the side of Gergely-hegy.
• At a fork, descend right on the S trail back to Hejcé.
• On the village’s main street, turn right, guided by P◼ markers to the starting point.

Detailed route description:

Climbing along the Szerencs stream

Our hike starts from the pleasant center of Hejcé heading toward the mountains on the P◼ trail going northeast. At the starting point, it’s worth crossing the medieval bridge built of volcanic stones over the stream. The stream’s bank is lined high with andesite, creating a large, flat, terraced area in front of the local pub and grocery store. Although our hike has just begun, we can stop for coffee or refreshments here and stock up on supplies.

The village features many medieval Hussite houses built with well-defended, small windows, raised foundations facing the street, and a puritan simplicity. After just a few hundred meters, the P◼ trail turns left into a small alley and leaves the village through old stone buildings.

Until the end of the 19th century, continuous vineyards stretched here all the way to Gönc. Although the quality of locally produced grapes and wine was inferior to that of Tokaj-Hegyalja due to colder, windier climate in the Hernád valley, it was a valuable product for the region. However, the phylloxera plague, a root louse introduced from America, destroyed the local viticulture. Later, instead of replanting vineyards, the state promoted orchards, spreading and making famous the Gönci apricot, which remains a defining product of the area.

From the village gardens, we follow a wide forestry road to the Fehér-kút hunting lodge high above us at the stream’s source. Most of the nearly four-kilometer ascent was once crossed by a narrow-gauge railway in the mid-1920s that transported the surrounding mountains’ timber—mainly to the Hungarian State Railways (MÁV) for railway sleepers. Forests were cleared along the upper section of the Szerencs stream to the west side of Borsó-hegy due to a railway construction boom and the economic crisis. Nearly 15 kilometers of railway lines networked the Szerencs stream valley, Borsó-hegy, and the far side of Gergely-hegy, which we visit in the latter part of our tour.

The bulldozer road appropriate for this is wide, steadily ascending with many bends to the mountain top. We soon reach the still bushy mixed forest where active forestry work is ongoing. Reforestation after clear-cutting has not been perfectly realized here since timber extraction companies went bankrupt, leaving local foresters to handle replanting. At that time, experimenting with conifers was popular, but the current climate is no longer ideal. The forestry attempts to remove non-native forests even before thinning, so along our trail, many fresh cuts are visible.

Although we remain close to the Szerencs stream, a few hundred meters from the bed, we continually climb the southwest slope. At Lackfi Hill, we ascend toward a flat ridge, which also forms a major watershed. Below us lies the wide trough of the Hernád valley, and the Szerencs stream runs parallel to it for a long section. At Abaújszántó, the formed Szerencsi Hills divert eastward, ultimately collecting the surrounding streams into the Takta stream, then flowing into the Tisza River.

The hillside forests here increasingly resemble the former original landscape. Sparse, bushy oak woods dominate rocky areas, while candlesnuffs and beeches prevail in the forming hollows. We return to the stream valley, circumvent a rocky outcrop, pass a barrier, and enter the wooded hollow called Közép-völgy at the upper stream of Szerencs. Here, a narrow-gauge railway branched off toward Borsó-hegy in a large S-curve. Next to a clear-cut pine patch, we arrive at the source area: a long, flat meadow lining the valley. At the upper end of the meadow, opposite the hunting lodge, is the Fehér-kút spring, the stream’s source with increasingly sparse flow.

Sólyom-kő and Borsó-hegy

At the edge of the meadow below the hunting lodge, a bulldozer road turns north toward Borsó-hegy. On a gently ascending path through pine-beech forest, we make a few-kilometer detour to Sólyom-kő and Borsó-hegy before continuing the loop toward Gergely-hegy. The bulldozer road steadily gains altitude on the rocky, boulder-strewn slope and ripples at only one point directly above the Gyertyán spring. If water was unavailable at Fehér-kút, this edge-of-the-forest stream always flows—though no spring enclosure exists here, so we must drink from the brooklet trickling among boulders.

Approaching the mountain top, gray cliff walls emerge from the semi-darkness of beech trunks’ pillar halls. This andesite bastion row is the natural fortress of Sólyom-kő. A short detour on the P▲ trail leads to the tower tops. From the southwest-facing rock ridge, a magnificent view opens to the impressive volcano of the mountain range’s western end, Gergely-hegy, and adjacent smaller cones that define the landscape. Between us and the slanting shape of Gergely-hegy runs the valley of Szerencs stream, stretching with continuous forests toward Hejcé. The forest-edge small settlement is the gateway to the Hernád valley, which extends beyond the Szerencsi Hills’ summits as far as the horizon. On clear days, the Bükk plateau is visible on the horizon, while behind Hernád valley are Cserehát and the Gömör hills, where flat, karstic, forested ridges vanish from sight. The panorama offered from 700 meters altitude has a distinct atmosphere of steepness, as if looking back at the earth from a balcony or a gateway to another world. The sunset here is mesmerizing, as the sun’s red disc descends face-to-face over the forested, hilly landscape.

