Not a fan of longer hikes but still want to get out of the city and immerse yourself in nature? Dera gorge is the destination for you.
Details of the walk
Distance: 1,5km Duration: 30 mins How to get there? By car: Coming from Pomáz, on the left there will be an unmarked asphalt road to the left, 3-4 meters after the 15 kilometers signpost By public transport: HÉV until Pomáz then bus 860,861 until the first stop in Pilisszentkereszt ( in this case you will start your hike from the village until the other end of the gorge)
Signpost showing the way from the car park
As confessed in a previous blog post, I have an inexplicable attraction to gorges, so after finding out that Moonlight-dike (Interested? Check out the post of our hike )is not the only one in the vicinity of Budapest, it went straight on to my bucket list. The name itself means chams and was given by the serb minority living in the area. The walk takes us along the Dera stream’s (less known name Kovács stream) bed on a well-trodden path, through charming wooden bridges. The whole gorge has a fairy tale feeling to it, with the big limestone rocks and the trees growing everywhere. The place could easily be a backdrop for a Snow White movie. As we went there in the middle of summer,the stream itself could only be seen in a few places, the soft gurgle of the water enhanced the calm, romantic atmosphere and the canopy of the trees provided a much needed shelter from the scorching sun.
This is also a short blog post, just as the hike itself, and unlike our previous treks, this is not a round trip, from here if you wish, you can continue on the trail and walk a little more until the village of Pilisszentkereszt or go up to the tourist house of mountain Som.
For some reason, I always had an inexplicable affinity for gorges, loved to explore them when we went abroad but never really thought that I can find one so close to my home. Therefore I got really excited upon discovering the Moonlight-dike ( Holdvilág-árok in Hungarian): a beautiful forest, fascinating rock formations, proximity to Budapest; the ingredients for a great excursion. So I packed my yellow backpack and we ventured out of the city to explore a place that looked gorgeous on the photos. The pictures don’t do justice to the Moonlight-dike, in reality it’s even more enthralling. Crossing the stream on small rocks and fallen tree branches, walking along the gorge ‘corridor’ surrounded by steep walls, passing by trees with their roots visible. The whole place has an enchanted forest feeling, which is no surprise as long ago it was a sacred place and a burial site. Supposedly, here stood the city of Attila The Hun and Árpád (the head of the confederation of the Hungarian tribes) was buried here as well. I’m not a religious person but the forest did have a peculiar atmosphere, as if a fairy might pop out from behind one the trees at any moment. Sadly this did not happen but one can always hope.
Details of the walk:
Important: Not advised to visit the gorge on rainy days or after a rainy period as the trails get slippery and the stream level rises. My bum wishes we would have heeded this advice because we did the hike after a few days of heavy rain and I slipped. Result: a quite muddy backside and a few scratches here and there. Conclusion: keep the advice of the hiking websites, they do know what they are talking about. Distance: 5.3 km Duration: 2-2.5 hours with a comfortable walking pace
How to get there? By car from the Pomáz-Dobogókő road approximately 400 meters after the Csobánka junction turn right. It’s a small, unmarked road, with a car park at the end ( although it would be closer to the truth if I described it as a clearing where you can leave the car but these are just semantics). By bus, take the line from Pomáz to Pilisszentlászló, get off at the Csikóváraljai turistaház stop.
The itinerary From the road,we took the path marked with the red line sign, the first part of the trail is quite overgrown but don’t let that discourage you.
Start of the red line trail
We followed this clearly-marked track that at one point took a right turn leading deeper in the woods. After about 15 minutes we reached an intersection with a sign reminding the hikers that everyone takes the walk at their own risk.
Entry sign
At this intersection, we say goodbye to the red line sign and start to follow the red cross that leads us to the heart of the gorge. By following the stream, we arrived at a clearing, here a small sign told us that the Moonlight-dike is one of the 13 Hungarian Religious Memorial Points of the country.
After a short walk, we reached the Domini spring where we could quench our thirst with clear, fresh water.
From here, the trail becomes more adventurous and challenging, the gorge becomes narrower, the rocks bigger and the hikers have to tackle more and more wooden stairs and natural obstacles. This was one of my favourite parts of the walk as climbing around, up-down on the rocks, I felt like a little girl again. About a 1 km after the Domini spring, the red cross sign goes left up on the hill but you should continue on the trail within the gorge, otherwise you won’t see the most fascinating part of the whole walk. We foolishly followed other hikers thus missing the cave, the white rock walls and the climb up on the Meteor ladder. We re-joined the track at the top of the ladder.
The walk continued over a wooden bridge and then even though it seems the narrow canyon between the rocks is not passable, we kept on going as we’re badass ( also we had a map but let’s stick with the badass adjective). The canyon continues for 50-60 meters and going through it is a real adventure, especially if you cross it after a rainy period, I involuntarily tested the waterproof property of my new shoes several times.
At the end of the canyon, we took the stairs up to a small clearing, a few paces away we started to follow the green cross trail markers. The path starts to go down, crossing several times a wide forestry road. 10-15 minutes later we took the path marked with the green circle, which led us to another spring called Gyopár but don’t count on filling up your water bottles here, as the water only trickles from the spring. To the right of the spring, we followed the green square sign that led us back to the car park.
Yelloways 