Kektura: Lake Balaton to Budapest

Although only October Lake Balaton was practically deserted. There were endless rows of holiday apartments and and they were seemingly empty. Waiting out the rain in front of a Lidl I met a fellow German who owns a summer house here and he gave me some interesting insights. Before the wall came down in 1989 tourism was booming here in Hungary because this was one of the few places where East and West Germans could meet. But ever since tourism is declining and hotels are empty - even in high season. We chatted a bit and then I left - trusting the weather report that had forecasted only a bit of rain.

Unfortunately it was totally wrong. Rain poured down for hours and I was soaking wet when it got dark. Luckily there was one of the very rare shelters at the end of this day and I set up my tent underneath it. Next morning I had to realise that my clothes were inappropriate for that kind of weather -  I had to buy some more stuff or I would suffer from the cold. In the  next market town I entered a trendy fashion boutique and the poor sales girl must have thought she had an epiphany: I came in dripping with water, wearing a blue trashbag as a skirt and gesticualting around my head. But she quickly understood - and after five minutes I left the shop with this warm wool hat!

Zirc was my destination for a rest day: the town boasts a huge monastery. Although the monastery and especially its library was impressive I was more fascinated by its recent history. During the Communist regime the monks were deported to prison and the abbott even tortured. He spent the rest of his life in prison and never saw his monastery again. The buildings were uninhabitable when the monks returned in 1990 to restore the monastery. My personal highlight though was the holiday apartment I had rented for my short stay: it had three bedrooms, one kitchen, one dining room, one living room and a huge bathroom with this bath tub. Of course I did not need such a big place but nothing smaller was available - and the whole palace just cost me 25 EUR! 

I now got closer and closer to Budapest - and the flat landscape became hillier and hillier. This picture is taken from Nagy-Gete at an altitude of 457 m.... the last 100 m were really much steeper than you would expect from such a flat country! From here I descended to the industrial town of Dorog and took the train to Budapest.

Kektura: Köszeg to Lake Balaton

Sopron

I started my hike on October 3rd, directly after a presentation I had given in Germany. Thanks to Deutsche Bahn I arrived much later than expected in Sopron where I had planned to spend my first night in Hungary. As I had breakfast in a little park in town I was approached by a talkative old man who praised Germany in German: "Germany is the best country in the world. Angela Merkel is a great women." and so on. Apparantly he had once lived in Germany. And soon it became apparent why he was so talkative: He wanted some money. I tried to offer him some grapes I was just eating, but no luck. "The town is full of grapes but I need money to buy beer...." I gave him two Eur and he happily left. By the way: This was the only time in Hungary I was begged for money.

Balaton Bumm on the right

I was excited to do my first resupply in Hungary at a Lidl  and immediately discovered some interesting Hungarian specialties: The Hungarian type of Top Ramen Noodle soup with Gulasch flavour and a candy bar called Balaton Bumm! The noodle soup was ok but Balaton Bumm became one of my favourites - what a name! Then the hiking started at Köszeg at the Austrian border with some more positive surprises: The trail was incredibly well marked and there was forest everywhere. Free camping was dead easy!

Maria Ut portal

Unfortunately, the weather did not quite cooperate in this first week - it rained a lot and out came my favourite blue garbage bag as a rain skirt. This photo shows me under the "portal" of Maria Ut or Maria Trail, a pilgrimage trail that traverses the whole of Hungary on its way from Romania to Mariazell in Austria, a major pilgrimage town. Maria Ut more or less parallels the Kektura for long stretches and I used it various times for short cuts or detours to resupply. Other than most pilgrimage trails I know it is real hiking trail that stays in the woods most of the time.
In Sümeg I escaped the cold weather and ventured into my first Hungarian restaurant. Although it was a rather upscale place the prices were very reasonable for German standards and I was delighted to discover that a glass of wine costs less than 1 EUR! Not to mention the delicous deserts of which I ate two generous portions. That combined with two glasses of wine made hiking relatively easy for a while...
The landscape in this section is rather uneventful: Lots of forest and mostly flat - a rather pleasant than exciting hike.

"To" means lake and "Fürdö" is a bath

But a real highlight was soon to come: Heviz, a spa town which boasts the world's largest natural and active thermal lake. Even in the coldest winter the water temperature here never drops below 24 degrees C and on this balmy day in October I was swimming in 32 degree C water! The lake and the entire spa complex is plain huge. It attracts a mainly older clientele and despite having been renovated it still exudes some sort of Soviet-style elegance. The water has a strong sulphuric smell and it takes a while to get used to the slimey algae that cover everthing but it still was a very pleasant experience.  

Kektura - a thruhike of Hungary

My hiking season has not ended yet - I'll be on another trip in October. And it will be a rather exotic destination: Hungary which is usually not really on the European hiking agenda. But Hungary boasts of one the oldest European long-distance hiking trails, the Blue Trail or Kektura as it is called in Hungary. In roughly 1000 km it traverses the entire country from East to West. Although very few Western European hikers know about it this trail is extremely popular in Hungary itself. And fall is one of the best seasons to hike there! I am extremely curious what is waiting for me there!

