Berettyóújfalu – Létavértes (AK-09)

During the route, follow the K marking the entire time.

• From the direction of Berettyóújfalu, we reach Szentpéterszeg along the Berettyó embankment.
• From Szentpéterszeg, we also walk to Hencida along the Berettyó embankment.
• From Hencida, we proceed on dirt roads to Bojt.
• From Bojt, we walk on plain dirt roads into Nagykereki.
• From Nagykereki, we initially follow asphalt roads, then dirt roads to reach Kismarja.
• From Kismarja, we walk to Pocsaj along the Berettyó embankment.
• From Pocsaj, we continue on the Ér-main canal embankment and then on dirt roads to Cserekert.
• From Cserekert, we finish the route by walking on the main road to Létavértes.

Detailed description of the route:

Berettyóújfalu – Hencida

From Berettyóújfalu, we reach the route of the Alföld Blue Trail on Dózsa György Street at the southern edge of the town, along the Berettyó embankment. The official stamp can be found attached to the fence at the gate of TIVIZIG (Tisza District Water Directorate). If time allows, it is worth exploring the former seat of Bihar county here. The Reformed church built in 1817 has a marvelous organ that was even played by Franz Liszt himself. The rich collection of the Bihari Museum showcases the landscape of Bihar and the lives of its inhabitants, located in the former town hall building. To see the oldest monument of the town and Hajdú-Bihar county, we need to walk out to the eastern border of Berettyóújfalu. The red brick Csonkatorony (Stub Tower), built in Romanesque style in the 12th century, dominates the landscape from afar.

After finding the Alföld Blue Trail on the Berettyó embankment, we proceed east along the embankment crown, soon crossing the railway tracks leading to Biharkeresztes and then the number 42 highway. Until reaching the nicely named settlement of Szentpéterszeg, we walk on the elevated side of the embankment between arable fields and small forest patches, and also pass under the M4 motorway. At the village border, we must leave the embankment to the north and head to the fish ponds, where we look for the Alföld Blue Trail stamp on the yurta post. It is also worth wandering into the small village where the 18th-century Reformed church, the folk house, and the life-size statue of King Béla IV are popular photo spots. Returning to the K mark, after about 1 km we reach the site of a Bronze Age earthwork near the embankment in Gáborján. The former earthwork, barely visible on the surface, was a small fortification, protected by the water and marshes of the Berettyó. Until the next settlement, Gáborján, we continue on the embankment. On the elevated side, we find crescent-shaped 'negative' landforms filled with water in rainy weather, which are the former cut-off riverbeds of the Berettyó, largely silted up oxbows. This fluvial landscape characterizes the Berettyó–Kálló-köze subregion, where we also enter the Bakonszeg area.

There is no stamp in Gáborján, but the whitewashed Reformed church on the Main Street and the turul monument in front of it are worth a stop. We leave the village east along Hajnal Street on the Berettyó embankment. After a few kilometers of walking, we finally enter a forest, but not just any forest: the protected Csere Forest near Hencida. This 111-hectare woodland has been a protected area since 1990 and belongs to the Hortobágy National Park Directorate. The saline and marshy pedunculate oak groves harbor many protected plant species, such as the Hungarian pasque flower or the meadow gladiolus. After the wonderful Csere Forest, we soon arrive in Hencida, whose 18th-century Reformed church is visible from afar. Here we must stamp: the stamp box is found at the corner of Arany János and Kossuth Lajos streets, on the Blue Trail signpost.

Hencida – Kismarja

We leave Hencida heading east, crossing the Berettyó bridge. About 400 m from here, we turn onto a dirt road heading south, continuing our journey through arable fields, canals, and abandoned riverbeds again in the Bihari Plain subregion. Before crossing the M4 motorway, we again pass the ancient gigantic earthwork of Csörsz-ditch, which we encountered several times on previous sections. After the M4 motorway overpass, we soon reach the Kis-Körös canal serving inland water drainage purposes, and even cross it. Up to Bojt, we follow the southern edge of the canal, passing cultivated lands, pastures, and the edge of the wetland unit on the southern side. We soon arrive in the small settlement of Bojt, where the official Alföld Blue Trail stamp is found on the kindergarten fence (46 Rákóczi Street).

