Cows, cave, ice, mud, bauxite mine, more mud, heavy boots

If I sit at home for a day, I can’t wait to be out in nature again the next day. To be honest, yesterday was very windy and rainy, so I painted more watercolors all day.
I left pretty late today, but I knew my tour wasn’t going to be long. Only 10,000 steps, which is no problem, not least because I went almost all the way to soft ground.
The first stop was a cow farm near Csákvár. It was such a strong and cold wind that I had to put on my sweater. I stopped at the foot of a hay bale where I was relatively protected from the wind. On the other side of the road, cows stared at me with big, gentle eyes. When I see cows, I always stop and watch them a little. They radiate peace with their presence.

I couldn't spend much time here, as the Csákvár Cave was even further away. Yesterday, looking at maps and a tourist magazine, I found this place. I didn’t know about it, though it was easily accessible. It became famous that the bones of many extinct primates were found in the cave. The mountain hiding the cave was already visible from afar.

I climbed a steep path to the entrance to the cave. My hiking polesk didn't let me down this time either.

Only smaller caves can form in the fissures between the huge dolomite rocks, there are no stalactites here either, but the cave is quite large compared to this. I had to squeeze myself between two rocks, but it wasn’t dangerous. I went carefully, with as little noise as possible, so as not to wake the sleeping bats.

A few meters after the main entrance, I looked up at the ceiling, and this sight unfolded in front of me. There is natural light through the gap between the rocks and rain also enters the cave.

I climbed a little further in, then looked back.

I got to the other side.

After visiting the cave, I didn’t go back, but climbed up the rocks and found a small path with a green sign. This path led to the top of the mountain where the view was beautiful.

I expected it to fit well into darkness if I walked over to Gant and looked at a bauxite mine. Not the mine where I was a few days ago, but another, a much more spectacular one. This place was only an hour's walk away.

There was a little snow and ice on the northern slopes of the hills. There was a little snow and ice on the northern slopes of the hills. I was happy about that and thought there would be no mud. I was wrong!

My boots were still clean here.

I could have even spent hours photographing in the huge mine because of the stunning colors and shapes. All the while, I felt like I was getting harder and harder to go, though i wasn't tired. I didn't care, it only started to get uncomfortable when the tiny stones were already pressing my feet in my shoes.
Until then, I just admired and photographed.

Thousands of shades of red, yellow, brown everywhere

Erosion shaped mountains

By the time I got back on the trail, that was what my boots looked like. The crumbly, moist soil adhered to it like soft dough.
I remember the soil in the other mine wasn’t so sticky last time because it was largely frozen.
Sometimes I stopped and took off the mud with my hiking pole, but the layer always re-formed.

Arriving at Gánt’s mining site, I had 10 minutes until the bus arrived, so I cleaned my boots and scattered the stones out of it.
And yes, I'll be back here in the spring.