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. If you click on the links, the views will open in a new window.

There are short videos about the medieval condition of the Hungarian castles, fortresses on the Youtube. I have collected them in the Castles, fortressess chapter, but I put links to the videos in the text, as well. If you click on the links, the videos will start in new windows.

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

We have reached the last region, which is crossed by the route of the National Blue Trail at the small railway stop of Boldogkőváralja village (Boldogkőváralja, railway stop). We will hike about 100 kilometres in this county and during the hike visit three old, partly ruined castle, climb 700-800 metres tall mountains and admire the nice panoramas opening from the summits. The Zemplén Mountains is perhaps the least known region of Hungary, far from Budapest and far from the main traffic routes, it is an almost closed world with huge forests and small villages. Let’s start on this long hike!

After stamping we leave the small railway platform and after a few steps we glance the narrow asphalt strip, which connects the villages lying at the feet of Zemplén Mountains. The marked route of the National Blue Trail turns left here onto this minor road, but after 400 steps we reach the junction of the access road of the Boldogkőváralja village (Road to Boldogkő Castle). We turn right, onto the worn, potholed asphalt road, cross the small Szerencs-patak Brook after 500 steps and climb a small hill ridge among fenced fruit plantations and cultivated fields.

We get to the highest point soon, and at a stone cross glimpse Castle of Boldogkő again. The road begins to sink from the hill and the houses of Boldogkőváralja village appear in front of us. The asphalt road runs straight towards the centre of the settlement, but we reach the narrow access road of the castle at the first gardens and dwelling houses. The Blue Trail doesn’t visit the partly renovated old castle, but if we have enough time, don’t miss this sight!

We can reach the car park below the walls of the castle in a quarter hour on the mildly ascending asphalt acces road. If we buy the ticket in the small office located in the gate tower, we can visit the almost 800 years old castle. The castle was build on the top of an andesite tuff rock after the Tartar invasion in the second half of the 13th century with the permit of the Hungarian King. Its first owner was the Tomaj clan, later it was the property of the kings many times. The castle had an important role, because it guarded the wide valley of the Hernád River and the road leading towards Kassa (Kosice) town.

The Turks never attacked the castle, because it was far from the occupied area of Hungary, but it wasn’t able to avoid the fate of many other Hungarian castles and forts: the Austrian troops demolished its walls in 1701. The castle was partly renovated in the previous years, a restaurant is working in the cellar of the castle, and there are exhibitions among the walls. The panorama opening from the wall towards the wide plain of Hernád River and the mountains is beautiful! We find a Blue Trail’s stamp on the gate of the castle, so if we have forgotten to stamp in our booklet at the railway stop, we can do it (the text of both stamps is “Boldogkőváralja”)! (Video about the medieval condition of the castle)

After the visit we can go back to the border of the village, the access road becomes the main street of the Boldogkőváralja at the first houses. We walk along the straight road, while we pass by the high andesite rock of the castle and inspect the walls from many directions. We reach the junction of roads in the centre of the village, we turn left here beside a small park towards Arka village (Boldogkőváralja village, centre). This street runs towards north and leaves Boldogkőváralja after a few minutes. The asphalt surface of the road doesn’t finish at the last houses, we walk until the neighbour village on it, while we can hear the babbling Arka-patak Brook, which escorts the road in the shady valley.

We reach Arka village after a half an hour and follow the road through the small village. The marked path of the Blue Trail chooses the left side street in the junction at the churches (Arka village), and reaches the border of the settlement at the cemetery. The asphalt surface finishes here, we continue the hike on a mildly ascending well-trodden dirt road. Wide fields lies on the right side of the road, we can see the valley of the Arka-patak Brook and the forest covered side of Magoska Mountain (734 m) behind it. The dirt road ascends continuously, we pass by a fenced tree plantation on the right side and leave the road at the northern corner of the fence.

We turn onto a hardly visible path there, and begin to sink back to the valley of the brook. This footpath is used only by the Blue Trail walkers, so it not a well-trodden one, but it leads us many kilometres long parallel with the Arka-patak Brook at the bottom of the always shady valley. Perhaps the “parallel” word is not the appropriate phrase, because the path crosses the brook many times! This section of the route is a real jungle, but its difficulty depends on the water yield of the brook!

After the snow melting and rainy seasons the water level is high, we have to use the rocks of the bed to cross the creek with dry boots, but during the long, dry Hungarian summers the brook loses its all water! This section is one of the most beautiful sight of the Zemplén Mountains, and only the walkers of the Blue Trail can admire it! The marked path crosses nine times the brook, passes be a ruined forester's lodge finally it stays on the right side of the bed. We reach the end of the valley after an about two hours long walk, the path leaves the bottom of the vale and ascends a little bit until the grassy pasture in the hillside.

