Szentbékkálla – Nagyvázsony (OKT 16th day hike)

In Szentbékkálla, at the Kossuth Street Blue Trail sign, we start southwards along the village's main street from the stamp office. It is worth observing the architectural features that create the unified settlement image on the nationally protected residential buildings: the mortarless fences, the triangular attic windows on the facades, and the cat stairs. Next to a folk-decorated facade building – with a statue of Saint Joseph in the wall niche – currently still owned by the family and built in 1825, the Istvándy house, we turn left onto the village access road. We pass a public well, then the only bus stop in Szentbékkálla and exit the village beside the younger part of the settlement.

The paved road turns right at a resting place, following the K trail signs and crosses a bridge. We pass a whitewashed sandstone cross – there are good springs around Szentbékkálla, and our route touches two more during the walk. At a junction, the asphalt and Blue Trail turn left, while to the right, on the KL signs, we can take a detour to the minor church ruins of the former village of Töttöskál. Heading towards the ruins, we enjoy a clear view not only of the Káli Basin but also of the witness hills lining its edges, the Badacsony, Tóti Hill, and Gulács.

The K trail signs rise between vineyards; above them, the next goal of our journey, the Eötvös Károly lookout tower on Fekete Hill, is visible. Even today, Szentbékkálla is a renowned wine-producing village (especially white wine); terraces have been created on the vineyard-covered hillside to prevent erosion, thus stopping soil washout – our path crosses several well-visible former basalt fences until we reach the village outskirts, still functioning with press houses.

We walk past the concrete setting of the Öreg-hegyi well: the water appearing here comes from more karstified rocks to the south. Vineyard owners originally tried to protect the well's purity with a basalt-built housing and a small niche. After passing another bench, there is a beautiful view towards Szentbékkálla. The K trail turns right, then we enter the forest along a dirt road, passing a resting place at the edge of the forest, and arrive at the Eötvös Károly lookout tower at 369 m, standing on the summit of Fekete Hill.

From the tower constructed of redwood and named after an active politician and writer at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, we enjoy the most beautiful panorama of the Káli Basin. On our left is the mined top of Hegyes-tű, on our right the witness hills of the Tapolca Basin frame the view, and the flat land between them leads our sight to the water surface of Lake Balaton and beyond to the southern shore.

We continue along the edge of Fekete Hill, then leaving it by a left turn, head towards its geologically and ecologically unique plateau. Although the massif is less spectacular than the witness hills of the Tapolca Basin, we are walking on the largest 15 km² basalt volcanic plateau of the Bakony–Balaton Uplands volcanic area. During a process lasting millions of years, first explosive eruptions deposited debris on the Middle Jurassic sedimentary rocks, followed by later quieter lava flows. The harder volcanic rock "protected" Fekete Hill from erosion, allowing it to tower over its surroundings, rising with steep southern slopes above the Káli Basin.

Walking on the Fekete Hill plateau, it feels like walking on a savanna: old pasture trees break up the shade-free silicate rock grassland view, and the Mediterranean climate effect also evokes the atmosphere of more southern areas. The pine forests on the hill were planted: they were used for afforestation of overgrazed, thinned soils. Also notable are the peat bogs of Fekete Hill, which formed in depressions between now smaller cones of former lava flows called "lenses," filled with precipitation. Currently, six lakes are recorded, of which peat moss species can still be found only around Monostori Lake, whose main natural value is their relic character.

At the sign marking the top of Vaskapu-ditch, we cross a deeply incised gully shaped by erosion in its upper course. It is worth stopping here to look around: the water replenishment of Fekete Hill lakes depends strongly on variable precipitation, so they often dry out completely and may even disappear permanently. About 100 meters from the sign, we see such a place: vegetation separated from the surroundings indicates a former wetland. Into the basically drained "basalt bowl," the Vaskapu valley has cut in, deepening continuously and creeping upward, draining the accumulated water – this caused the end of that lake.

