Tenth Section: from Bodajk Until Szárliget Railway Station

Vértes Mountains

Tenth section: from Bodajk until Szárliget railway station

Bodajk, the village which lays in the wide valley of Móri-árok, is really an interesting settlement, it is worth spending a little time there, and get to know its sights! After the stamping in the Fenyő pub we can take a short walk in Bodajk. The first sight is the Tófürdő (Lake Bath), we can reach it along the Május 1. utca (Május 1. Street), and the Petőfi Sándor utca (Petőfi Sándor Street). The artificial lake of Tófürdő lies on a square beside a small park. The lake is filled by the springs of the neighbour hillside, and the visitors can use this bath free of charge!

After some steps we reach the fenced garden of the Roman Catholic church. We can find the Szent-kút (Sank Well) in the garden. According to the ancient descriptions Bodajk is the oldest pilgrimage place in Hungary. The wonder-working power of the water was first mentioned in the 9th century, and the first Hungarin king, Szent István and his son Prince Imre visited it many times. Szent István had a chapel built close to the spring in the hillside.

If we walk further on the Május 1. Street, we get to the stairs leading to the chapel in the hillside of the Calvary Hill. This chapel isn’t the original one, which was built in the 11th century, but it stands on the foundation of the original chapel. Here begins the footpath beside the stations of the Calvary leading towards the top of the Hill. A nice panorama opens from the summit towards the village and the wide valley of Móri-árok. We can see the long, tree-covered side of Vértes Mountains at the far side of the valley with the old castle of Csókakő in the mountainside. We will visit it still today!

We continue our walk on the Május 1. Street and reach after some further steps the access road of the Hochburg-Lamberg mansion. The neo-classical mansion stands in a park in the hillside. It was built in 1839, unfortunately it got damaged in the World War 2. The total renovation of the mansion happened in 1964 and worked as a tourist hostel until the change of regime. It was closed in 1990, and it has been standing abandoned since that time. There are rare, special trees in its big park.

After this small walk we can continue our hike along the Blue Trail. We go back to the Fenyő büfé and turn right there (0 km distance, 0 metres climb). Slowly we leave the settlement and reach the railway crossings. First we cross a siding, later the main railway line between Székesfehérvár and Komárom. The rails run along the long Móri-árok. There is another stamp of the Blue Trail beside the platform of the railway stop on a wooden lamp column.

We cross the rails and go on along the access road of Bodajk. We reach the busy main road number 81 after a twenty minutes long walk (2.26 km, 20 m). We cross it and go in south-eastern direction. We pass the building of the Sandokan Restaurant and get to the beginning of the asphalt access road of Csőkakő village. We turn on it and walk on. After a while the road begins to climb mildly in the hillside, and cross a patch of forest. After a while we reach the village on its main street, the Kossuth Lajos utca and glimpse above the roofs of the houses the ruined castle of Csókakő. The Vadász restaurant stands on the right side of the road, the stamp of the Blue Trail is located there. We can rest a little bit on its shady terrace and continue our walk after a while.

We get to the square of the church in five minutes. A carved wooden sculpture stands in front of the Catholic church of the settlement, it is the monument of Szent Donát, the patron saint of the village and the vineyards. The well known Borút (Wine Way) crosses here our road, which goes in the western side of the Vértes Mountains and connects each other the vineyards. We goes further on the narrower and already steeply rising Vár utca (Vár Street) and reach the meadow of the resting place at the foot of the Castle Hill after some minutes (5.61 km, 120 m). We can rest here or climb the hill on the Zrinyi utca (Zrinyi Street). There is a beautiful panorama from the walls of the old, ruined fort towards the village, the plain of the wide Móri-árok and the hills of the Eastern-Bakony.