The path passes by a little resting place with benches and tables on the meadow and as it climbs in hillside, we catch a glimpse to Castle of Regéc. The partly ruined castle stands on the top of a forest covered hill exactly in front of. (Link to the panoramic view) The grassy path reaches a junction on the pasture, we turn left here and slowly descend from the hillside back to the valley of the brook. We reach another branching path at the edge of the field: the marked path starts towards the nearby Bónyi-kút Spring (Path to the Bónyi-kút Well). This spring works constantly, and a small resting place is located beside it with benches, tables and with a small wooden shelter. The place locating on a small clearing is suitable to pitch our tent here!

We continue the walk on the bottom of the Arka-patak Brook, the marks follow cart tracks there, and after a few minutes we reach the neglected, weedy clearings. The route of the Blue Trail leaves the shady valley here, after a short climb we get to the first houses of Mogyoróska village. We walk on the continuously ascending Fő utca Street towards the main square of the settlement and we reach it after a few minutes long climb (Mogyoróska village). We glimpse Castle of Regéc again, now we are much closer to the walls, than on the field before the Bónyi-kút. There is no shop in the small village, we can continue the hike on the steeper climbing section of the Fő utca beside the Roman Catholic church of the settlement.

We reach the forest after the last houses, a well-trodden dirt road leads us steeply towards the col of the Castle Hill. The upward slope is long and exhausting, we reach the col after a twenty minutes long hike. The Blue Trail doesn’t visit the castle, but we can take a short detour until the partly renovated walls. The path marked with and starts exactly from the col and ascends steeply farther sixty metres till the castle (Path to Castle of Regéc). But this detour is short in the shady forest, so don’t miss this sight! (Link to the panoramic view)

There is no exact data about the building of this castle, probably it was built by the Aba clan in the second half of the 13th century. It was mentioned in documents first time in 1307. The owners changed each other often, many times it was the property of the kings. The Rákóczi Family procured the castle with siege in 1644, later Prince Rákóczi Ferenc, the leader of the independence war against the Austrian Empire grew up among the walls of the castle. The fate of this fort was similar to other ones: the Austrian troops demolished its walls in 1686.

The renovation works began in the beginning of the 21st century from the money of the neighbour Regéc village, later mainly from the money of the European Union the castle was party renovated. Now an exhibition works among the old walls, it shows the history of the castle and the Rákóczi Family. A beautiful round panorama opens from the walls of the castle, it is a must see category! (Video about the medieval condition of the castle)

The dirt road sinks steeply from the col of the Castle Hill, later we reach a junction in the forest. A meandering dirt road starts towards the castle there, those visitors use it, which come from the car park. We sink farther in the forest and turn left at the next forking. This road leaves the forest after a while, if we turn back on the grassy clearing, we can see the walls of the castle already high above us on the summit! Later the road runs again in the forest, but finally we reach the fields above Regéc village, later the first houses, barns. The end of the long descent is on the main street of the settlement.

We turn right here, and begin the next, very long and exhausting climb, which begins here, on the long, straight Fő utca Street. During the walk we pass by the visitor centre of the castle on the left side the street, and later the Veronika panzió Guesthouse on the right side. Hikers can find the Blue Trail’s stamp at the gate of the yard of the guesthouse in a small wooden cottage on the fence (Regéc village, stamping place). Another stamp is located in the small shop of the village, its address: 21 Fő utca. Unfortunately the opening time of the grocery is limited.

I would like to draw your attention to the following thing: we leave here, in Regéc village the populated places, and Makkoshotyka will be the next settlement on the route of the Blue Trail after about 25 km distance and 700 metres climb! So, the next section won’t be an easy walk in the forest, especially if you will take the recommended detours to the summits of the close mountains. These detours will grow the distance with farther 3-5 kilometres, so the total distance can exceed easily the 30 km! It is already a difficult hike, I recommend it only for the skilled, experienced hikers! For beginners it is proposed to divide the distance into two sections with detour to a nearby settlement, where they can spend a night. I will refer to the exit points in the text. Another possibility is carry a tent, which we can pitch somewhere in the forest. The mentioned forester’s lodges in the text are not accommodations for hikers, generally they are closed!

We walk along the main road and leave the settlement at its northern end. A well-trodden dirt road climbs mildly under our boots towards the mountains, but we leave it after about thousand steps and turn right onto a path. This path crosses the small Puskás-patak Brook at its stony ford and begins to climb on a neglected, weedy clearing. It is worth turning back, where the meandering path reaches the forest, because a nice view opens back to the Castle Hill and to the Castle of Regéc!

