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Well, it is a difficult question. As I have already written in the introductory chapter, a very important part in the life of a Hungarian hiker to complete the whole National Blue Trail. If we collect every stamp along the trail in our Hiking Log and Passport, we will get a small badge from the Hungarian Hikers’ Association. But probably you will complete only a shorter or longer section of the more than 1100 km long trail during your hike. In this case you don't have to collect the stamps, only walk on the route and admire the wonderful countryside of Hungary. But to collect the stamps is a very good entertainment during the hike!

If you decide to walk along a section of the Blue Trail, you can choose among those, which have an own prize. They are written in the chapter of the badges. But if you choose other sections, the Hiking Log and Passport with the stamps of the completed distance can be a very nice relic of your Hungarian hike! If you want to stamp during the hike, you will find some advices in the next chapter.

You can order it from the Hungarian Hikers’ Association. You must write a letter to the association (its postal address is: Magyar Természetjáró Szövetség, 1244 Budapest, Pf.: 846.) and they will post the booklet to your address. You will pay at the delivery. The price of the booklet is 1260 HUF (about 4 Euro).

You can buy it in the central office of the Hungarian Hikers’ Association in Budapest. Its address is: 11 Károly körút, Budapest. The office building is located exactly in the centre of Budapest, you can reach it with five minutes walk from the underground station named „Deák tér”. The office of the association is on the seventh floor. Costumer reception is on every working day between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Of course you can buy the Hiking Log and Passport and other maps and books in the TuristaShop, which is the webshop of the Hungarian Hikers’ Association.

The National Blue Trail has 150 stamping places, where you have to prove the fact, that you were there. A lot of stamps are located in the shops or pubs of the settlement, which are on the route of the Blue Trail, but you will find stamps in their own metal boxes in the forest, generally equipped on the trees. There is a very good forum, where the hikers share their experiences regarding to the stamps of the Blue Trail: http://www.teljesitmenyturazoktarsasaga.hu/okt_forum. You will see the whole list of the stamping places on the opening page. If you click on the name of a place, its subpage will open with the comments. The newest comments are on top. Of course, it is only in Hungarian, but there are already good translator softwares on mobile phones and tablets.

The Hungarian Hikers’ Association has an official record about the stamping places, it downloadable from this place. It is a PDF document and it is in Hungarian, as well.

It is a very simple thing: there are squares (boxes) with the name of the stamping places in your Hiking Log and Passport. You must push the stamp into the appropriate square. Of course you need a good ink pad to do this thing, because of the infrequent use the stamps are generally dry. There are places beside the boxes of stamps to write the date of your visit at the stamping place. If you interrupt your hike at a stamping place, and later you continue the hike from that place, you have to write two dates beside the box of stamp, but if you stop only for the stamping at a place, and continue the hike immediatelly, you can write only one date in the booklet.

What happens, if you don't find the stamp, or it is unusable? Appropriate verification could be the stamp of any other company, establishment, local government, school, drug store, agricultural cooperative, community centre, committee or contractor, on which appears the name of the stamping place. It is possible to get a dated (cancellation) stamp in the post offices, but in that case the Hungarian Post may ask you to buy one (sticking) stamp in the brochure. If you can't find any other stamp (for example it happens at a forester's lodge in the woods), you must take a photo about you and the stamping place together (a selfie with the stamping place). One thing is relevant: you and the stamping place must be recognizable!

You must hand over the Hiking Log and Passport to the Hungarian Hikers’ Association (if you completed the whole Blue Trail) or to the local rambler's association for the region badges. If you would like to obtain the badges of the Children's Blue Trail for your child, it happens at the Hungarian Hikers’ Association. You can either post the booklet to the associations, or hand it over personally in the offices. The evaluation process keeps for one-two weeks. If you don't have enough time to wait until its finish in Hungary, give your postal address at the reception and pay the cost of the postal expenses, they will post the badge and the evaluated Hiking Log and Passport for you.

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