on a yellow line
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This post is about a 22km walk from Boghiș to Suplacu de Barcău. I end up on a busy road, and I hate it. And then there is no dinner.
The road turned shitty really fast. I wasn’t surprised, though. I could tell from the map. There were thick green lines on it. Those were the highways. Then there were yellow lines that looked a bit thinner, and then there was a web of faint white lines. Those were the only roads that were good for walking, and even they could be disappointing at times.
yellow lines
The white line I was on turned into a yellow line after a settlement called Nușfalău. I bought an aloe vera drink in a supermarket, and I drank it in the shade of a tree while the cars and the trucks were roaring past me. There were little pieces of aloe vera floating in the drink, which came straight from the fridge. It reminded me of Iran.
bad walking
I didn’t have much fun today. It was 35 degrees celsius. The road was dangerous, so I tried to walk on the shoulder or on the sidewalk whenever possible. If only the shoulder wasn’t gravel, and the sidewalk wasn’t shit. I hated it.
So I squeezed by the cars and the trucks, and I thought angry thoughts. It was too loud to think about anything else, and it was too dangerous to wear ear phones.
One thing I noticed was that there seemed to be a lot more trucks on the road than usual. I understood later that they were hauling construction materials, like sand and cement. Cough-cough, I went, and it reminded me of some of my walking days in China.
and no pizza
When I arrived at a guest house I decided to get a room and call it quits. It was eight in the evening, and it was still hot. I figured that a cold shower and some food might put me in a better mood. About a half hour later, when I had walked to the only restaurant in the village and found it closed, I somehow started accepting the idea that today was just not my day.
pictures
the walk from Boghiș to Suplacu de Barcău:
leaving Boghiș
phone booth in Nușfalău
a sidewalk!
tired like me
Norbert, Richard, Robert
gone too soon
good boy
church in Ip
truck
cross
and more trucks
Gergő
Hey Chris!
If I calculated right you must have made it to Hungary by now. I have noticed that you really like sidewalks and bicycle lanes because of the Caboose. There is a website called merretekerjek.hu which shows all bicycle lanes around Hungary. I think it would be really useful to check it out. Unfortunately I don’t see a way to display the site in English, but here is mostly what you need to know:
-blue lines are bicycle paths separate from roads
-purple are bicycle lanes on the side of roads
-everything else (green,turquoise) is passable by bicycle but I’m not sure they’re that great for the Caboose.
-on red lines bikes are banned. These include things like motorways. You are also banned to walk on these
-small roads with brown dots are unpaved
-areas that are surrounded by a red outline are also banned. These are usually military related places. You should not find yourself in one of these unless you broke in and you can’t really do that by accident.
-areas surrounded by a green outline are national parks or other protected areas. According to Hungarian law you can not camp in these areas. The thing is, people do anyways. The foresters don’t care that much as long as you don’t disturbe wildlife and clean up after yourself. There are also heavily endangered areas and you will be prosecuted if you sleep in those or even intrude without a guide. This should not be a problem for you since you always walk in residential places. Look up “nemzeti park tábla” and “tájvédelmi körzet tábla” on google images. When you see one of these signs in real life keep in mind you shouldn’t sleep until you leave.
The map also includes bicycle paths from neighboring countries. If you need more information about the key of the map, click on “Jelmagyarázat” at the top right and try google translate on it. I really hope you’ll enjoy your stay in Hungary.
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