We continue the climb among the trees, later we reach the rocks in the side of the Nagy-Bekecs Mountain. The path meanders among the rocks on the bottom of the valley, the climb becomes harder on this section (Kemence-kő Rock). After a while we leave this rocky valley behind us, the path reaches a small plateau in the forest. We can rest here a little during the walk, but later the ascent will be harder again and our path reaches the col of the Kerékkötő Mountain after an exhausting climb (Kerékkötő nyerge Col). The hard ascent disappears unexpectedly here, and we leave the old forest as we get to the fenced new forest plantations of Bekecs-kert. We reached here the 700 metres elevation, we will keep it during the next kilometres.

The wheel tracks lead among the fenced plantations and join to a well-trodden dirt road. We turn right here and follow this road until the next junction at the border of the Kavicsbánya-rét Meadow. The route of the Blue Trail turns left here, and runs on another wide dirt road farther. This section is an easy part of our hike, the roads goes in the same elevation, they keep the 700 metres elevation. The well-trodden road serpentines among the summits of the mountains, we will encounter with many forking path marked with blue triangle signs on the next kilometres.

The first branching path starts right to the nearby summit of Pengő-kő (Path to the Pengő-kő Rock). We can see the andesite rocks standing among the trees, the short path leads until the top of the highest rock. Unfortunately there is no panorama opening from the summit, because it is surrounded by the high beech trees. I recommend keeping our energy for the next summits! I ask for only a little patience!

The dirt road bends towards south and leaves the old forest. A big, fenced clear-cut opens on the right side of the road, and we glimpse the already far Castle of Regéc on the top of the Castle Hill, which are surrounded by other hills and mountains of Zemplén. We can see exactly, than we are already much higher level, than the renovated dwelling tower of the fort. If we walk farther, the road bends back into a north-eastern direction and we will reach the junction of the next marked path soon (Path to the Nagy-Péter-mennykő Rock).

It leads to the nearby summit of Nagy-Péter-mennykő Mountain, and do not miss it! The length of this path is only thousand steps and hardly twenty metres is its climb. The bigger part of the route leads in the high grass of a meadow, later the path reaches the old beech forest. The path meanders among the trees and gets to the rocky summit of the mountain in a few minutes.

The panorama opening from the rocks is breathtaking: we can see the big part of the Zemplén Mountains and the waving plain of Hegyköz in the far, which is encircled with the forest covered summits. The 895 metres tall Nagy-Milic Mountain close the plain in northern direction, it will be the last mountain, which is climbed by the route of the National Blue Trail! If the weather is clean, we can see the third castle on our route: the white wall of the Castle of Füzér! It seems, it stands in the side of the Nagy-Milic, but it is located on the top of a smaller hill in front of the mountain. (Link to the panoramic view)

If we turn right, towards east, we will see the small group of Sátor-hegyek Mountains, they are the part of the huge Zemplén Mountains, but they stand alone, farer from the main part of the county. The Hungarian name of the mountains (Sátor-hegyek means Tent Mountains) refers to the shape of the summits. It is worth looking closely them with a binocular, because we will visit those mountains on the next hiking day and climb their highest peak! Under our feet meanders the long valley of Kemence-patak Creek, we can visit it by a narrow-gauge railway, which will crossed by the route of the Blue Trail.

After a short rest we have to continue the hike, because we are far from every settlement here! If we go back to the dirt road, we will follow the marks again. We walk about one kilometre on the well-trodden dirt road and chose the right forking wheel tracks. These tracks descend in the forest, we lose about sixty meter elevation and gets to the forester’s lodge of István-kút (István-kúti Forester's lodge). We can find the Blue Trail’s stamp equipped onto a tree standing beside the road, in front of the house. We can rest a few minutes on the shady benches or visit the spring, which gave its name to the place (István-kút means István Well). The spring works almost permanently, it gave water with good chance in the hottest summer, too! A short path marked with leads to the spring.

If we continue the hike, reach the second hunter’s lodge soon, this wooden house stands among birches. The wheel tracks cross meanderingly the thinned birch patch and joins to a wide, well-trodden forest cultivating road. We follow it one kilometre long, until the junction of the Mlaka-rét Meadow while we lose the elevation continuously. There is a nice resting place in the shad of a few trees, but I recommend another detour from the route of the marks here. According to the information arrows the Sólyom-kő peak stands only in 570 metres distance, and the estimated hiking time is about 15 minutes.

I don’t want to hide: if we can take only 570 metres distance during a quarter an hour, it means a hard climb, but I believe it is worth climbing the rocky summit of the Sólyom-kő Peak! We have to follow the and signs, and if we reach the peak, a beautiful panorama opens in front of us! We will see even the far Castle of Regéc among the innumerable summits of the Zemplén Mountain! It is a must see sight of the today’s hike, similar to the Nagy-Péter-mennykő. (Link to the panoramic view)

The Mlaka-rét Meadow is a good exit point on the route. We hiked about 10 kilometres from Regéc until this place (without the mentioned detours), and we have another 15 km until Makkoshotyka. If we follow the marks on the crossing dirt road towards south, we will reach Háromhuta (Középhuta) village after about one hour long walk, in the other direction the Hotel Kőkapu is about one and a half hour long walk, which is located on the route of the mentioned narrow gauge railway line. The route of the marks has a long descent in both directions and unfortunately we have to climb back to this point, if we want to continue the hike!

