If you are interested in the work of the Britain Nepal Medical Trust (BNMT), the charity I'm trying to raise money for on the E4 walk, then please take the time to watch the video below. Dr. Gillian Hodsworth, a BNMT Trustee, and Sadhana Shrestha, one of the BNMT co-directors, give a succinct introduction to the work of the charity and how it is addressing some of the key health issues in Nepal.
Dr. Gillian Hodsworth, who worked for the BNMT as a field doctor in the mid-eighties, is also an accomplished trekker. In 2007 she raised money for the BNMT by completing a 71 day trans-Nepal trek. She can be regarded as a pioneer for the Nepalese leg of the emerging Great Himalaya Trail. This will eventually cross six countries and involve a 4500 kilometre journey going east to west. The full story of Gillian's walk is on the BNMT website.
Showing posts with label Charity Walk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charity Walk. Show all posts
Stage 16 Spital am Pyhrn to the Hungarian Border
Stage 16 is a 14 day walk mainly along eastern end of the Nordalpiner 01 Weitwanderweg to the Austrian border with Hungary. Crossing from the Upper Austria region and joining the 01 in Styria, the eastern end is perhaps a bit less demanding than the route through the Lechtaler Alps in the west of Austria. There is still some tough walking, however, before the descent into gentler countryside running up to the Hungarian border and beyond.
Perhaps not as famous as the Austrian Lake District in Stage 15 the route still visits some special places. The Gesause National Park, with its dramatic limestone landscape, looks particularly good (days 2 and 3) but so does the Hochshwab, another limestone range, and the Murztaler Alps, the last high altitude part of the E4.
Working out an itinerary has not been easy and it may still need some revision. Again I have had to use a German language guide without being able to speak or read German. The NordAlpiner Weitwanderweg 01 by Wurst/Rachoy/Messeritsch seems to be the definitive guide and forms the basis for the itinerary in Wikipedia. It goes from east to west however and doesn't always work the other way. Long days involving descent become longer days when your climbing.
The proposed approach to joining up with the E4 in Hungary is also very confusing. The route, using the 01, takes you to the Neusiedler See and then back again before heading south to the Austrian Hungarian border. Makes me tired even thinking about it so I'm cutting that loop off, heading south at Semmering, joining the 02 and then the 07 before crossing the border into Hungary. If your really interested there is a clever little graphic on the OEAV website which helps - I also have the Osterreichische Weitwanderweg map (1:800,000!) and Google Earth.
Anyway the net impact of all this is positive in terms of journey time. Instead of the 19 days proposed by Wikipedia I race to the border in 15 - could be in Hungary for the beginning of September.
The proposed itinerary is attached as a link.
After 2 tough days at the end of of the previous stage the first day of Stage 15 is a fairly gentle 6 hour walk to Admont, the gateway to the Gesause National Park and home to a famous abbey.
On Day 2 you have two options, a high route over the top of a limestone massif or a not so high route around the side. Either way the target is Johnsbach and even with the not so high route it's a 1,000 metre climb and a 30 km walk. The standard itinerary based on east to west, would have added to this with a climb up to Hess Hutte. Instead I propose to do this on Day 3 and then carry down to Radmer am Stube, a 24 km walk with 800 metres of climb.
Day 4 is a 20 km walk to the iron ore town of Eisenez - been mining iron for over 800 years.
Day 5 takes you up to the famous Leopoldsteiner Lake and then onto the Sonnschien Hutte. It's a 25 km walk with an 800 metre climb.
Conserving height for another two days, Day 6 is a 17 km walk to the Voisthaler Hutte and Day 7 a 25 km to the hutte at Turnauralm. Leaving the Hoschwab range midway through Day 8 you drop down to the small town of Krampen, a walk of 31 kms but with a fall 700 metres.
Day 9 and it's into the Murztaler Alps, a climb of 1,200 metres over 31 kms to Schneealpen Haus. There is a more direct but less scenic alternative if an easy day is needed.
Day 10 and I'm proposing to go on past Karl Ludwig Haus (the recommended stop over) and press onto Wax Riegel Haus. The 01 has now split with a northern option carrying onto Vienna. Day 9 is a 28 km walk staying high all day.
Day 11 and its downhill to Semmering, my last stop of the 01 and at last out of the Alps. It's about 26 kms and involves a drop of around 800 metres.
