rocks do the job, and in villages telegraph poles, fence posts, garden walls or water pumps are employed. A few routes have wooden signs giving directions as well as estimated walking times in hours (ó) and minutes (p).
Volunteers clearing the trail, Börzsöny, Walk 4
Hungary’s first waymarked routes were set up in the second half of the nineteenth century by volunteers, but it was during the Communist period that state-sponsored organisations took an interest in their maintenance. During the 1950s volunteers from the trade unions were deployed around the countryside to repaint the old waymarks and create new routes. In those days the work was paid; transport, brushes and paint were provided free. Nowadays the upkeep of waymarks and monitoring of the routes depends on the availability of walking club members prepared to spend their spare time and money. As a result the coverage varies and many rarely used trails are overgrown and waymarks missing. Sections of the waymarked system follow main roads for a few kilometres. This was not a problem in the 1950s, but the increase in car ownership in recent years has made some road-verge walking unpleasant; Hungarian drivers seem reluctant to give a comfortable distance between themselves and pedestrians. To get the best of an area this guide directs the walker along the most suitable waymarked route and not necessarily the traditional routes prescribed by Hungarian walking guides written in the 1950s.
Maps
The theory is that if you keep to one waymark colour you need only continue to the end of the route. In practice waymarks tend to be conspicuous when the track is obvious and absent at complicated junctions. Waymarking is improving, but many were painted a long time ago and are obscured by vegetation, weathered, or the trees they were on have been felled. Old green waymarks tend to turn blue with age and vice versa. Therefore the ability to read a map is important and also adds to the enjoyment of walking. The Hungarian company Cartographia publishes a series of excellent walking maps (turistatérkép) in 1:40 000 and other scales. Official walking routes are denoted on the maps as red lines and the different route colours are distinguished by a letter: K (kék=blue), P (piros=red), S (sárga=yellow) and Z (zöld= green). A selection of hotels, hostels, campsites, country restaurants, snack bars and even petrol stations are also marked on the maps. Understanding map references is useful for one or two walks in the guide, and an ability to use a compass is helpful at complicated forest trail junctions where visibility is restricted but not essential.
In Hungary Cartographia’s maps can be bought in most book shops in cities and towns, but the main stockist is their shop in Budapest (see Appendix 4). Apart from the most tourist-aware settlements small village shops do not usually stock walking maps, but try the post office, any large hotels in the area or the local museum. The relevant map name and number for a specific region is at the beginning of each route description.
Cartographia’s maps are fairly accurate and updated regularly, but be aware that even the most recent issue cannot keep up with all changes caused by privatisation. The following points are worth noting.
With the exception of the Balaton map only a selection of the more common symbols are explained in Hungarian map keys. Refer to the glossary in Appendix 3 for a translation of the symbols and common topographical terms.
The letter H within a square is a hotel and not a hospital. A hospital or doctor’s surgery is a cross within a circle.
Hungarian maps are fragile and will soon fall apart. Map cases are fine but expensive, add bulk and weight, and are not indestructible. A strong clear plastic bag is adequate protection from rain or perspiring fingers and is inexpensive to replace.
A common error is to assume that the red lines on the map (the official waymarked routes) will be very obvious on the ground. Unlike the faint dotted lines on the map denoting tracks, the red lines tend to stand out, but they might be less obvious on the ground.
In a few examples the superimposition of the red lines on the map can be inaccurate enough to place the waymarked route on the wrong side of a stream or valley. It is not a common problem but the knack to not getting lost in the forest is to balance waymark awareness with good map reading.
Military maps (katonai térkép) in the standard 1:50 000 and 1:25 000 scales are available in a few specialist shops in Budapest. There is really no need to buy these more expensive maps as the walks in this guide are covered by the Cartographia series, which is sufficiently accurate for following waymarked trails.
Forestry, Hunting, National Parks, Privatisation and Access
Forestry
About 15 per cent of Hungary is covered in woodland, most of which is in the hill country. The state planted a third of today’s forest in the 1940s, although many clear-cut areas have since regenerated naturally. The state continues to manage over half of the forests, but the little forest trains no longer haul tonnes of timber down from the hills. Since the 1980s there has been more selective felling and an increasing emphasis on conservation. Forty per cent of forest is now in private hands or belongs to those agricultural co-operatives that survived the changes after 1989. Forestry operations during the week are a fact of life and a route may be closed for safety reasons. There is usually an alternative route to get around the obstacle.
Hunting
As you wander along the trails you will see many hunting hides that resemble sinister prison camp watchtowers. Detailed maps of game reserves drawn up centuries ago are evidence of Hungary’s long relationship with hunting, and in the fifteenth century King Matthias stocked his reserves with lions. Game management declined during the turbulent Habsburg–Ottoman wars. As late as the 1940s, Miklós Horthy, the Regent of Hungary, went as far as evicting tenants in order to turn his estate into a bear reserve. Despite the egalitarian ideology of the Communist era, hunting continued to have overtones of privilege and high-ranking party members met in the Zemplén for hunting weekends. Nowadays, foreigners pay good money to shoot game in Hungary. The season for most game is between 1 October and 31 January, but walkers who keep to waymarked trails and stay out of the woods between dusk and dawn are unlikely to encounter hunters. Look for the following type of notice: Figyelem! Belépni 16-09 között életveszélyes és tilos! This warns people to stay away from an area between 4pm and 9am.
View from Hârom-kő, Bükk, Walk 9
National Parks and Protected Areas
Hungary boasts many national parks and they provide a refuge for the nation’s rarest flora and fauna. The territory of a national park or other specially protected area is delimited on walking maps using red dots. On the ground a sign with an egret symbol marks the entrance to a national park, although some regions have their own symbol: the fire salamander in the Aggtelek; and the carline thistle in the Bükk. Look for the letters NP (Nemzeti Park – National Park); TVK (Tájvédelmi Körzet – Landscape Protection Area); and TVT (TermészetvédelmiTerület – Nature Conservation Area). Many walks in this guide pass through national park land and other conservation zones, so keep to the waymarked paths and access will not be a problem. Red hatching on a walking map or the words Nem látogatható! (No visitors!) denote highly restricted areas where rare birds are nesting. Do not be tempted to enter these zones hoping to see rare species as the restriction might be for another reason such as hidden mine shafts dating back to the eighteenth century. Note that all caves in Hungary are protected.
Follow the Hungarian countryside code: stay on the waymarked paths; do not light fires; keep dogs on a leash; do not play radios, pick flowers or leave litter; and camp only in designated areas. If you are taking a very large group into a national park ask the relevant authority
