I packed my bag and in it I put (6)

More people read the "I packed my bag" blogs than anything else (huge numbers!). Not sure why given the number of other people, experts, talking about the same subject. I guess what it does show is that I'm not the only one who finds this stuff a bit confusing.

Boots, or footwear, is the big issue for me at moment. Once you cross the rubicon and accept that boots, even modern lightweight ones, may not be the only answer, you have entered a new world of choice and uncertainty. If you add to the mix the debate about minimalist bare footwalking than the ground beneath you disappears.

I think I have concluded that my beloved Scarpas, although at the lightweight end of their range, might be unnecessarily heavy and, if the weather is good, too hot. They are comfortable but on the 10 hour days on the Nordalpenweg I got a horrible heat rash on my the side of my ankles almost as bad a blister. Lighter and cooler must be good for what is essentially a long summer walk.

Inov8 kindly sent me a pair of their Roclite 400 GTX boots. They are incredibly light so top marks on that front but they have a fit that I haven't got used to yet. They are the same size as my usual boots but the cut makes them feel big. Unlike my Scarpa's they don't attempt to grip the foot and the lacing system is more like a conventional shoe than a walking boot. That, combined with the cut, which is very generous, leaves space above and around the toes - a touch of the Wellington boot rather than the walking boot (even has the Wellington boot sound effect). Maybe the boot is too big, maybe it's part of the design approach, I don't know.

Despite the sound effect the boots are very comfortable, as comfortable as my Scarpas but lighter.

Have given them two workouts so far both a bit extreme. The first involved a two day climb of Mt Toubkal from the Toubkal Kasbah (brilliant place). The second day involved about 1000 metres of climb and, more painful, about 2500 metres of descent. My calves were stiff for a week but my feet were fine.

The second was a walk along the coast from Brighton to Eastbourne. My first day in Spain involves a long walk and I just wanted to check my 20 mile plus capacity. The Brighton Eastbourne test was 28 miles and involves a bit of up and down as, amongst other things, you have cross the Seven Sisters. It was a wet day, involved a lot of hard surface walking, particularly along the sea wall at the bottom of the cliffs (brilliant, as the tide was in, there was a bit of a storm, so huge crashing seas) and I didn't really stop. I did get a blister at the bottom of my foot (big one) but to be honest I would blame my soft feet, hard surfaces and an 8 hour 28 mile walk rather than the boots.

Anyway I think the jury is out on three things. Firstly in terms of the Inov8 boot, it's great, but can I cope with the squelching noise as I walk; secondly do I need a boot at all, would be just as well of with a walking shoe, approach shoes I think their known as; and, thirdly given it's a summer walk could I do without Gortex, could be cooler.

By the way, this is my first IPhone blog. As Lonewalker promised, it really is easy to use, even the touch screen keyboard.

Stage 8 - Carcassonne to Lodeve. Version 2

Having completed the itinerary from Tarifa to Budapest I'm now going through it again, checking it, and in particular trying to confirm precisely where I'm going to stay.  Believe it or not I'm going to try and produce a calender saying where I'm going to be on a given date.  Of course things will go wrong and dates will get missed.     On the other hand Christine, my wife, and other friends are proposing to join me for the really nice bits and they need to book their holidays and plan journeys.

Have already worked my through the Spain plan and discovered that when I originally did the plan my glasses were slightly rose tinted and what I thought was accommodation wasn't.  Some of the Hotels have closed down in the six months since I did the initial piece of planning.  Sometimes I just made mistakes.  Where changes have been needed I have just gone back to the relevant blogs and made them.

For Stage 8 the extent of my mistake has meant a complete redraft of the itinerary.  Although the E4 does go from Carcassonne to Lodeve it doesn't go along the route I was proposing.  Thankfully my mistake has been spotted and Menno Wolters, who has walked much of the E4, has kindly gone through my plan and identified where it goes wrong.  He is doing this for the whole route and has provided comments on a number of the sections, particularly in France.

My mistake on Stage 8 was to follow the GR7 rather than the GR71.  The ERA web-site talks about the GR 71 but the IGN GR Map for the whole of France (Map 903) has the E4 going along the GR7.  It takes a slightly more direct travelling along the southern edge of the Parc Du Haut Languedoc while the GR71 goes further north and straight through the middle.  

Menno, as well as experience of actually walking much of the E4, had the necessary FFRP (the French Ramblers Association) Topoguides and these make it clear that the E4 stays on the GR 36 a little bit longer than I had planned and joins the GR 71 at Hautpoul  and does not join the GR 7 until Lodeve.  I need to challenge my mean streak and invest in the Topoguides.