E1: Denmark to Gothenburg

I have hiked this 380 kilometre long stretch in summer 2015 together with a friend for whom it was his first long hiking trip. After an overnight bus trip from Berlin we started at a windy morning in Gothenburg centre. I had been here the year before at the end of my paddling trip and could therefore lead us directly into the only cheap and vegetarian restaurant in the city centre for a last decent buffet meal before setting off. The first day was on the very comfortable Bohusleden passing fantastic swimming lakes - and hordes of vacationing Swedes.

We were hiking South and soon reached the relatively unknown Hallandsleden which soon turned out to be relatively unmaintained as well! Clear cuts had often destroyed the trail and waymarking was generally very poor. We even ended up in a swamp area when looking for a shelter. To sum it up: Hallandsleden is not a highlight of Swedish hiking culture and I was happy to soon reach Varberg. I splurged for an AirBnB accommodation because my 48th birthday was coming up. But with Swedish prices I was celebrating with supermarket food and not in a restaurant ...

We took the evening ferry from Varberg to Grena in Denmark which meant that we arrived after dark - and finding a stealth campsite turned out to be difficult. There was a small forest within walking distance from the ferry landing - and it was crisscrossed by endless trails. Eventually I thought I had found a hidden campsite - only to realise in the morning that I was camping right next to a jogger path. We left pretty quickly and were greeted friendly by some curious joggers when we packed up. The E1 now follows some unknown trails: First Molsruten and then the Silkeborg-Arhus-Trail. Both trails were rather unspectacular and even the sea did not invite me to go swimming.

Last but not least we reached the Haervejen, an old but revived pilgrimage trail. In typical "Camino"-tradition there are "albergues" along the way which were beyond our budget due to Danish prices. But you could even buy soft drinks and snacks along the way ... At least the waymarking was great there were some free camp sites along the way as well complete with fire rings and grates, shelters and dry toilets. One morning we had already packed up and were eating breakfast when a very furious man approached our wild camping site and told us to leave immediately. It turned out that he was the advance party of a big hunting group - luckily we were not shot ...

To sum it up: This stretch has not been the most exciting hiking! It has been a pleasant experience and it was a great hike for beginners but I would not particulary recommend it to anyone. But on every long-distance hike there are connecting bits - and this was one of them.

E1 through Germany: Conclusion

Now let me answer the usual two questions at the end of each trip: Did I like this trip? Yes, I did! For me, after major surgery and a 6 week reconvalescence this trip has been ideal. The terrain was easy. No steep ascents or descents. I came across a supermarket almost every day which meant a very low pack weight. Navigation was relatively straight forward. Only where the E1 is not part of a another major trail the trail marking was less than perfect. Also I had enjoyed the most perfect summer weather!

But would I recommend it to a friend? Probably not! Why not? The biggest drawback is the high percentage of walking on pavement. The part from Koblenz to Hamburg was still tolerable, but after that the route was more than 50% on concrete. The North of Germany is much more suitable for biking than for hiking. Also the scenery is nothing to write home about. It is flat. All you see most of the time is fields. In bad weather this must be miserable! Although parts of the trail like the Rothaarsteig and the Heidschnuckenweg were really nice, on average this trail was rather an average trail. There is much better long-distance hiking in Germany.

Haervejen in Denmark

View onto the Flensburg Fjord

In Flensburg I crossed over into Denmark - on a tiny little path through the woods. To my utter surprise this border crossing point was staffed: Two Danish policemen were controlling it - despite the Schengen contract. I guess this is the result of the European refugee crisis. I asked the police guy if he wanted to see my passport. "Yes, please!", he answered. "Although you don't look like you'd be carrying an illegal Afghan refugee in your backpack!" Once on the Danish side I detoured a bit from the E1 that is called Haervejen here because I wanted to stay at one of the designated free Danish campsites. And what a great campsite it was: Right from my tent door I had a great view over the Flensburg Fjord. I left my tent door open at night and watched the moon rising over the Fjord and listened to the soft waves of the Baltic Sea - it was a great night!

With Sven Lewerentz

Next day brought a nice surprise: At midday I saw three hikers sitting directly on the trail. Since I had not seen any hikers for many days I stopped to chat. And then it turned out that I had stumbled across Sven Lewerentz who runs a website about the E1! Sven was accompanied by his girlfriend and his mother. His 76 year old mother had started to section hike the E1 already 30 years ago and she has passed on her passion for the trail onto her son.

We chatted so much that it was almost dark when I finally got to my planned campsite - one of the luxury picnic shelters of the Haervejen. The Haervejen offers a lot of hiker ammenities: Lots of shelters, great waymarking and because it is a pilgrimage trail most churches along the way are open during the day. Plus Danish cemeteries all have water taps and mostly even toilets! I was a very clean hiker on this stretch of trail....

