Walking the “Wine Way” Kisszékely, Hungary

October Walking Trail – Kisszékely

October Sights to Surely Delight!

We woke this morning to a frosty Hungary! By midday the frost had disappeared and the skies were blue. Raphael and I decided to venture out for another interesting walk along one of Kisszékely village trails.

Pretty orange berries lined our walk.

The sign indicates the coloured dots we must follow through the trail.

The trail took us off-road and into the forest. Access to various fields is gained from this path, each field high up on the tops of the hillside.

The path took us through the steep sided walls of the embankment. The dappled sunshine gave a gentle ambience whilst we walked…..

We were so engrossed in the scenery we did not initially hear a man’s voice shouting loudly, “Hello” “Hello”. We turned around and two men suddenly appeared out of a wine cellar in the hillside, carrying various vessels full of wine.

It is winemaking season here in Hungary and these 2 chappies were “doing” their wine. They stopped for a chat and insisted we try their wine! Of course, it would be rude not too, and considered an insult if I had refused. Hungarians are very proud of their wine making abilities and competition is strong amongst the villagers, with gentle rivalry very normal.

The conversation as you can imagine, consisted of odd words and much sign language. My Hungarian is not great, we laughed a lot. They seemed to want to give us more wine but we had to carry on along the trail.

We have walked this trail before and recognised the still fallen tree over the path. The massive trees roots still exposed on the hillside and protruding in unusual shapes gave it an eerie feeling.

Raphael, curious about his surroundings began surveying the boulders and vegetation.

Determined to climb “up” in any way possible, he made a few attempts to scale the rock face!

After he had made several time consuming attempts at the stone face he abandoned it so we could continue along the trail further into the forest. All we could hear was the constant chatter of the overhead woodpeckers and their incessant tapping.

We crunched along the path stepping on these many seed pods from the overhanging trees.

Soon the landscape started changing, we rounded a corner and the hillsides became incredibly steep and dark.

Suddenly we came to a huge clearing with this quaint cottage just sitting there surrounded by trees. It reminded me of the fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood”!

Raphael was keen to take a closer look, whilst I took advantage of the picnic table for a breather. I am not sure if this a residential property or if it belongs to the Forestry Commission. Either way it is very pretty.

It certainly is a very peaceful location.

As is usual along these forest trails, boards are strategically placed for walkers to get an idea of the natural habitat and its inhabitants.

I was on the look out for fungi/mushrooms and came across these beauties. I do not pick wild mushrooms but they are super pretty to photograph.

Our walk was coming to an end, Raphael and I had picked up sticks along the way….. to aid walking he said! He was right! We made our way back with our acquired walking sticks trying to avoid the many falling acorns as we went.

Mother Nature continued to enchant us later that evening. The sky decided to explode into an array of colours just before sundown. What a beautiful way to end our day.