The Good Life in Aggtelek National Park Part 54: Bükk-Aggtelek Bike Tour and Eurovision Final Party

This weekend, in fact on the same day, we participated in two events we wait for all year - the bike tour between the Bükk and Aggtelek National Parks, and the Eurovision Finale Party at Jeroen and Lennard's. In celebration of the European Day of Parks, the Bükk and Aggtelek National Park Directorates annually organise a joint cycling tour between the two parks. The 75 km route from Szilvásvárad to Aggtelek passes through twelve villages. Route: Szilvásvárad - Nagyvisnyó - Dédestapolcsány - Uppony - Borsodbóta - Sajómercse - Putnok - Kelemér - Zádorfalva - Ragály - Trizs - Aggtelek. We were nowhere near in as good condition as we were last year, and were pretty convinced that we would not be able to complete the tour, but we surprised ourselves. The weather forecast was for rain, but we decided to give it a go anyway. This year about 60 riders started from Szilvásvárad under overcast skies. Like last year, our favourite part of the route was above the shores of the huge Lázbérc Reservoir. The first rest stop was in Borsodbóta at Amedi Camping where we were treated to a selection of Bükk National Park certified cheeses and rosehip jam, bananas and homemade szörp. I do not know why no Aggtelek National Park certified products were available for tasting. The little friendly campground appears to be run by yet more friendly Dutch people that have fallen in love with Borsod County. Mayor János Gulyás spoke about the village, and a Bükk park ranger spoke about the protected areas we were passing through. Just as we headed up the first big climb of the day, the rain hit and did not let up for the rest of the day. The conditions were cold and wet, but also somehow a welcome change to the hellish heat and bugs we encountered last year. The view from the long serpentine above the village is stunning, even in the pouring rain. We had been informed that lunch would be at the Ecological Institute (which I helped to raise funds for and build in the early 1990s) in the beautiful village of Gömörszőlős. I was very disappointed to arrive exhausted with no hot meal and hot tea waiting like last year - just more bananas. I was also shocked (national park and ecological institute) that all the banana peels did not get separated for compost, and the plastic cups collected for recycling, but instead all got dumped into a big garbage bag together. Last year we also had about an hour to recharge and rest our legs, but this year we had only 15 minutes before we were off again. I was not a happy camper when we set off for the 2 remaining big climbs, and distracted myself by looking for tree mushrooms like chicken of the woods and dryad's saddle. From what we saw from the road, the Bükk forests are surprisingly healthy and clean of tree-destroying tapló mushrooms. Our legs started to cramp up about 10km from Aggtelek. We took frequent rests and managed to complete the tour all the way in the saddle. Our Aggtelek team, including Adrienn, Jani, Mark and Tamas finished with a combined first, and we all won a weekend in a cabin in Bükk National Park. We were not aware of this until later because almost as soon as we arrived we rushed home for a hot shower before heading to our friends' annual Eurovison Finale bash.

This year marked the 60^th anniversary of the programme. Compared to previous years, there were a number of reasonable songs in contention. None of the songs seemed to be more than 1-2 lines repeated over and over again, but even so, I thought the Belgian, UK and Australian entries were worth a listen. Even the Austrian entry wasn't bad if you disregarded the guitar player lost in ABBA-land. The Austrian's staged an incredible show. Next year it will be in Sweden. We somehow lasted until 2am before crashing, but were up at dawn so Kata could get to work. Once again, it was worth the annual wait - good food and good people.

On another note, the weekend before we were in Dombovár for a family wedding and stopped in Budaörs on the way to pick up Kata's son. We met him at the Hollosy Cukrazda where I had possibly the best túrósrétes in my life - flaky and unsweetened. Hungarian law says that if there is seating, a toilet has to be provided for customers - more than 9 chairs, then 2 toilets. Unfortunately, while the strudel was excellent, the required sanitary facilities were non-existent.