Bakony Ride

Summary:

Date: Jan 2, 2023
Country: Hungary
Distance: 32.96km
Elevation Gain: 479m

 

We started the new year in 2023 with our Bromptons to explore some parts of the Bakony mountains in Hungary, near Zoltan’s hometown. During the trip we kept realizing again and again how practical and capable these small-wheeled bikes are.

Today the Bakony is a calm, in Hungarian standards remote forested area dotted with small German and Hungarian villages, and frequented by hikers and cyclists. However, a few hundred years ago besides the bears, highwaymen roamed the dense forests who are still remembered in the many folk tales about the “bakonyi betyárok (higywaymen of the Bakony).”

At Veszprém railway station we took an old Diesel train operated on the still non-electrified train line, which serves the Bakony’s sleepy villages. After a slow and bumpy ride we arrived Porva-Csesznek station. This stop seemingly serves as a gateway to the middle-of-nowhere as there are no villages and paved roads in the proximity (it caters hikes who can take several trails from there).

We started our trip on a gravel road that here and there turned to dirt and mud, and was cut by several streams that we had to cross. Surprisingly, the bikes despite their 16” wheels handled all this with remarkable ease. They felt almost as capable as gravel bikes.

After 7km or so we finally hit the tarmac in Bakonyszentlászló village and continued on relatively smooth roads until the medieval Csesznek castle. After admiring the well-preserved ruins and the nice panorama we took the narrow and busy road to the Bakony’s only real town, Zirc where we took the train back to Veszprém.