Snail of Szent György Hill

Itinerary

• From the start location, set off on the Z and PT markings, running to the Kaán Károly shelter.
• Just before the shelter, turn left onto the S marking and stay on it for 4.5 km. Occasionally, the route is supplemented with other markings, but basically, we circle the hill on the S marking, then after a common section with the Z marking on the northern side, staying on the Z marking, return to the shelter, closing the outer loop.
• At the shelter, turn onto the K marking and start the inner loop. Run halfway around the loop where you first turn right onto the P and S markings, then again right onto the P and PT markings, and finally right again on the PT and K▲ markings to reach the summit.
• Descend from the summit on the PT marking back to the Kaán Károly shelter, then from there on the Z marking to the parking lot.

Detailed route description

The parking lot opposite the Town Hall, as the start location, is also the starting point of the Basalt Organs nature trail, so we set off on the Z and PT markings on a slightly uphill, two-track dirt road. After passing the uppermost houses, it becomes a single-track trail. Running bypassing a small valley rim to the right between two fences (goats graze behind the right one), we reach an old asphalt road from where Balaton already appears when looking back. We turn right, continuing on the Z and PT markings. It starts to descend slightly, then turns left and soon Tapolca appears on the right. After a left-right bend, we enter the forest, still running on a dirt road, but just before reaching the Kaán Károly shelter, we turn left on the S marking and continue on a single-track trail. It is not yet worth running further uphill to the shelter as we will see it two more times later.

The S marking starts with a fairly technical section: it winds, descends, ascends, and is rocky – run carefully in the dense, shady forest. We reach a meadow where on the right stands the beautiful, newly built Orthodox Chapel of the Joyful News, while at the bottom left of the meadow we have a nice view of Lake Balaton, and above right the basalt summit. Shortly after the meadow, we turn right on the S marking, but the tree holding the marking has fallen, so this is unclear; navigate carefully. We run again in the dense, shady forest, taking left at two forks, and the second leads to a steep, rocky descent. At its bottom, we reach the Pietas cross where the ruined Emmaus Chapel of Lajos Ify, the hermitage, and related buildings hide on the right – here we turn left. We exit the forest, with vineyards to the right and left and a beautiful view of Lake Balaton ahead, Badacsony to the left, and Szigliget to the right. We turn right and run on the uppermost dirt road below the uppermost houses, beginning to circumvent the hill.

We reach the Lengyel Chapel and Tarányi House, where staying on the S marking, we turn right but are also supplemented by K and P markings. Some asphalt follows, with a continuous beautiful view of Balaton, Badacsony, and Szigliget on the left. We reach the Lionheaded well, where we can refresh, then shortly after the well, turn right uphill on the K, P, and S markings to continue. At the top, we reach a stone house where we turn left and run on a grassy road, then again turning right on the same markings, starting uphill on a wide, rocky single-track trail. Upon reaching a forest road, we turn left onto the P and S markings. We run on a gravel road, passing a resting place under the basalt organs on the right (Basalt Organs nature trail board 7), then at a larger fork turn right on the S, Z, and PT markings continuing. We start to climb on a two-track dirt road, with a nice view to Tapolca on the left and Somló Hill in the distance above. At the end of the atmospheric, shady but steep climb, we reach a fork where we continue left on the Z and PT markings. We pass the nature trail's 8th station named Volcano Tale, where half-circle arranged broken basalt organs are visible, then shortly arrive at the Kaán Károly shelter.

From the shelter, the K marking goes uphill; we continue there. The single-track trail becomes increasingly rocky, then we ascend steeply on stone and wall stairs under the towering basalt organs – do not force running here, walking fast enough. The upper section is less steep with comfortable terrain, where we arrive at a fork with the nature trail's 3rd board, named Lava View, accompanied by a rain shelter. Going left here, we stay on the K marking, beginning a continuous descent. After a barrier, the trail widens to a two-track road that somewhat lower between rocks on both sides offers a nice view to Badacsony and below to the Lengyel Chapel-Tarany winery complex. We descend to the previously encountered intersection, turn right on the P and S markings but only for about 100 m, then turn right and enter the forest, starting uphill on the P and PT markings. This section is steep and rocky. Soon we run along the hill edge, where we get beautiful views first south to Balaton, then west towards the Keszthely Mountains, and then again Tapolca and Somló. At the top, we reach a T-junction with the 6th nature trail board named "Life on a basalt volcano"; turning right, we continue running on the PT marking. After one last steep climb, we exit the forest and find ourselves on the Szent György Hill summit. Beyond the summit stone, there is a wooden bench rest with a wonderful view of Balaton in both directions.

From the summit, we descend on the PT marking. We first reach another rest area, then turning left, descend again in the shady forest. Soon we arrive at the rain shelter, where turning left, we continue running to the basalt organs, underneath which lies the Kaán Károly shelter. Here we turn right and descend back to the parking lot on the familiar route.