We leave Bojt via Rákóczi Ferenc and Kossuth Lajos streets northeastwards. On our way towards Nagykereki, we continue mostly to follow the Kis-Körös, touching wet habitats. Nagykereki is the ancient seat of the Bocskai family, proven by the imposing Bocskai Castle complex standing guard in the eastern part of the village. The castle, with medieval antecedents, took its present form between 1752 and 1784. Currently, a museum operates in the often rebuilt fortress, with plans for a complete renovation. On the east side of the castle facing Bocskai Street, the official Alföld Blue Trail stamp is placed on the fence next to the entrance door, and there is also a stamp box at the railway station in the village.

From Nagykereki, the K marking leads out northeast along Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Street, with about 1.5 km of asphalt walking. Afterwards, we turn north onto a dirt road and join the Dusnok-ér canal. We cross under the M4 motorway, then after a long walk mainly along agricultural fields, we arrive at the settlement of Kismarja. Walking in this quiet little village, one wouldn't guess that between 1606 and 1849 it was a market town and the resting place of a historical figure, István Bocskai. Luckily, the Blue Trail route also touches the Bocskai-related sights. We start at the Reformed church in the town center! The currently standing late Baroque-style church was built in 1804, but archaeological research proves that a church building existed here in the 13th century. Since 2006, the inner renovations have revealed the Bocskai crypt, where the great prince and his parents were buried. The prince is also commemorated by the saber-wielding Bocskai bust next to the church, created by the Debrecen sculptor András Tóth (father of poet Árpád Tóth). The Bocskai tradition is further kept alive in the church, where above Moses' seat hangs a 19th-century painting of the prince. Stamping can be done at the information board in front of the building or at the stamp box located about 700 m away at the railway station. From the church heading north along Bocskai Street, we can walk to the top of the Bocskai hill at the edge of the village. On this flood-free hill, once stood the castle of the Bocskai family. Today, a small memorial park honors the memory of the great ancestors.

Kismarja – Létavértes

From Kismarja to Pocsaj, we walk along the Berettyó embankment. Crossing the Berettyó and Ér bridges eastwards, we continue on the long Piac Street. In Pocsaj, there are three places where stamp boxes can also be found: on the signpost at 10 Rákóczi Street, on the fence of Kikelet Kindergarten (2 Árpád Street), and at the Sinka Miska Guesthouse (38-40 Petőfi Street). After the long Piac Street lined with neat barns, we leave Pocsaj southwards through Nagy, Árpád, and Petőfi streets.

The Alföld Blue Trail K mark soon leads to the Ér-main canal embankment and remains on it until the Laponya hill. After a few kilometers of walking through the wetland area networked with abandoned riverbeds (Berettyó-Kálló-köze subregion), a terrain obstacle rises before us, which visibly towers more than ten meters (about 30 m) above the previously walked terrain. Climbing to the Érmellék subregion, it is visible that a geodetic tower stands on Laponya hill (133.6 m). Unfortunately, as with such structures, climbing it is forbidden and life-threatening, even though the view from the top would be fascinating. Beneath us stretches a large river valley, with the small canal called Ér in its center, which barely carries water in dry periods.

We might ask whether this small watercourse shaped the huge wide river valley sprinkled with abandoned beds? The answer is naturally no. At the beginning of the Pleistocene (about 2.5 million years ago), the Ancient Tisza flowed here. The ancestor of the Tisza left the valley about 22,000-20,000 years ago due to subsidence of the Szatmár-Bereg Plain, Bodrogköz, and Rétköz areas. The new subsidence systems attracted the Tisza and its tributaries, including the watercourses forming the Bodrog, which earlier built up the Nyírség alluvial fan. This change resulted in the relocation of the Tisza water system to the middle Great Plain, roughly where it flows today. On this exciting section, if time permits, it is worth a detour to the remains of the Hosszúzug earthwork and quench our thirst with water from the Zsófia spring.

After the Laponya hill, winding among the loess and the excellent quality chernozem soils developed on it, we reach the Létavértes belonging Cserekert, where the Alföld Blue Trail stamp is found on the fence of a family house at 22 Hajnal Street. From Cserekert, we walk out onto the main road between Pocsaj and Létavértes and continue with about 7 km of asphalt walking until reaching Létavértes, the endpoint of the section. Finally, we can stamp at the stamp box placed on the information post in Baross Street of the National Blue Circle.