After this second detour we continue the hike on the well-trodden forest cultivation dirt road. This road sinks slowly, gets around the head of Szpalanyica-völgy Valley, later we reach the forking of the fourth marked path, which leads to the rocky head of Kerek-kő. If we have enough time, visit the summit, although the panorama is similar, then to the other one, which opened from the top of Nagy-Péter-mennykő.

The road meanders farther in the forest, and reaches the Cselliszka-rét Meadow. The interestingness of this field is, that the waters of the environs are gathered below the grass-carpet of the meadow, and if we walk in the grass, feel the grass to move under our boots. We pass by the grassy field and at its other edge glimpse the returning branch of the blue triangle marks from the Kerek-kő. We walk further three quarter hours on the road, finally reach the road junction of Gerendás-rét Meadow.

We reached here the second exit point of the section, our distance from Regéc is 15 km, the resting route until Makkoshotyka is round 10 km. If we turn onto the dirt road of the marks, we will reach Háromhuta (Újhuta) in a half an hour, because the distance is only 2.3 km until the village. If we continue the hike from the road junction towards Makkoshotyka, there will be no other exit points on the route of the Blue Trail!

Five roads meet in this junction, we have to choose that one, which starts in eastern direction and bend after a few steps to northeast. The next climb begins here, the dirt road ascends continuously, but after 700 steps we reach forking wheel track leading to the forester’s lodge of Eszkála (Eszkála forester's lodge). The house was built above the dirt road in the hillside, we will reach it with a few hundred steps. There is a good resting place with benches, tables and with a shelter beside the closed house, the box of the Blue Trail’s stamp is mounted onto a tree in front of the building.

After stamping we walk back to the dirt road and continue the climb in the mountainside. After a few minutes we reach a junction of dirt roads, the signs turn right here and the marks run farther on the dirt road. We follow the route of the Blue Trail, turn onto the branching wheel tracks and begin the long but very mild descent on the back of Kecske-hát Hill. This is an easy section of our hike, we lose our elevation slowly but continuously on the wheel tracks. We will reach the junction of marked hiking routes on the Zsidó-rét Meadow after an hour long easy walk. The branching signs lead to the nearby Háromhuta (Újhuta), but our distance is only a little bit more until Makkoshotyka.

After the meadow the dirt road climbs with a short ascent the Kecske-hegy Hill and reaches the junction of dirt roads. The branching signs leads to Komlóska village, but we are already closer to Makkoshotyka here. Our dirt road begins to sink in the oak forest, the end of the descent is at the Cifra-kút Spring. There is a good resting place with shelter here, but the spring doesn’t work unfortunately. We can keep our next rest here, on this shady place in the forest.

After the spring we leave to well-trodden dirt road and turn left onto a footpath. This meandering path is used by only the hikers, it is narrow and meandering, but the marks are painted often onto the trees, we can follow them easily. This footpath sinks continuously among the trees, finally we will reach the first houses of Makkoshotyka village after a forty minutes long walk. We finished our hardest and longest section along the Blue Trail here (Makkoshotyka village)!

We reach the main street of the settlement soon, the marked route of the Blue Trail turns left here, but we can find a well stocked mini supermarket in the another direction, where we have opportunity to fill up our food and drink stock. There is a pub on the other side of the main road, we can keep there our next rest. After the deserved rest period we walk back to the route of the Blue Trail.

The marked route goes on the main street of the settlement, passes by the Calvinist church and the mansion of the Meczner Family, later it turns right, onto the Petőfi Street. We find here, at the corner of the streets an information board, the box of the Blue Trail’s stamp is mounted onto the side of this board. We stamp in the booklet and go farther. We walk until the right angle bend of the street and leave the asphalt road here. There is a wooden garden gate here, we open it and continue the hike on the pavement leading to the crypt of the Meczner Family. We pass by the wooden belfry and turn onto a footpath after the crypt.

We climb a small hill on the path among the trees, cross a dirt road and another forest belt keeping the north-eastern direction, finally we reach the pasture. The hardly visible footpath runs through the grassy field and we glimpse the peaks of the Sátor-hegyek Mountains in front of us. We pass a cross standing on the field and reach a dirt road at the eastern edge of the pasture. We walk on this road about 150 steps in southern direction and turn left at the next junction. We continue the hike on the edge of a cultivated field, and step into the forest at the northern corner of the field.

