Remarks:

The places written with bold characters in the text show the marked places in the Route-Altitude diagram.

You can find detailed hiking maps about this section of the Blue Trail in the Map Chapter.

I have taken more dozen panoramic views along the more than 1100km long route of the National Blue Trail. They are collected in the chapter named Panoramic views, but I put links to the pictures in the text, as well. If you click on the links, the views will open in a new window.

If you click on the small pictures, they will open in bigger size.

We begin the hike through the Hilly Country of Gerecse at the railway station of Szárliget village (Szárliget village, railway station). Szárliget is a small village in the wide valley beetwen the Vértes Mountains and the Gerecse Hills. The two main roads: the highway, the old motorway and of course the railway line run in this valley from Budapest towards the northwestern part of Hungary and Vienna. You will see, that this totally empty railway station is too big in a small village similar to Szárliget, but here was a main marshalling station of the big coal mines of Gerecse until the latest times. Unfortunately the coal mines were closed after the regime change, and a lot of people have lost their work in this county.

After stamping (the box of the Blue Trail's stamp is located on the wall of the railway station beside the door of the office) we start the next hike here. When we leave the railway station, cross the main street of Szárliget and walk on a little backstreet towards the first hill of Gerecse. We reach the end of the street at the border of the village soon. A big former clear-cut lies here in front of us, a thick brushwood covers the area. The marks go left around this patch of forest on wheeltracks and reach the old forest after a little while. We enter among the trees and climb the ridge of the Halyagos Hill on meandering footpaths. After a shorter ascent we reach the wide ridge of Halyagos, our path joins to a dirt road leading along the back of the hill. After a few minutes the road get to the fenced new clear-cuts, we cross them and continue our hike in the old forest again.

After a quarter hour long hike we leave the plateau and descend to the motorway number M1 on a footpath (M1 motorway underpass). There is a pedestrian tunnel under the highway, if we go through this tunnel, reach the outermost houses of the small settlement named Nagyegyháza. After a few steps the marked path turns onto the main road of the village, but we turn left after 100 steps onto the Geszenye sor Street. We leave Nagyegyháza on this long road, and after the last houses the Blue Trail reaches a junction of asphalt roads. We turn left here, walk about 800 steps on this narrow asphalt strip and turn left at the next junction, beside abandoned buildings of a closed coal mine. We continue the hike on this narow, worn asphalt road, which leads to a lonely farmstead. We walk along its fence, while dog barking escorts us and turn right in the “T” junction of narrow asphalt roads (Lonely homestead).

The marked route follows the narrow asphalt road and we reach the fishing lakes after a few steps. The first small artificial lake lies beside our road, summertime we can hear the strong croak of frogs from the road. We turn off from the asphalt strip here and continue our hike among the lakes on wheel tracks, later we climb a small ridge beside cultivated fields. The Blue Trail goes along the wide ridge, fields are located on the left side of the trail, we have a good panorama towards the forest covered side of the Halyagos Hill. Later we reach a fenced area, the fence run on the left side of the wheel tracks.

After about 100 steps we have to watch the right side of the tracks, because a narrow, overgrown path starts there and leads into the thick forest. If we find the branching, we have to turn onto the narrow path, and descend into a shallow valley. We cross the small Váli-víz Creek there, it fills the fishing lakes, and a long climb begins in the hillside. Later we cross an old fence through its rusty gate, and after a short climb we reach the lower edge of a former clear-cut. The oak trees of the new plantation are already higher, than a man. We turn right at the wooden feeder and climb farther in the hillside. We get to the higher edge of the plantation after a five minutes long hard climb, cross a fence through its gate and walk on.

Our winding wheel tracks lead into a gravel road after about ten minutes, we turn onto it and continue the hike on this mildly ascending road. We walk only about eight-ten minutes on it and turn right onto a path before the edge of the next bigger clear-cut. The footpath leads among the trees beside the old clear-cut, later we leave the forest and enter the bushy area. We get to the junction of dirt roads and continue the hike on a dirt road towards north. This road ascends steeply in the first few minutes, later we reach the wide plateau of the Somlyó Hill and the ascent of the road slowly disappears. We reach the clearing of the shelter after a twenty minutes long comfortable walk (Somlyóvári hikers' shelter).

