Although Kata and I have participated in the Bükk-Aggtelek 75km bike tour for the past two years, we did not feel at all in good enough shape to do it again this year. Instead, we put in a training day and did a nice easy ride through the Bódva Valley to Bódvaszilas, 15km each way. It was a lovely spring day with a slight wind. In Bódvaszilas we ran into Krisztian Koleszar who runs the local museum and organises the annual Cabbage Festival in October. He and his family are now preparing tom open a guesthouse in the village. Back in Szalonna we stopped for an ice cream at the new fruit processing company. No fruit is being processed yet, so in the meantime they are selling some very good ice cream.

A couple days later we made a ride of similar distance in another direction. We have attended the annual Égerszög Opera Festival every June and made a few winter hikes in the area, but had not yet done the route by bike. A couple years ago I was handed a 3-language brochure about Teresztenye, the village just before Égerszög, and have been curious to see the place ever since. This seemed to be a good opportunity. Just before departing we stopped by the post office and discovered I had received a copy of the latest Orbis international literary journal. I could not figure out why until I scanned the first few pages of poetry and discovered a poem by the amazing Neil McCarthy dedicated to me about his and his wife's visit to Szalonna a few years ago. The name of the poem is of course, "Bacon."

We took route 26 towards Perkupa, and then turned left before the village. A large section of route 26 and some of its side routes are being repaved in the area, and Strabag seems to be doing a very professional job. The section currently under construction is the route we took. A sign said that no traffic was allowed but we gambled that they would let bikes through. How the residents of the 3 villages connected by this dead-end road can come and go, we have no idea. Although several sections were being filled with gravel, our progress was not impeded and workers let us through at every stage. The road follows a pretty valley escorted a babbling brook. After about 11km, we finally came to the village of Szőlősardó. We passed through, and after another 2km turned right to Teresztenye. The name of the village has Slavic origins, and means "reed." We immediately noticed a nice fishing pond nearing completion and what looked like Indian tepees off to the right. We went over to investigate and they were indeed some form of tepee with odd-shaped windows. Some workers nearby informed us that it will be used for children's' camps. They also explained that the village of 16 people are also establishing a meat processing plant and a mushroom growing enterprise. The fishing lake was nicely landscaped, overlooked by the camp and a friendly pony. A quick tour of the village revealed a number of very pretty guest houses, and the 2.8km Teresztenye Nature Trail which begins by the Medieval Calvinist church dating from the Árpád Dynasty. The Forrás Cave is also in the area. While research has pointed to the cave system being up to 7km long, only about 80m are currently accessible. It is amazing that a village of 16 people has been able to leverage so much investment or EU funds while villages 10 times the size remain without any plans for the future, or funds to realise them.

I could not remember if Égerszög was another 2 or 5 kilometres away, but we decided to continue anyway and risk the forecasted rain. The village was just around the corner, and by then we were hungry. The little shop seemed to be closed, but bystanders informed us that we had to go through the courtyard around back for the entrance. It probably has the oddest shop hours we have ever seen, open from early morning until 10:30am, and then only again from 19:00-22:00. The owner explained that the village of 40 people do their shopping in the morning, and she opens again in the evening as a pub. There was not much on the shelves, but we managed to score some unclaimed semi-fresh rolls, fresh soft cheese, some kefir, a tube of gulyas cream and a cold can of Arany Fácán beer (no beer on tap). The owner even asked if we needed a knife and spoon as we took our food to one of the picnic tables in the courtyard. We will be returning to the village on June 25^th for the annual opera festival.

On the way back it started to rain. We took shelter under some trees, but the shower soon became a downpour. Luckily, there was a small abandoned building nearby that we were able to huddle in for an hour. The ride home in drenched clothes was chilly, but we eventually made it. After drying off and warming up, the sun came out again and we gathered elderflowers for making cordial.