We cross a forest strip and reach a fenced forest plantation after a few dozen steps. We open the gate of the fenced area and cross this patch of new forest. We get to the end of the plantation after 350-400 steps, cross the fence again and walk farther in the old forest again. The path meanders and waves in the shady forest, we reach the clearing of the alone standing Cirkálótanya farmstead after quarter hour long walk. We find the box of the Blue Trail’s stamp in its metal box equipped onto the corner of the barn. The black-white dog of the farm barks every approaching people, but he is really friendly and doesn’t hurt to the stamping hikers!

After the administration work we continue the walk on the dirt road beginning at the farmstead, we follow it to the ford of the Hercegkúti-patak Brook. The road crosses it and begins to ascend in the forest. The upward slope is long and exhausting in the valley, but after a while we reach the top of the hills. The marked route leave the dirt road here, follows the edge of a fenced meadow on a footpath, later reaches another dirt road. This road will lead us during the next kilometres. The dirt road crosses the route of the red strip marks, later passes by the old oak named Rákóczi-fa (Rákóczi Tree).

The next section of the hike is a little bit harder, because the road will crosses the small ridges of the hills. It will ascend and descend many times 30-40 metres in the forest, and it can be very exhausting! Later we leave the dirt road, the blue strip marks lead us on paths, we pass the Csonka-kút Well (its water is not potable) and a lonely, abondoned farm, later we reach a crossing ditch in the forest. It is about 5-6 metres deep, with steep walls. After the ravine the path crosses a wild mulberry field (it rips in September but it is prickly in the whole year), later turn into the cut-line of a power line.

We reach the narrow asphalt road in the Bányi-nyereg Col after a twenty minutes long walk. Gardens, vineyards, small houses appear in front of us, this is the weekend area of the nearby Sátoraljaújhely town. We turn onto a worn asphalt strip here, walk about hundred steps towards north and leave it at the last houses. The marked route of the Blue Trail turns left at the next junction of streets and we get to the forest after a few dozen steps again. We reached the feet of Sátor-hegyek Mountains here.

The ascent begins immediately among the trees, and we climb about 60 metres on the dirt road until the small clearing located on a plateau. We leave the road here, turn left onto a path and continue the climb in the forest. This ascent is longer and harder, than the previous one, and keeps until the col of Nagy-nyugodó. The elevation of the col is about 360 metres, we climbed about 100 metres during one kilometre long walk from the meadow (Nagy-nyugodó Col). The path of the signs starts straight from the col and descends to Sátoraljaújhely town, the route of the Blue Trail turns left in the junction. The box of the stamp is equipped onto the side of the information board. We finish here the 26th section of the Blue Trail, and we have two opportunities here: either we can descend to the town to look for an accommodation (the route is about 3 kilometre long if we follow the signs), or continue the walk among the mountains on the route of the Blue Trail.

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The ascent continues from the Nagy-nyugodó Col in the side of the Kecske-hát Mountain, but we don’t climb its peak. The highest point of the path is in 414 m elevation, later the path descends until the wide Vörös-nyereg Col. The route of the Blue Trail turns left here, but I would like to recommend a short detour for every hiker! The meandering path of the signs begins here and leads until the peak of the Magas-hegy Mountain. It is the tallest summit among the Sátor-hegyek, and a beautiful round panorama opens from the lookout terrace of the here standing TV relay tower! Sátoraljaújhely lies at the feet of the mountains and the seemingly endless Great Hungarian Plain begins beyond the town. We can see the peaks of Zemplén Mountains in the opposite direction.

But not the panorama is the only attraction here! The Zemplén Adventure Park offers unique opportunities! The most well-known thing is the “Sólyom” (Falcon). Exactly one kilometre long steel ropes are stretched between the peaks of Magas-hegy (514 m) and the much smaller Szár-hegy (345 m). The enterprising people can slide from the higher peak to the smaller only in a safety strap above the 300 metres deep valley. An aerial cableway with small cabins carries back people to the starting point. Of course, the less brave people can use this cableway in both directions!

A chair lift leads in the side of the Magas-hegy, it connects the summit with the lower station located at the foot of the mountain. The Adventure Park has a long and winding summer bobsleigh and other opportunities, as well. So I recommend the short, but steep detour to the summit of the Magas-hegy. Of course, people don’t have much free time during the hike, but if you have accommodation in the town, you can spend a whole day in the Adventure Park!

If we continue the hike from the Vörös-nyereg Col, first we walk in the side of the Kecske-hegy Mountain to the nearby Körtefa-nyereg Col, and the steep descent begins there back the narrow asphalt road, which we have seen already at the Bányi-nyereg Col. We turn onto this road and walk about 500 metres until the alone standing house of Vöröskő guesthouse. Exactly in front of the garden of the house begins a dirt road on the opposite side of the asphalt road, we turn onto it.