The wooden house, the benches and desks of the resting place stand at the southeastern corner of the clearing, where the path reaches it. The stamp of the Blue Trail is located in the small metal box equipped onto the doorpost of the house. After stamping we can take a short walk across the field of the clearing, because a nice view opens from the northwestern edge of it. We can see the wide basin of Tarján village and the forest covered side of the Gerecse Mountain behind the settlement from the lookout point. The Gerecse Mountain is the highest point in this region, it gave the name to the whole hilly country. The high TV relay tower standing on the back of Gerecse Mountain is well visible from this place. The smaller Bánya-hegy Hill stands on the left side of the Gerecse, later we will climb the col between them.

After the clearing the path climbs farther towards the shoulder of the Somlyó Hill, and begins to descend very steeply from there. The path marked with climbs to the top of Somlyó from that place. It is worth taking this short detour, because a beautiful panorama opens from the wide, grassy field towards the environment of the Somlyó Hill. If the weather is clean enough, we can see the far mountains of the Pilis, as well. (Link to the panoramic view)

The path of the Blue Trail descends steeply from the shoulder of the Somlyó until the clearing of the charcoal furnaces and joins into a narrow and worn asphalt road (Turning onto the asphalt road). This road leads towards northwest and descends mildly until the foot of the mountain. We pass the fenced buildings of a poultry farm and the road runs into the asphalt access road of Tornyópuszta village beside a stone cross. The Blue Trail doesn't touch the settlement, it goes on along the access road (Tornyópuszta village, road junction). We walk about 1000 steps on this asphalt road and turn left, onto wheel tracks. These tracks lead into the main road leading towards Tarján after a few minutes.

We cross the asphalt strip and continue the hike on a path, which descends through the forest until the edge of a cultivated field in the Bodza-völgy Valley. We walk on the northwestern edge of the cultivated area, beside a fence. After a few minutes we reach the end of this field at the fence of the highway number M1. We already crossed it at the beginning of this hike, but now we turn right and walk on a dirt road along its fence. Later our road bends right, enter the forest and slowly draw away from the noisy highway.

We change the direction often among dirt roads and wheel tracks, while we walk in the forest, later we cross the small valley of the Tarjáni-malompatak (Mill Brook of Tarján) and as we climb out from the valley, we get to a big, fenced clear-cut. It lies on the left side, and our wheel tracks go along the fence, and reach its corner at a small asphalt road. There is an oak tree at the corner of the fence, we can find the small box of the Blue Trail’s stamp on its trunk (Koldusszállás hunter's lodge, stamping place). After stamping we continue the hike.

The Blue Trail turns onto the mentioned narrow asphalt road towards north and reaches the hunter’s lodge of Koldusszállás after a few hundred steps (there is another stamp on a lamp post close to the house). We pass the nice house, later the asphalt surface of the road finishes, we hike farther on a dirt road. We reach the branching of this dirt road soon, the here beginning signs go on the left side road, but we turn right and follow the signs. The road leaves the clearing of the hunter’s lodge and enter the forest again. We walk on the meandering pebble road, later cross a fence through a gate and reach the junction of dirt roads. We turn right here, pass a big clear-cut on the right side, and get to the foot of Pes-kő Hill soon.

Our dirt road leads at the foot of the stony slope of the hill, if we glimpse left, we can see the rocky side of the Pes-kő among the trees. The road meanders and waves at the foot of the Pes-kő, after a while we reach a fenced new plantation, cross its worn, rusty gate and walk farther in the tick, young forest. After ten minutes we get to the other edge of the plantation, cross its gate and after a few steps turn right onto a gravel road leading towards the access road of Vértestolna village (Access road of Vértestolna village). We turn onto this asphalt road and reach the main road after a few minutes. We already crossed it between Tornyópuszta and Koldusszállás, now we turn left onto the asphalt strip and walk about 100 steps towards north.

We have to watch the right side of the road, because we have to turn onto a narrow path leading among the trees. We enter the forest and follow the winding path. A few minutes later the path reaches the edge of the forest, and joins into a dirt road. This road gets around a weedy field and turns slowly towards northwest. An old, overgrown fence runs on the right side of our road, and where the marks show, we cross it on a ladder. We enter a rocky area covered by thick bushes, the meandering footpath crosses this old clear-cut and reaches another fence on the other side of it.

We cross the fence on a ladder and enter a big, square-shaped field. We walk across it, while we can see the far Gerecse Mountain exactly in front of us. The Blue Trail leaves this field on the third ladder and we continue our hike along this fence across weedy, bushy former clear-cuts. This isn’t a comfortable walk, because the path is very narrow and the overgrown twigs hinder us in the walk. We reach the old forest in a quarter hour on the rocky side of the Fekete-kő Hill. Later the trail descends from the hill into a valley. We leave the fenced areas at the bottom of the vale through the opened gate of the fence, and walk on along a wide dirt road.