The history of the castle is similar to the other Hungarian forts and castles: it was built in the middle of the 13th century, after the big Tartar invasion by the family Csák. First it was mentioned in documents in 1299. The position of the castle is very good: it could watch the main road leading from Székesfehérvár towards the northern region of Hungary. The owners of the fort changed often in the following centuries, it was the property of the Hungarian kings, as well. The Turkey troops occupied it in 1544, but a few years later the army of the Austrian Emperor took it back in 1566. Because of the strategic position of the castle, it was the object of serious attacks during the next centuries. The Turkey troops occupied it again, but the united Hungarian and Austrian troops took back it in 1598, but the Turks invade it again in 1602 a kept it until 1686. After the war against the Turks its strategic importance finished, it was abandoned during long centuries. Later a thunder hit its tower, and the fort burnt down. The renovation of the castle began some years ago, hopefully the conservation will finish in the foreseeable future.

After the visit in the castle we can continue our hike. The Blue Trail enters the forest at the foot of the Castle Hill and rises steeply in the narrow Vár-völgy (Vár Valley). We reach after a hard climb the wide plateau of the Vértes in 450 metres height. Our path run into a small forest cultivating asphalt road, we go on along it. After a few hundred steps the road turns left, the crossing green strip sings goes further on the asphalt road, the blue signs continue their route straight on a dirt road along the border of a clear cut.

Later we reach the long, straight line clear cuts of the forest, we walk on along them. We have a comfortable hike in the forest, the route of the Blue Trail goes on the same elevation, without bigger climbs or descends. After an hour we get to another asphalt road, we turn onto it and follow through longer time. It descends in a small valley and we turn down from it in its big hairpin bend.

We climb back to the plateau on a footpath, cross again the route of the green strip signs and reach the fenced forester’s lodge of Hajdúvár (13.97 km, 357 m). The poor, wooden house stands on the edge of the tableland, when we leave the fenced yard, the path of the trail begins to descend into the valley. First we get to the wheel tracks of the Antal-árok (Antal Valley), and after a while a wider valley. The well-trodden dirt road goes on the bottom of this valley, among meadows. Later we pass a big rock formation on the left side of the valley and reach the wide, cultivated fields before Gánt village.

We turn left at a big group of old oaks and go along a dirt road behind the houses and gardens of the settlement. Later we reach the József Attila utca (József Attila Street) we walk on it until the crossing. Here the marked path of the Blue Trail turns left, back among the hills, but we have to turn down and go to stamp into the Vértes Restaurant, which stands on the another side of the main street of Gánt (19.71 km, 367 m).

If we have enough time, it is worth visiting the Bauxite Mine Museum. It lies in the vicinity of the village, it is only three bus stops in southern direction. We can find one of the biggest bauxite mines of Europe in the Bakony and Vértes Mountains. This museum is furnished in an abandoned shaft of the mining area. We can see the trains of the former mine-railway there, the different tools, equipments and other documents of the history of the bauxite mining. There is a huge opencast mine beside the museum, we can take a tour in it on signed footpaths.

After the stamping procedure we turn back onto the route of the trail and leave the village. We walk on the fields again, and reach the forest after a twenty minutes long walk. We go straight at the crossing of dirt roads, towards the wide Pap-völgy (Pap Valley). Our dirt road run on the bottom of the valley among meadows, forest patches and climbs only hardly. After a half an hour long walk our road will be steeper, and we climb back onto the plateau. Later we get to the access dirt road of Mindszentpuszta homestead (25.35 km, 537 m). We turn left onto this road and reach the houses of the homestead in some minutes on a meadow.

Woodmen and other forest cultivating workers had lived here until the 60s of the previous century but a part of the buildings are used as “key house” – it means tourist hostels without staff – other part of the homestead perishes slowly. We can find the stamp of the Blue Trail on the wooden fence of an abandoned house. After the stamping we go back onto the path of the trail.

Our wheel tracks descends into the wide Ciklámen-völgy (Ciklámen Valley) and we turn onto a small path in it. We climb the side of the Som-hegy (Som Hill) and reach another dirt road. We leave the forest and go through wide, grassy fields beside small group of trees. We have a good panorama towards north from the top of a hunter’s highstand, and reach soon a small asphalt road in the forest. We follow the asphalt strip, first on it, later in the forest on a footpath, but after some hundred steps we turn right into a valley.