The dirt road begins to ascend in the forest while it crosses medium voltage power lines, later the upward slope disappears, as the road reaches a small plateau. We walk about thousand steps in the same elevation, but after a while the marks leave this road, turn left and we continue the climb on a neglected path across an old clear-cut. Later we reach the old forest again, the path climbs among erosion ditches here, finally we get to a ridge in the forest, where our path joins to a well-trodden dirt road. This wide, meandering forestry road keeps its elevation, and we reach the resting place at the col of Nagy-Hallgató-nyereg Col after a half an hour.

The wooden memorial column of died foresters and an information board stand beside the benches, we can keep our next short rest here. Many dirt roads cross each other at the Nagy-Hallgató-nyereg Col, but we will continue the walk on a narrow path starting in western direction. As we walk in the high undergrowth, a valley is formed beside the path, and it becomes more and more deep. The path meanders in the left side of the gorge, later descends to the bottom of the deep valley and cross the brook at a small ford. The path gets wider, it is already a rarely used dirt road, which follows consequently the brook on the bottom of the gorge. Finally we reach the first dwelling houses of the small Vágáshuta village.

We walk along the winding main street, and find the stamp of the Blue Trail on an information board beside resting benches (Vágáshuta village, stamping place). After stamping we continue the hike on the street and leave the settlement after a while. The continuation of the street is the narrow asphalt access road of the village, we walk about 20 minutes on it, finally reach the small grassy meadow of the Margit-forrás Spring. We leave the road at the resting benches and tables and turn right onto wheel tracks leading into the forest.

The tracks follow the bottom of the wide Tehénkosár Valley. The babbling sound of the small Hollós-patak Brook escorts us, which run beside the wheel tracks among the trees. The rod meanders not in a “real” forest, it is only and old, unused pasture with bushes, low acacia trees. Later we reach the oak forest, we walk beside the brook on the footpath and at the end of the valley cross the water. A very hard climb begins here, the winding path ascends about 80 metres on a short section and reaches the bushy hilltop.

We walk along a fence, the inside of the fenced area is a wild hog raising garden, if we have good luck, we can glimpse the hogs among the trees. Later we reach a dirt road still on the hilltop, it will lead us into the next valley. There is a hairpin bend at the end of this road and we turn onto the street of Nagyhuta village. We walk on the long slope of the Petőfi Sándor Street, it is the main street of the settlement and we find the stamp of the Blue Trail on the fence of the garden of the Major’s office (Nagyhuta village, stamping place). Its address is 10 Petőfi Sándor Street.

We leave the settlement on the narrow asphalt road, it leads us through the forest to the next village, in Kishuta. Although according to the name it is the smaller one between the two settlements (“nagy” means great and “kis” means little in the English), this village is much bigger, than the previous one! Its main street is very long, we walk about half an hour until the station of the narrow gauge railway line. A small wooden house stands beside the rails, we can rest here at the shady terrace of the pub and fill up our stocks in the grocery (Kishuta, Railway stop).

The Zemplén Mountains had a big net of narrow gauge railway lines, but is was liquidated at the end of the ‘70s of the previous century allegedly because of its uneconomic work. Unfortunately the people living among the mountains had lost their most important public transport connection with Sátoraljaújhely town with this bad decision. The last living section of the mentioned huge net is these rails, which connect Pálháza village to the Hotel Kőkapu among the mountains. If we have enough time, let’s take a short travel through the forest till the beautiful hotel and the rowing lake!

We cross the rails in the junction of streets and turn left onto the Ságvári Street. We walk only 400 steps on this narrow asphalt strip and turn right onto a pebble road leading in the forest. We leave the last houses of the village soon and continue the hike among the trees. The signs leave this road after a few hundred steps and lead us on the bottom of the valley, while the dirt road begins to climb in the left hillside.

After a while we reach the neglected cut-line of a medium voltage power line, walk a few dozen steps on the weedy field and turn back among the trees. We continue the hike on the bottom of an erosion trench, which vanishes slowly and the footpath leads among the trees again. We reach the first houses of Nagybózsva village after five minutes, our path joins to the street of the settlement. This street passes by the rocky end of the hill and gets to the small rowing lake of the village. We find the stamp in its box in front of the Faluház (community house) on a wooden lamp post (Nagybózsva village, stamping place). There is another stamp at the nearby Kőbérc Panzió Guesthouse.

We turn right onto the Esze Tamás Street beside the rowing lake and walk on its pavement until the border of the settlement. A narrow asphalt strip begins at the corner of the fence of the last house, which climbs the next low hill among meadows and cultivated fields. It is worth stopping at the highest point and turning left. We will see the forest covered side of the Nagy-Milic Mountain in the far, and the white walls of Castle of Füzér appears in front of the mountain on a lower hill. The mildly waving plains of Hegyköz is located between us and the Nagy-Milic, we will cross it in the next hours.