The upward slope towards the col between the Gerecse Mountain and Bányahegy Hill begins very mildly, but it becomes slowly harder, later we reach the edge of the plateau, turn onto the track of the former mine railway and get to the clearing in the col in a half an hour. The box of the Blue Trail’s stamp is equipped onto a big turkey oak tree at the southern edge of the meadow (Clearing of Bányahegy, stamping place). A very old turkey oak tree stood on the northern edge of the clearing, it was the place of the Blue Trail's stamp during decades, but it burned down because of a thunderbolt in 2013. Now we can see only its remains at the edge of the meadow, beside the wide gravel access road of the nearby marble mine.

This is very old marble mine on the Bányahegy (the name of the hill means Mine Hill), people have been using it continuously since the Middle Ages. The palace of King Matthias in Visegrád was built already from the stones of this mine in the 15th century. The abandoned parts of the mine are visible beside its access road, in a few hundred steps distance from the clearing. The former mine railway carried the stones and the wood of the forest to the Danube, but it was closed a few decades ago, later the rails were removed. Now we can see only the meandering embankment of the narrow-gauge railway line during the hike in the mountainside.

We leave the clearing, turn onto the wide and well-trodden access road of the marble mine, pass the old, abandoned building of the former forester’s lodge and turn right from this road onto wheel tracks. We cross a patch of forest and reach a new, fenced area of a clear-cut. We walk on the right side of it, the access road of the marble mine goes on its left. We descend mildly from the col, there is a nice view towards north to the hills of the Gerecse Hilly Country through the clear-cut. The abandoned embankment of the former mine railway meanders on the right side, among the trees of the forest. We can notice its ruined bridge, if we walk attentively. We cross the path of the signs, it goes towards the top of Gerecse Mountain, but our route avoids the summit, we go around the mountain.

After a while we get to a dirt road and turn onto it. The descent finishes here, we begin the climb in the mountainside again. This dirt road ascends continuously, while it gets around in the mountainside. The direction of the dirt road changes slowly from northern into eastern and we reach the wide northern plateau of the Gerecse. We get to the end of the upward slope at the very old Sandl hárs Limetree, and the lonely house of the ecclesiastical holiday resort appears after a clear-cut on the right side of the dirt road. The box of the Blue Trail’s stamp is equipped on the fence at its corner (Gerecse Mountain, ecclesiastical resort).

We pass the holiday resort and begin to descend from the plateau after a few minutes. The route of the Blue Trail turns into a narrow valley, crosses a power line and our path reaches the rocky northern side of the Gerecse Mountain. The abandoned marble mine of Pisznice Hill appears on the left side through a clear-cut, it is a nature conservation area. The path descends continuously and slowly gets to the bottom of the Vízválasztó Valley where the path of the marks meets with the the Blue Trail, and the two colors go on together. The trail leads into a narrow forest cultivating asphalt road and we turn onto it. Later the road leaves the forest, the asphalt surface finishes here and we arrive to the meadow of Pusztamarót on a gravel road.

The monument of the Battle of Pusztamarót appears in front of us, the wooden shelter with tables and benches stands on the other side of the road. The battle between the Turkey and Hungarian army was in 1526 here, a few weeks after the tragedy of the Battle of Mohács. The Hungarians were defeated in that battle and the Turkey troops pursued the Hungarians until this field, finally attacked them here again. About 25.000 soldiers and other escaping people, women and children died here on 15th September 1526. The stone memorial cherishes their memory. We find the stamp of the Blue Trail on a pine tree at the edge of the meadow, beside the old cemetery (Clearing of Pusztamarót, stamping place). There is another stamp on the southeastern part of the big meadow, on the wall of the small buffet at the Sasfészek Camping.

After the meadow of Pusztamarót the and sings climb the Marót-hegy (Marót Hill) together on a dirt road, but they go in different directions on the top. We follow the signs across big clear-cuts, the growing trees of the plantations are 2-3 metres tall. Later we reach the deep valley of Vaskapu, the dirt road goes around with a big omega-shaped bend. On the another side of the gorge after big clear-cuts we turn into the straight cut-line of a middle voltage power line and escort it on a path, later on wheel tracks during a half an hour. Finally we turn off from the cut-line and descend steeply from the hill to the asphalt road between Bajót and Bajna villages (Asphalt road to Bajót village). A resting place is located on the other side of the road, behind bushes and trees, we can reach it on its short access road.