We cut through a forest ridge, then again walk on former pastures, reaching Monostori Lake, the largest of the lakes on Fekete Hill, whose location is marked by dense vegetation and reeds rather than water surface. The K trail turns right, leaving the Adam Boros nature trail named after the 20th-century outstanding botanist and moss researcher. On the northern slopes of the hill, we begin descending into the Monoszlói Basin in a cooler, darker forest area; to the left, Balatonhenye's houses already appear among the trees. On pastures at the village border, we reach the S mark coming from Kapolcs by a rollercoaster ride. We cross the southern dolomite rock grassland of Botos Hill and, at the edge of Balatonhenye, find a cozy resting place, then follow the village's main street to the bus stop, the Blue Trail stamp office.

Balatonhenye – Csicsói Forest House

The K trail signs turn left leaving Balatonhenye's main square along Akácfa Street, then go upward through former pastures at the village border leaving the Monoszlói Basin. A Mediterranean atmosphere karst shrub forest surrounds our path before entering the forest at the corner of a cultivated field. We travel on the Nagyvázsony–Veszprém basin plateau, expecting no significant elevation changes. In pine forest, we reach the saddle of Pirkanc, the macadam road leading to the Csicsói Forest House, which is important for the Balaton Uplands forest cycling network thanks to its good bikeability. Winding in a lovely forest, we descend into Hamuházi-rét valley, then the path turns upwards. After about 1.5 km, we arrive at the former Csicsói Forest House, currently the Balaton Upland Forestry Forest School next to which is a resting and stamp office.

Csicsói Forest House – Nagyvázsony

The K trail signs stay on the forestry road, after 1 km we turn left, then follow a 1.5 km straight section. The end of the monotone walk is the emergence onto the Vigántpetend–Nagyvázsony main road, we continue on the opposite side of the road in the ditch cutting into the Viszont valley plateau. The cool microclimate valley is home to beech trees, and soon we reach the ruins of Tálodi Monastery, beside which is the concrete setting of the Kinizsi spring with benches and table sets.

West of Nagyvázsony, in today's Tálodi meadow, lay the medieval village of Tálod, around which the Paulines built their monastery honoring Saint Elizabeth. The nearby Kinizsi spring is a cozy resting place and reliable water point – used by the monks, who chose to build here for this reason. The monastery and village were destroyed around the 1550s in the Turkish invasion, but their imprint is visible in several places: remnants of dams built on Vázsonyi-séd served as pond dams, or the Szent Ilona church ruins touched later on our route.

The Blue Trail leads us to the Tálodi meadow, where a new large resting and fire place can be found. A chemical toilet is also available here, located left of the K trail's cart road. We descend toward Vázsonyi-séd on the flattening valley's lower section, offering an unobstructed view of the typical buildings of the Southern Bakony, the Kab Hill transmitter tower, and the Molnár Gábor lookout on Lugos Hill.

Our path continues along the stream – called "séd" in Bakony – alongside the noisy traffic of Main Road 77. A wooden sign marks a short detour to the ruins of the former Tálod village Saint Helena chapel, then soon we climb on a path to the mature heritage tree of the Szent Mihály Hill meadows. After a short forest serpentine, we arrive at the ruins of Szent Mihály monastery on the eastern side of the hill.

One of the most spectacular monastery ruins in the Balaton Uplands and the largest in the region: the relatively well-preserved walls of the single-nave church sanctuary reach up to 17 m, with the foundations of the former complex visible around. The monastery, founded by Pál Kinizsi, was the burial site of the legendary commander, but his grave was later looted and his earthly remains buried in an unmarked grave in Nagyvázsony. The monastery's life was short: around its 70th anniversary, in 1552, Turkish troops captured Veszprém, and the surrounding conflicts affected not only Tálod but also Vázsony.

From the monastery, we walk another 400 m until the edge of Nagyvázsony. To the left, on Temető Street, we reach the Kinizsi Castle, but before arriving, the K trail turns north toward Kab Hill and soon leaves the settlement. The Blue Trail stamp can be found opposite the castle, next to the staircase of the Mátyás Udvar Bistro, or in Nagyvázsony’s main square, in the courtyard of the Kinizsi Brewery.