The asphalt road descends in the hillside and after an “S” bend crosses the embankment of the former, already liquidated narrow gauge railway line. We turn left here onto the grassy strip, which leads until the old cemetery of Bózsva village. The well-kept section of the embankment finishes here, and a long combat begins with the high weed. The first part of the route leads among the trees of the forest, this section is still passable under the canopy, but after a while we cross the asphalt road leading from Bózsva to Nyíri, and the situation will be more serious (Crossing of the asphalt road)!

The neglected railway track leads among cultivated fields here and nobody keep the track in good condition. If the track is not passable because of the high undergrowth, I recommend the following: continue the hike on the left side of the liquidated railway line on the edge of the cultivated fields! Later a narrow forest belt will divide us from old track, but we walk on about 1.1 km from the asphalt road, until we will reach crossing grassy wheel tracks. Let’s turn right here, cross the Nyíri-patak brook on a small bridge and we will reach the neglected railway track again. The map detail shows the bridge and the former railway track exactly!

The condition of the neglected railway track already better here, it is passable again, we follow it farther 1.5 km until the former terminus of the railway line at the border of Füzérkomlós village. The buildings are demolished already, a small park is located on the place of the former station. An old diesel engine stands here, it is the only memorial of the closed and liquidated railway net! But not the old engine is the main attraction of this place, but the Castle of Füzér, which appears between two forest covered hillside! We will reach it soon!

We get to the first street of the settlement on the narrow strip of a cycling road, and reach the main street of Füzérkomlós soon. We turn right onto the street and follow it until the border of the settlement. The continuation of the cycling road branches out from the street, and the signs of the Blue Trail follow this asphalt strip farther. The cycling road begins to climb onto a grassy, bushy hillside at the border of the field and after a half kilometre the route of Blue Trail leave it and leads parallel with the asphalt strip on the meadow. We reach the highest point of the hill in a quarter an hour at a resting place and a fenced stone cross. It is worth stopping here and admiring the beautiful panorama opening towards the castle and the mountains (Stone cross on the hill)! (Link to the panoramic view)

The footpath of the Blue Trail runs down on the northern hillside and joins again to the cycling road (its distance from the asphalt strip was never more, than 30-50 metres), and reach the first houses of Füzér village in ten minutes. We walk on the Dózsa György Street until the centre of the village, which is located exactly at the foot of the Castle Hill, the wall of the castle towers above us. We can find the stamp of the Blue Trail on the fence of the garden of the Koronaőr vendégház Guesthouse, it is the penultimate building on the Dózsa György Street on the right side (Füzér village, stamping place). There is another stamp in front of the nearby pub, on the side of the Blue Trail information board.

The building of the Visitor Centre stands here, close to the Koronaőr vendégház, it is worth visiting it, because it has many exhibitions, which present the history of the castle and the village. The Catholic church standing in the centre of the settlement is very old, we can see its Romanesque details, the gate and the windows from the street.

We leave the crossroads of the centre in northern direction, pass by the pub and at the next junction of streets turn right and begin the next climb. We reach the asphalt road leading towards the car park of the castle, we follow it till the restaurant and the big asphalt square. The and the marks leave the road together in front of the restaurant, but they branch in two directions after a few steps among the trees. The Blue Trail starts left here, but is worth visiting the castle on the path of the signs! The climb is short, but very steep until the gate of the castle, but the panorama opening from the rocky path is beautiful! (Link to the panoramic view)

The history of this castle was similar to the other Hungarian forts and castles: it was built in the middle of the 13th century, it had many owners, and the Austrian troops demolished its walls at the end of the 17th century. But an incredible decision was born a few years ago: we reconstruct the whole castle from the miserable ruins from Hungarian and European Union’s money! The bigger part of the castle is already renovated, but the works will continue in 2020. There are exhibitions in the castle, and the round panorama, which opens from the walls and windows, is very nice! Don’t miss this visit, if you have enough time! (Aerial film about the renovated castle)

The Blue Trail starts in north-eastern direction from the branching of the marks, passes the always working Vár-forrás Spring, which gives cool, potable water and climbs very steeply to the col between the Magas-hegy and Szántó-hegy, were we reach a dirt road. We pass the small, grassy clearing of Senyánszki-rét Meadow on the road and turn right at the branching of roads after a little while. Our road, or rather wide walkway leads in the eastern side of the Magas-hegy and keeps its elevation. Small gaps open in the dense canopy rarely, we can see the little Pusztafalu village in the valley and the forest covered side of Hársas-hegy towers behind the houses.

After a while the wide walking road turns left, into the shady valley of the Alsó-patak Brook, but keeps the elevation farther. The bottom of the valley lifts slowly up to our route, the walkway crosses the babbling brook on a bridge and joins to a dirt road there, so we continue the hike in the right hillside, where the climb begins again. This part finishes at the hairpin bend of the road, we turn onto a path and glimpse the Csataréti hunter's lodge after a few steps among the trees. It is worth keeping here a short rest on the benches standing on the terrace of the house, because the hard climb will continue after the house!

