Wheelchair access at Hubertlaki Lake

Itinerary:

• Follow the ZT marking from Huszárokelőpuszta.
• After about 3 km, at a fork, take the left-hand path.
• Briefly follow the K+ marking at the Hubertlaki lodge.
• Finally, follow again the study trail markings to the lake.
• Return along the same route until you reach the starting point.

Detailed description of the route:

Our hike begins on the gravel road maintained by the forestry next to the Huszárokelőpusztai guesthouse marked with a wooden sign. The "beneficial" effects of logging include the fact that the small gravel section is passable by wheelchair even in rainy, wet conditions up to the turnoff to Hubertlaki Lake. On the spacious forest road, forestry logging vehicles may appear, and Dorbi, the rubber-wheeled sightseeing train starting from Bakonybél, also runs on this road (usage not accessible).

Long straight sections regularly curve into large bends. The road rises evenly and ideally for two thirds, then in the last third of the gravel "main road," the slope increases and the curves become more frequent. Overall, a significant part of our round trip consists of this beautiful, gentle forest road, flanked on both sides by mixed woods. We see oaks, ashes, and hornbeams, but mainly beech and alder trees dominate the forest. Forest tunnels with fresh air are rhythmically broken by informative signs and piles of wood.

After about 3.5 kilometers, the route turns marked left with a sign towards Hubertlaki Lake along the K+ marking. Following a gentle, approximately 100-meter descent, we reach the Hubertlaki spring, which unfortunately dries out temporarily during water-shortage periods and droughty summers. Further on, the space widens in front of us and then extends into the forest, where we proceed on a clay-packed forest surface with variable slopes. Before reaching the more serious forest section, on the right we find the ideally located Hubertlaki lodge, surrounded by benches, tables, and a fire pit. The tourist accommodation was built on the site of the Esterházy family's 1967 burn down hunting castle.

The more difficult and also more beautiful section of our hike follows as we climb the hillside along the winding forest switchbacks by the Hamuházi stream to the lake. It is important to note that this approximately half-kilometer section is a challenge to complete by wheelchair even in dry weather, but in wet weather it is not recommended due to slippery, muddy stones. Further difficulty is caused by the forestry replacing the previously expected gravel on the route at several places with broken quarry stone due to water erosion bends - these sections are almost impassable by wheelchair. Fortunately, these sections are not long, however, uphill going trains our companion's cardio, while descending it is recommended to go backward to negotiate these artificial obstacles.

The beauty of the landscape compensates for the difficulties: the hiker is surrounded by alder and beech woods, after sharp bends and gentle rises, the originally game-water reservoir Hubertlaki Lake appears. The lake was created in the mid-1980s by damming the stream, flooding the former streambank alder forest. Although this tree species likes water, it now suffers from continuous "drenching," which is why we see stumps sticking out of the water in the lake. The sight very much resembles the famous Transylvanian Killer Lake, hence the everyday name of the Bakony lake. These witchily sky-rocketing charred "hands" are also substrates for other species: besides being habitats for birds and newts, the forest's shed seeds also settle on these decaying stumps, with other species sprouting from the cracked horns scattered about. The harmony of silence and nature is strikingly beautiful; the place's beauty, the ambivalence of passing and renewal, is stunning.

A small, tasteful forest memorial preserves the legend of Saint Hubertus, and further along, an information board describes the special animal species living here (newts and amphibians). Unfortunately, the lake is not wheelchair accessible all around, but the view and atmosphere from the reservoir dam give meaning to the hike, allowing a look over the length of the lake with its stumps reaching up into the sky. Here, too, are forest furniture and fire pit. Departing from this beauty carefully descending, we set off back along the same path to Huszárokelőpuszta.