We go only a few hundred steps on this road towards north, until its right bend and turn right onto a climbing dirt road in the cut-line of a big pressure gas pipeline (the pipes are unter the ground, we can see only the red sign posts. We have to look for attentively on the left side of the clear-cut that narrow path, which disappears among the bushes and trees. We have to turn onto it and after two minutes we reach a dirt road in the side of Domonkos-hegy (Domonkos Hill). We climb the ridge across big, new clear-cuts, while we have a nice panorama back, towards the Gerecse Mountain. Later the dirt road crosses the wide double ridge of the hill and reaches a junction of five dirt roads. We take a right angle turn to eastern direction and descend steeply on the other side of the hill.

After a while we leave the forest, reach the edge of the cultivated fields and glimpse the next section of our hike. Three hills stand beside each other. The closest is the forest-covered side of the Kőszikla Hill, it is 297 meter tall. The rocky Hegyes-kő Hill stands on the right side of it, it is 311 meter high. The farthest one is the 455 meter high Nagy-Gete Hill. We will climb all of them on the route of the Blue Trail! As we walk farther, the fourth hill appears on the left side, it is the Öreg-kő Hill, our next target!

After a few hundred steps we reach a narrow asphalt road, turn onto it and continue our walk towards southeast. The pilgrimage church of Péliföldszentkereszt will appear on the left side after a quarter an hour long walk. We turn off from the asphalt road in its left bend and climb the small hill of the church. We pass the church and the building of the monastery on a gravel promenade and get to the old oak and the benches of the resting place. The box of the Blue Trail’s stamp is equipped onto the trunk of the oak tree (Péliföldszentkereszt pilgrimage place). There is another stamp in its box on the terrace of a small cafe behind the church.

This place was already well-known among the pilgrims in the 13th century. Its name was Péli in that time. The monastery of the templar knights stood here in the Middle Ages, but is was already abandoned after the Turkey times. The new church was built in 1735 and the new building of the cloister in 1763. It is worth visiting the stations of the Calvary, which begin beside the resting place and lead us until the top of the hill.

If we continue the walk, we will reach the spring of the Szent-kút (Sankt Well) on a pebble road in five minutes. It is a permanent spring, it gives cool water through the whole year, even in the hottest summer! There is another resting place beside the spring. The Blue Trail leaves the small clearing of the spring on a footpath among the trees and climbes in a small valley to the cultivated fields. The Öreg-kő Hill stands exactly in front of us with its regular cone shape! We walk on the edge of the field and gets around its southern corner, later we hike beside a long fence until its northern corner. The route of the Blue Trail turns right at the corner at the edge of the forest. We walk farther in the forest towards the shoulder of the Öreg-kő Hill until the resting place (Bajóti Öreg-kő Mountain, resting place).

The route of the Blue Trail takes a sharp right-turn here and descends in the mountainside, but it is worth climbing the hill on the path and stairs beginning at this place. We can visit the Jankovich-barlang (Jankovich Cave) in the hillside and a nice panorama opens from the rocky hillside towards the Danube and Esztergom town. (Link to the panoramic view)

We leave the resting place on a narrow path which descends straight from the hill until a dirt road. We turn onto it and reach the stony road towards Mogyorósbánya village through meadows and the forests in a half an hour. We descend steeply on this ankle breaker road into the settlement and reach the main square of Magyorósbánya (Mogyorósbánya village, bus turning place). The route of the Blue Trail turn right here, but we have to turn left and visit the Kakukk Pub on the Alkotmány utca (Alkotmány Street) to stamp into our booklet! The box of the stamp is equipped on the door post of the pub.

After the stamping procedure we leave the main square on a narrow street, which leads to the cemetery of the settlement. After a few steps we pass the fence of the cemetery and enter the forest. Our dirt road climbs the forest covered side of Kőszikla Hill, we reach the meadow on the flat top after a twenty minutes long hike. The dirt road finishes here, we go on along a footpath. After a little while the signed path turns right and begins to descend in the hillside, but another path starts here straight among the trees (Kőszikla Hill). If we follow it, we will reach the rocky forehead of the Kőszikla Hill soon.

