Was I really seeing this? A man with a leafblower in a forest? That the noise disturbed my peace took a backseat to the seeming stupidity of it all.
Forest? Trees? Autumn? Hello?
And I thought Austria was an intelligent country.
But then it all came clear. I saw the truck.
And yes, safety first. Wouldn’t want those bikers to come a cropper skidding on some wet leaves!
It’s quite the thing here, apparently. Mountain biking. And it requires a trail ticket.
We were in Burgenland, outside the Austrian town of Rechnitz, up on the Austria-Hungarian border at Geschriebenstein (Írott-kő), where back in the day, the Eszterházy family owned all the land to the north and the Batthyány family owned all the land to the south.
Rechnitz has also gotten a name for being the town with collective amnesia.
The Austrian municipality of Rechnitz (in Hungarian: Rohonc) is a peaceful village of about three thousand people near the Hungarian border. Many people come here on the weekends to enjoy the beauty of the nearby lake and forest. The town has a dark secret, though: 180 Hungarian Jews were killed here 74 years ago. Their remains have not yet been found still, although there have been 16 attempts to find the mass graves already. The town has been keeping the secret for more than seven decades, while descendants of the dead are still fighting for the truth.
Today, the 1913 lookout tower* at Írott kő marks the start of the Hungarian Kéktúra, a 1169.8-km hiking trail that runs across the country. Interestingly, during the days of the Iron Curtain, Austria got the tower. But I digress.
Himself started the Kéktúra today and collected three stamps for his passport. Only 301 to go. I was on logistics. Next time though, I get to do it, and he can do the drop/collect car thing on this awkward first leg. The rest, we hope, can be managed with a car/train combination.
There are more trails than the Kéktúra, though. At the Burgenland trails, there are many to choose from. And some are helpfully signposted as being flat and not requiring hiking boots. I had dressed for the part though – am seriously impressed with my new Craghoppers – and no, they didn’t pay me to say this 🙂
At the bottom, off the main road across from the car park, there’s a memorial site with a little chapel. The sign translates (thank you, Google) as:
For you too, wanderer, their blood flowed. Like them in war, you may be a hero in peace.
The individual monuments appear to be for those who died in the line of duty – everyone from police to customs officers.
From there, it was about 2 km uphill to the peak, 884 km above sea level. We thought we saw Badacsony in the distance at one stage, but I wouldn’t swear to it as it wasn’t from our usual angle.
But we did see snow on the Alps when looking away from Hungary. The views were spectacular. And the place, for a holiday weekend, was suitably busy. There were two cars in the car park when we arrived; by the time I got back, there were 17.
I wasn’t at all interested in hiking the Kéktúra at first. I was happy to do the dropping off and ferrying. But because I made the climb up with relative ease, I impressed myself. Perhaps I’m capable of more than I give myself credit for. When himself’s partner in climb [I’ve been watching too much Outdoor Man, Vanessa], HC, recovers from a nasty bout of COVID and they set off again, I want in.
I’m not fooling myself – I want the stamps in the cool passport. The exercise and the views are collateral goods.
* I didn’t take a photo!!!! If you’re curious, you can find one here.
Oh, and if you’re into collecting mushrooms, bring your scales.
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