The footpath passes by the hunter’s lodge and begins to ascend very hard among the trees! We climb about 100 metres until the ridge of the Kakas-hegy Mountain, where the upward slope vanishes for a few seconds. We walk a few dozen steps on the ridge, but the climb begins again! This is the hardest and steepest section of the hike, we ascend about 140 metres on this short section! The hard climb disappears suddenly, where our path turns left in the mountainside and leads farther keeping its elevation.

I recommend a short detour here, it is only a few dozen steps long on an unmarked path until the wooden lookout tower standing on the top of Kis-Milic (Little Milic in English). There is a resting place with benches and tables at the foot of the tower, but we can rest on the top level of the looking point, as well! If we climb the wooden stairs, a beautiful panorama appears in front of us! (Link to the panoramic view)

We can see the wide, waving plains of the Hegyköz, which lies under our feet and it is surrounded by the uncountable peaks of Zemplén Mountans! The Castle of Füzér appears deeply beneath the lookout tower, we are already on 300 metres higher level, than the renovated castle! The houses of Füzér village stand beside the Castle Hill, but we can see Füzérkomlós and Bózsva village, as well. The Sátor-hegyek Mountains stand in the distance. Don’t miss this panorama!

If we go back to the route of the Blue Trail, we can reach the 893 metres tall Nagy-Milic (Great Milic in English) with a sort walk and only with a little climb. The top of the mountain is located in the forest, so there is no panorama opening from the summit (Nagy-Milic Mountain)! A concrete memorial column stands on the top, and the text of an information board shows, that we are standing exactly on the Hungarian-Slovakian border. There are wooden benches on the small, grassy, weedy clearing, we can rest a few minutes there, and later begin the long descent from the summit.

We follow the path, which turns with a right angle towards southwest on the clearing, descends a little bit and climb a smaller peak, while it runs on the Hungarian side of the border. Later we reach a good dirt road in the forest, the marked route of the Blue Trail follows it on the next kilometres. This road sinks comfortably and meanderingly in the beech forest, we lose slowly the elevation. To climb the Nagy-Milic from this direction is much easier, than from Füzér village! We will reach a narrow asphalt strip leading towards Hollóháza village after a half an hour long walk.

We follow this road in the forest, later we reach the Bodó-rét Meadow. The road crosses the meadow, passes a few weekend houses and reaches a junction, where a dirt road joins to it. A small wooden shelter stands in the junction, we find the Blue Trail’s stamp in its box equipped on this small cottage (Bodó-rét Meadow, stamping place). If we continue the hike, we will reach the forest still on this road, but leave the asphalt strip and turn right onto a narrow path after about 200 steps. This path runs parallel with the road a while, later cuts off its hairpin bend.

We turn onto the road on the next meadow again, cross a medium voltage power line, and turn left, on wheel tracks after 200 steps. This road descends in the forest and disappears, when we reach the next neglected clearing (Dög-tér Meadow). We have to follow the narrow path of the Blue Trail walkers through the bushy, weedy old pasture. First we follow the power line, later, when it turns towards southeast, we walk farther in southern direction. We cross a forest strip and reach the next neglected pasture.

The path turns slowly towards west, joins to wheel tracks, but we have to watch the left side of the road, because we have to leave it after a while! We walk further on a path, step in the forest again, and after a few hundred steps reaches a good dirt road. This road will lead us until the first houses of Hollóháza village. While we walk on this road in the hillside, we can hear continuously the noises of the settlement and feel, the houses are not far form us, but we walk among the trees, and see nothing. But after a while the road turns out from the forest and joins to the main road of the settlement.

The marks turn right on the street and lead us to the nearby small square of the bus turning place. There is grassy island on the square, and we will notice a white mile stone with the 1160 km text. This stone shows, we reached the end of the long National Blue Trail, which led us from the top of the Írott-kő Mountain until this small village close to the Hungarian-Slovakian border! A small monument stands beside the mile stone among the bushes: its shape is similar to the badge of the Blue Trail and shows the route of the Blue Trail through Hungary on a bronze tablet (Hollóháza village, memorial of National Blue Trail).

We finished already our long-long hike here, but we have still a little paper work! We find the last stamp of the Blue Trail in the Vadász Söröző Pub beyond the bus turning place. If we push this stamp into our booklet, we can say, that we really finished the hike! And a last thing: at the “lower” end of the settlement works the world famous porcelain factory of Hollóháza, we can take a guided hike in the factory and visit the small museum beside it! There is another Blue Trail’s stamp beside the main gate of the yard of the factory equipped on the fence! If the pub is closed, we can use this one.

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