The net effect of the change is a longer walk - around 180 km as opposed to 155 km - over 7 days.  There is a definite option to complete it in 6 although that involves a long day at the end.  Stage 8  takes you through the heart of the Haut Langedoc Natural Park.

The Park runs along the top of the Departments of Aude, Gard and Herault.  Located at the southern end of the Massif Central, including the Black Mountain range, it's a relatively empty area with few significant towns.  Although mountainous, it's not massively so with few "peaks" getting above 1,000 metres.  The mountains are important however and without the rainfall they receive the coastal plan below, its fields and cities, would be sun-baked and dry as a desert.

Heading out of Carcassonne on Day 1 the first 8 kms take you along the banks of the Canel du Midi - the famous canel connecting the Atlantic with the Mediterranean.  You then head directly north via the town of Conques-sur-Orbiel and into the Black Mountains and the Haut Langedoc National Park.  The first place where I can find accommodation on the route is at Pradelles-Cabardes and walking that far involves a tough 34 km walk with a climb of around 1,000 metres.  Instead I think I have found somewhere to stay at Limousis which is just of the trail and about 22 kms from Carcassonne.

Canel du Midi at Carcassonne

Day 2 takes you over the  1,991 metre Pic Noir, the highest point in the Black Mountain Range, and then down to Mazamet.  This looks like a great walk and a tough one involving  just over a 1,000 metres of climb (and a similar amount of descent) and 30 km.   Mazamet is a town (pop 10,000) and has plenty of accommodation.

Fraisse-sur-Agout

Day 3 and at last on the GR 71 and, after a few kilometres from Mazamet, heading east.  The countryside looks a lot more remote and accommodation is again scarce.  The best option looks like the village of Angles which has an auberge.   Another good walk, around 800 metres of climb (back to the top of the Black Mountains) over 25 kms.

Day 4 is an easier walk with a lot less climbing - 24 kms and 600 metres the target is Fraisse-sur-Agout where there are two gîte d'étapes (one with a web-site which I consider a good sign!).  At Fraisse-sur-Agout the GR 71 joins the GR 7 before heading of again in a more northerly direction.


Day 5 and it's getting very remote with little in the way of accommodation.  The best option I think is a 24 km walk (600 metres of climb) to Castenet le Haut where there is an auberge at Le Fau.

Around Castenet le Haut

A short Day 6 would set up the option of doing a mega 40 plus kms walk all the way to Lodeve.  The last part of the walk in particular is downhill but there is hilly country to cross before you get there.  If I don't make it all the way to Lodeve than the obvious half way stop is Ceilhas-et-Rocozels where there are bed and breakfasts and a Hotel and perhaps a lake to swim in.

Lodeve itself will seem like a metropolis after the villages of the previous six/seven days although in reality it's a small town with a population of a little over 7,000.  It sits in a valley at the meeting points of the rivers Lerge and Soulard.  It has a cathedral, plenty of other things to see and lots of accommodation.

Berghaus Challenge

Have won the Berghaus Challenge with a massive 1376 votes.   £1,000 to help fund the project and £1,000 worth of Berghaus kit.  Winning involved an online voting competition against two other excellent projects - all very stressful.

One of the nice side effects is that the competition forced me to "mobilise" all of my networks.  Getting the votes meant contacting everyone:  family and friends; ex-colleagues from the Improvement and Development Agency where I used to work; colleagues from the job before that; and a whole host of people I haven't been in touch with for too long.  Part of the family network included nephews and nieces who are now scattered around the world and who contributed to what was definitely an international response.  I'm particularly grateful for the great support half way through from the Brighton and Hove Ramblers Association who emailed all their members over the weekend generating a noticeable surge in the voting numbers.

I benefited also from the fact that Hannah, my daughter, works for a PR company and is competitive like her dad (although as it turns out a lot cooler).  She plugged into her work networks and her colleagues at Grayling, a big PR agency, generating a huge amount of support through Twitter, Facebook and other channels. Vicky, a daughter in law (also has her own PR company - Indigo Cow) and Jack, my step son, were also brilliant - chasing, proding and getting people to vote.

One of the competition conditions is that the money awarded goes to support the costs of the project - in this case the E4 walk.  A kind benefactor has said however that, if I win the Berghaus Challenge, they will match the award and this matched money will then contribute to the target I have set for raising money for the Britain Nepal Medical Trust.

I had great support from the BNMT throughout the competition and votes were coming in from Kathmandu, where so many great treks start and finish.  I'll be meeting Sadhana Shrestha, who runs the charity, in Kathmandu in November, at the end of trip to Kanchenjunga, and as well as thanking them for the help I got on the challenge will find out, first hand, about some of the things they do.

So if you did, thanks for voting - now back to preparing for the walk.