Trail magic in Jegerup

I even received trail magic on Saturday: In the village of Jegerup I decided to have my lunch break. I headed over to a nice picnic pavillion in the village centre when an older lady stopped me to tell me something in Danish. I don't understand much Danish but "gratis frokost" seemed to mean "free food" and so I immediately followed her invitiation into the parish hall. There I was told the whole story: Today was the yearly village festival where everyone in the village contributed something to a big brunch. And of course I was invited! Unfortunately I was a bit late but there was still enough left for a hungry hiker. So today was smoerebroed instead of packaged noodle soup!

Neil, Alfred and Anna

On September 19th I finished my hike on the E1 for this year in Egtved. I had already hiked the E1 from Gothenburg in Sweden to here the year before - so this was the perfect finish place for me. Now I only have to hike 3000 km more and I will have finished my European South-West traverse from Tarifa to the North Cape! But before I took the train back to Berlin I visited two old friends: Neil and Anna, who live close to Himmelbjerget, the highest mountain in Denmark. This was my third visit to them: the first time I had come on bike on my bike trip around the Baltic Sea and the second time when I had hiked from Gothenburg to Egtved. Only now they are three: their son Alfred is now nearly one year old....

The E1 in Schleswig-Holstein

The Elbe in Hamburg

On September 4th I was back in Hamburg and crossed the river Elbe on a ferry from Cranz to Blankenese. In Hamburg the E1 splits: the main route heads East and continues up to Schleswig along the Baltic Sea Coast. But there is also a shorter Western variant which I took due to time restraints which is called Schlei-Eider-Elbe-Weg. Therefore I now walked East around Hamburg. I was really worried about this stretch because I was still very close to a big city and could not get all the way around it in one day of hiking. I had carefully studied the map and had found a little forest that looked suitable for free camping but it was still awfully close to civilisation. Two hours before sunset I was still in the outskirts of Hamburg where I found a little Asian take away restaurant. I decided to have dinner there before I headed out again to find a stealth campsite. All turned out very well in the end. Although there were still plenty of dog walkers and joggers out there I found a great hidden place in my little forest and slept very well.

Josef und Ute

Two nights later I slept under a roof again. Ute and Josef, two "fans" of my book had invited me to their place close to Itzehoe. They are planning to hike the AT next year and had plenty of questions for me. We spent a pleasant evening with lots of trail and gear talk - and great food. They made a fantastic barbecue for me and Josef prepared the world's best fried potatoes for me! They became trail angels before they turn into thruhikers and gave me some very nice trail magic!

Container ship on the Nord-Ostsee-Kanal

Next event was the Nord-Ostsee-Kanal, a very busy canal that connects the North Sea with the Baltic Sea. I hiked 13 km along the canal with huge container ships at my side which saved me more than 50 km on the E1. But time saving was not my main reason for this shortcut. I really love canal paths. They provide easy and quick hiking - and love ship viewing.  The sun was burning down relentlessly this morning but I chose the shady side of the canal and therefore spent a cool morning.

Campground in Tellingstedt

In the little town of Tellingstedt I struck gold again. I had just wanted to fill up with water again here but then I discovered a campsite on my map. I hardly ever stay at campsites but I thought that maybe I could pay for a shower there and then hike on. When I got there a sign announced that the campground was still open but not a single camper was to be seen. Only in one corner of the huge place two locals were enjoying a barbecue. They told me that the place was indeed officially open but hardly any campers ever came here because the town council was hardly promoting the place. The last permament campers had left the site some days ago. I asked them where to pay the camping fees and they just laughed. So I stayed at this perfect place with nice hot showers and an immaculate lawn for free. There was even an Aldi close by where I bought an opulent dinner before I bedded down in this huge place.

 Shopping at Aldi's these days was bit bizarre. Outside temperatures still reached more than 30 degrees everyday but at Ald's they were already stocking Christmas sweets. I also discovered that Aldi and Lidl stores are air-conditioned - a great relief from the heat. Hiking became more and more tedious because the landscape was completely flat now, hardly any forest and the trail consisted mainly of bike paths. Schleswig-Holstein is definitely more suitable for biking than for hiking.

Idstedter See

From the town of Schleswig I took the train to visit a friend in Rendsburg and have a rest day. In Schleswig the two E1 variants come together again and now follow the Ochsenweg which is also a pilgrimage trail. It is called Ochsenweg or Cattle Trail in German because this is the route on which cattle was driven from all over Denmark to the big cattle market in Hamburg. I liked it best for its two lakes that made great swimming! The weather was still unbelievable good - I have had only best summer weather for four weeks now. Summer weather does not get any better than that in Germany!

Still I must say that the part through Schleswig-Holstein was my least favourite of this hike. More than 50% of the route were on pavement, mostly on bike path. All I saw was endless fields that smelled horribly of liquid manure. And stealth camping was a huge problem because there is hardly any forest. There are much better places in Germany for hiking!