We can sit on the rocks and admire the fantastic panorama, which opens from the hill towards the Gerecse Hilly Country. Below our feet we can see the wide valley of the vineyards of Tokod village with the small houses and gardens, the rocky mass of the Hegyes-kő stands behind the valley and the forest-covered side of the Nagy-Gete is visible in the background. If the weather is clean enough, we can see the far ridge of the Pilis Mountains behind the Nagy-Gete. (Link to the panoramic view)

The path of the Blue Trail descends very steeply towards the valley. The slope begins in the forest, later the path reaches the grassy, bushy hillside. The footpath joins into a dirt road at the first houses, and we continue the descent on these meandering wheel tracks. At the bottom of the valley we pass a shelter in the junction of dirt roads, and if we turn right, we glimpse the house named Kavics-lak (Pebble House). It is unmistakable, because it is decorated with a lot of pebbles. The box of the Blue trail's stamp is on a post at the access tracks of the Kavics-lak. After stamping we go on and reach the junction of the busy main road between Tokod and Zsámbék on the dirt road (Asphalt road to Bajna village). We cross the wide asphalt road and continue our hike straight on a narrower asphalt strip. We walk about 400 steps on it and turn right onto steeply climbing wheel tracks.

We climb the shoulder of the Hegyes-kő Hill on wheel tracks and later on paths, after the forest we get to the stony, bare hillside. The Blue Trail doesn’t climb the rocky top of the hill, only a col below the summit (Hegyes-kő Mountain, col), but it is worth hiking until the peak, because a beautiful round panorama opens from the top of the hill! The wide plain of the Danube lies on the northern side with the small villages and we can see the whole Hilly Country of Gerecse on the another side. If the weather is clear, we can see the mountains of Pilis and Börzsöny in the far background! (Link to the panoramic view)

The path descends from the shoulder of the Hegyes-kő Hill until the houses of Tokod village first across a bushy area, later it reaches the fields above the settlement. We continue the walk on the streets of the village till the main square of the settlement (Tokod village, main square). The marked trail turns right here, at the Catholic church, but we have to stamp in the pub of Tokod into our Blue Trail booklet. The pub is located in a quarter kilometer distance in northern direction. We can reach it on the wide Kossuth Lajos utca (Kossuth Lajos Street).

The Blue Trail leaves the village on the Szabadság utca (Szabadság Street), after the last houses we get to a narrow valley through fields and small forest patches. After a half kilometer a steep rising path branches out on the left side, and begin to climb in the hillside. We have to turn onto it and follow this path through the stony, bushy hillside. If we turn back, the village and the rocky top of the Hegyes-kő are visible in the far. The path (it is the remain of and old dirt road) branches in two directions after a high voltage power line, we turn left here towards the pine forest of the hillside.

We reach the forest after a few minutes, climb a smaller hill and get to the clearing at the foot of the Nagy-Gete. The mountain towers exactly in front of us! The path leads back into the forest and a very hard climb begins here towards a summit. We have to ascend more than 150 metres within a very short distance! The path meanders and climbes very steeply among the trees in the rocky mountainside, later we reach the ridge of the mountain, and after a few dozen steps the clearing of the summit (Nagy-Gete Mountain).

We can rest on the benches beside the big wooden cross, or sit onto the rocks at the southern edge of the clearing. A very nice view opens towards the hill of the Gerecse, we can see almost the whole route of the Blue Trail in this county. The Hegyes-kő, the Kőszikla and the Öreg-kő hills stand on the right, we can see the small church of Péliföldszentkereszt in the valley, and the Gerecse Mountain with the TV boadcasting tower stands in the far background.

After the top of the Nagy-Gete Mountain the trail descends mildly along the eastern ridge of the mountain among meadows and forest patches. Later we reach the big clear-cuts and the downwards slope continues until Dorog town. The marked trail changes its direction often, but these places are well signed. We reach the first houses of Dorog after an hour and cross an industrial railway line and an asphalt road.

We continue our walk along the Csolnoki út (Csolnoki Road) on the sidewalk, later we turn left at the branching of the roads onto the Árpád utca (Árpád Street). We walk until its end, pass the Roman Catholic church of the town and reach the roundabout in front of the Town Hall. We go on straight and after 200 steps turn right onto the narrower Hantken Miksa utca (Hantken Miksa Street). At the end of the dead end street a pedestrian tunnel begins under the rails of the station. We can access the building of the station on stairs from this underpass. We finish the hike here, at the railway station. The stamp of the Blue Trail is equipped on the wall of the outlet of the underpass beside the station building (Dorog town, railway station).