Finding myself unexepcetdly at loose ends this ong weekend, I was determined to make the most of the late Indian Summer. Tim and I went on a gorgeous hike on Saturday in perfect autumn weather. Although we packed fleeces, we could have been in shorts. This was a great opportunity to try out the new walking poles I bought a few months ago but have been too busy cycling to break them out.  Around Solymar, up around kilometer 10 we came out into a glade with a stream, lots of picnicking families, and of all things, a maypole. Following the trail in dappled sunlight along

the stream and over several wooden bridges we encountered the almost dry Rozsika Forras. At one point we passed a family coming from the other direction and their big dog jumped up on me for what I thought  was attention, but instead, it bit my arm. The owner assured me the dog was up to date on its shots...I hope so. While it did not look serious, it hurt and bled constantly. At another stop we were assaulted by a large squadron of multicolored ladybirds and we had to pick them off each other's necks and faces like a couple of chimps. We finished the outward

journey with a well-deserved froccs at the Muflon Itato pub where Tim poured some hazi palinka on my arm as disinfectant. We then hiked out to the 157 bus for the journey back to town. At home, I looked up dog bite treatment on the Internet and was advised to use an antibiotic cream so I bought some at the pharmacy on the corner. Dog bites can be quite serious, therefore local clinics would not take me, and instead sent me to the hospital at Fiume u. 17 near Keleti which still sees patients on Sunday and holidays. Surprisingly, the forms at reception were even in English. After only a

half an hour wait, I was treated with another ointment, had my arm wrapped and received a tetanus shot in the ass. After the hospital, I took advantage of the glorious weather and did a 35km bike trip to Romai part and back before I joined Tim and Richie at Mike and Agi's for a huge lunch of quesedias, banana bread, beer and mint vodka.

The next morning I had to return to the hospital for more ointment and re-bandaging. While there were easily 30 people waiting, again the wait was only 30

minutes. I am really hoping that the dog owner told me the truth, and that I do not need a rabies shot...

The hike we did is mapped here. We were mostly on the yellow, but hiked out to the bus on the blue and green trails. I highly recommend this pleasant, mostly flat 17km route. We burned off almost 1300 calories, over 2 langos!