The P▲ trail makes a semicircle and returns from the far side of the summit to the P trail, which shortly after turns toward Cicés meadow. Before that bend, we continue straight on the P⩍ trail. A hiking sign traditionally led to Borsó-hegy—its old viewpoint targeted by other markers, their fading traces still visible on some trees. The old beech forest path gradually climbs the mountain peak, and finally at a forest clearing’s edge, we reach the flat summit, the site of a plane crash. In winter 2006, a Slovak peacekeepers’ plane heading to Kassa crashed here into the mountain.

The tragedy’s marks are still visible today, as the beech trees covering the summit were initially cut in narrow strips and then broken extensively in half and waist-level by the crashing plane. The crash site, shaped like a fan clearing, is now lined with wooden memorial crosses in strict order, as military honors require. Family members have placed personal photos and tensions on individual trees; some artificial flowers and headstones are visible, and in the center of the memorial, a trilingual plaque mounted on an andesite monolith stands. The place is deeply touching and sad, where many lives broke in two, like the remaining beeches. Relatives regularly return here and hold official commemorations on anniversaries.

With a heavy heart from what we saw and experienced, we walk back through the beech forest. We follow the P⩍ then P trails back to the Fehér-kút hunting lodge and beyond to the paved road’s bend. From here, staying on course but on a dirt road, we continue along the Z trail toward the saddle of Gergely-hegy.

Circuit around Gergely-hegy

Following the Z trail, we proceed through the old beech forest on the slope called Medvemarás. The name is not accidental: this area is the gateway to the mountain range’s interior, where wildlife and humans climbing up from foothills meet. Even today, wolf tracks can be seen here, and bears occasionally roam the area, as the mountain range has a natural connection to the Kárpátok’s wildlife-rich territories. The mountain ridge was originally known as Tokaj-Eperjesi mountain chain, referring to its volcanic ridge that extends continuously across the border.

On the flat ridge, we pass the Szénhely-puszta forest clearing, where a Neolithic human settlement and tools were found during road construction. Several forestry roads meet in the saddle; we choose the left descending cut, in which the initial steepness then becomes gentle descending the beech forest slope of Gergely-hegy. A lookout stood on the summit in mid-20th century—not coincidentally, as this is the most prominent and highest hump in the wider area. Currently, we have only limited views from the rocky, sparse oak forest–topped peak into the mountain range’s central parts.

With the section starting here, we complete a several-kilometer semicircle around Gergely-hegy’s wooded block. As we leave the eastern, steep slope, the southern area becomes sunnier and brighter, accompanied by the spreading oak. From the left joins the old railway cut, with which we jointly reach the saddle between Kis-Szár-kő and Gergely-hegy. The Z trail continues through Rezső Uncle’s well toward Fony, but since we are hiking a loop, we turn right on the S trail that follows the former railway track.

In the gentle oak forest, a great mushroom-producing area, we descend on the S trail. Be attentive as at one point, the hiking path leaves the obvious forestry road and enters the woods. We bypass a rocky ridge and cross the bushy, rocky-bottomed cut called Gisztinye valley, from whose forest groups’ openings Fony and the surrounding mountains become visible. Skirting the impressive rocks of Kőszál, we cross to the mountain’s western slope, touching the rocky grass of Kecske-kő in sparse oak forest. The long unused, brushy cut moves close to level on the slope, from which we branch off soon with a steep path. We descend among moss- and lichen-covered boulders between sparsely lined oaks, though these places gradually change into mixed bushy edge forest.

We leave the forest through groved pine woods, then traverse the meadows above the village toward the now visible Hejcé. Bypassing an apricot orchard, we reach the settlement by the cemetery, arriving at a small square along the walls of the Catholic church and the bishop’s castle. Here, the elderly and less mobile are provided with a memorial featuring the military airplane crash monument. From the square, we proceed straight, cross the Szerencs stream, then turn right onto the main street (P◼ trail) to the bus stop. Two hundred meters later, we return to the stone bridge, the starting point of our hike, with its shady terrace of a pub that already has a strong attraction.