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Volunteers clearing the trail, Börzsöny, Walk 4

Hungary’s first waymarked routes were set up in the second half of the nineteenth century by volunteers, but it was during the Communist period that state-sponsored organisations took an interest in their maintenance. During the 1950s volunteers from the trade unions were deployed around the countryside to repaint the old waymarks and create new routes. In those days the work was paid; transport, brushes and paint were provided free. Nowadays the upkeep of waymarks and monitoring of the routes depends on the availability of walking club members prepared to spend their spare time and money. As a result the coverage varies and many rarely used trails are overgrown and waymarks missing. Sections of the waymarked system follow main roads for a few kilometres. This was not a problem in the 1950s, but the increase in car ownership in recent years has made some road-verge walking unpleasant; Hungarian drivers seem reluctant to give a comfortable distance between themselves and pedestrians. To get the best of an area this guide directs the walker along the most suitable waymarked route and not necessarily the traditional routes prescribed by Hungarian walking guides written in the 1950s.