The wheel tracks begin to climb on the bottom of the valley, later we glimpse the path signed with blue ruin marks leading to the ruins of the small Csáki vár (Castle of Csák, 28.88 km, 617 m). We reach the fields and clear cuts of the plateau after a twenty minutes long climb. Our dirt road crosses them, turns back in the forest and descends slowly to the main road leading from Oroszlány to Csákvár. We reach the road beside a small village named Kőhányás. We can find the stamp of the Blue Trail beside the chapel of the settlement on a wooden column (32.58 km, 702 m).

This small village or rather homestead was mentioned first time in 1753 in documents and 68 forest workers lived here in that time. The road is very old, first time the Roman Empire had a military road built here, but it was used through many centuries. It got asphalt surface in 1925, the chapel was built in 1878.

We continue the hike along this main road towards north-west, and walk about 300 steps beside it. A dirt road forks out from this asphalt road, we turn right and go on along it. We cross the high voltage power line and reach the forest again. We turn left in the forking of valleys and climb back onto the hills. Our dirt road meanders in the beech forest but after a while descends into another valley. We get to a narrow asphalt road on the bottom of it. The blue signs turn left here, but it is worth to start right on this road (35.78 km, 802 m)!

The narrow asphalt strip crosses grassy, flowery meadows, passes resting places and after a hairpin bend begins to climb very hard in a hillside. After five minutes long steep ascent we reach the ruined castle of Várgesztes. We don’t know exactly the date of its building, but probably it was built after the Tartar invasion in the middle of the 13th century. It changed owner many times in the Turkey times, but in 1652 the Hungarian troop occupied back and renovated its walls. Later the fort lost its importance and the soldiers left it. The stones of the fort were used at the building of a monastery at Majkpuszta. The ruins of the castle were excavated in the 60s of the previous century and were partly renovated. A tourist hostel and a restaurant works among its walls. We can stamp into our Blue Trail booklet in the restaurant of the castle or in the village at the foot of the Castle Hill.

After visiting the castle we go back on the access road until the meadows and reach Várgesztes village following the blue signs. We can stamp in the pub of the village, as well (36.85 km, 802 m). We hike along the main street of the settlement until the small artificial lake. We turn down from the street there, walk along the promenade on the cost of the lake and reach the foot of the steep Zsigmond-kő (Zsigmond Rock). We enter the forest and begin to climb very hard in the hillside. After a while we get to the small and steeper path of the blue triangle signs. If we turn onto it, we reach after some minutes long very hard climb the rocky forehead of the Zsigmon-kő (38.14 km, 872 m). A beautiful panorama opens from this place onto the wide valley of Várgesztes village and the castle.

After Várgesztes we reach the northern side of the Vértes Mountains, here the wide plateau already disappeared, deep valleys cut into parts the mountains. As we get to the ridge of the hills, we begin to decend onto the next vale. We reach the resting house of the Mátyás-kút (Mátyás Spring) after a quarter hour long walk (40.16 km, 962 m). Unfortunately the springs of the Vértes don’t work permanently in the last dry years, they get water only after longer rainy periods. After the spring we climb back onto the hills and after a further quarter hour get to the valley again.

We reach the Szarvas-kút (Szarvas Spring, 41.41 km, 992 m), unfortunately it is only a seasonal spring, similar to the Mátyás-kút. An old wooden shelter stands beside it in the hillside. The next climb begins at the Szarvas-kút until the ridge of the hill and on the other side comes the next deep valley. It is a very exhausting section of our hike, hopefully we can walk always in the shady forest! If we get to the ridge of the following hill, we glimpse the blue ruin signs on the forking path leading to the forgotten, ruined castle of Vitányvár (43.23 km, 1082 m).

Similar to the Várgesztes castle we don’t know exactly, when it was built, perhaps it happened after the Tartar invasion. The Turkey troop attacked and occupied it many times in the Middle Ages, and when the Hungarian army reoccupied it 1597, they demolished the walls of the fort, so it lost its importance. Nobody have excavated its ruins, the abandoned walls stand in the forest on the top of a steep hill, only the path of the Blue Trail visits it.