Day 12 and I'm now making it up. My route leaves the 01, heads down the 126b and joins the 02 at Pfaffensattel. If I'm not totally lost I'd like to get to Monichkircken, a walk of 40 kms.
Day 13 and it's Landsee which sits in the middle of a Natural Park (with its own ruined castle) - a walk of around 30 km.
Day 14 and it would be great if I could make it to Koszeg, the first stop heading east on the Blue Countrywide Tour, the Hungarian section of the E4. Koszeg looks great (flat!) and will be a good place to stop and recover before the final journey to Budapest
Perhaps not as famous as the Austrian Lake District in Stage 15 the route still visits some special places. The Gesause National Park, with its dramatic limestone landscape, looks particularly good (days 2 and 3) but so does the Hochshwab, another limestone range, and the Murztaler Alps, the last high altitude part of the E4.
Working out an itinerary has not been easy and it may still need some revision. Again I have had to use a German language guide without being able to speak or read German. The NordAlpiner Weitwanderweg 01 by Wurst/Rachoy/Messeritsch seems to be the definitive guide and forms the basis for the itinerary in Wikipedia. It goes from east to west however and doesn't always work the other way. Long days involving descent become longer days when your climbing.
The proposed approach to joining up with the E4 in Hungary is also very confusing. The route, using the 01, takes you to the Neusiedler See and then back again before heading south to the Austrian Hungarian border. Makes me tired even thinking about it so I'm cutting that loop off, heading south at Semmering, joining the 02 and then the 07 before crossing the border into Hungary. If your really interested there is a clever little graphic on the OEAV website which helps - I also have the Osterreichische Weitwanderweg map (1:800,000!) and Google Earth.
Anyway the net impact of all this is positive in terms of journey time. Instead of the 19 days proposed by Wikipedia I race to the border in 15 - could be in Hungary for the beginning of September.
The proposed itinerary is attached as a link.
After 2 tough days at the end of of the previous stage the first day of Stage 15 is a fairly gentle 6 hour walk to Admont, the gateway to the Gesause National Park and home to a famous abbey.
 |
| Admont Abbey |
.JPG) |
| Hess Hutte with Hochter behind |
Day 4 is a 20 km walk to the iron ore town of Eisenez - been mining iron for over 800 years.
 |
| Leopoldsteiner Lake |
Conserving height for another two days, Day 6 is a 17 km walk to the Voisthaler Hutte and Day 7 a 25 km to the hutte at Turnauralm. Leaving the Hoschwab range midway through Day 8 you drop down to the small town of Krampen, a walk of 31 kms but with a fall 700 metres.
Day 9 and it's into the Murztaler Alps, a climb of 1,200 metres over 31 kms to Schneealpen Haus. There is a more direct but less scenic alternative if an easy day is needed.
Day 10 and I'm proposing to go on past Karl Ludwig Haus (the recommended stop over) and press onto Wax Riegel Haus. The 01 has now split with a northern option carrying onto Vienna. Day 9 is a 28 km walk staying high all day.
 |
| Karl Ludwig down to Wax Reigel |
Day 12 and I'm now making it up. My route leaves the 01, heads down the 126b and joins the 02 at Pfaffensattel. If I'm not totally lost I'd like to get to Monichkircken, a walk of 40 kms.
Day 13 and it's Landsee which sits in the middle of a Natural Park (with its own ruined castle) - a walk of around 30 km.
Day 14 and it would be great if I could make it to Koszeg, the first stop heading east on the Blue Countrywide Tour, the Hungarian section of the E4. Koszeg looks great (flat!) and will be a good place to stop and recover before the final journey to Budapest
100.jpg) |
| Koszeg |
The Britain - Nepal Medical Trust
One of the objectives of the E4 Long Distance Walk is to raise money for charity. I discussed some of the issues in working out which charity in an earlier blog and, after some really helpful discussions with The Britain Nepal Medical Trust (BNMT) I have made progress. Current thinking is that, working with the BNMT over the next few months, we can develop a proposition which supports their objectives and is as interesting as possible to the people I’m trying to engage with on the walk.
So why Nepal and why the BNMT?
Nepal with 8 of world’s 10 highest mountains is an incredibly beautiful country and is a very special place for trekkers. My wife and I have been there twice (Annapurna and Everest) and we are going again in November to Kanchenjunga on our biggest trek so far.
You can argue that the history of modern trekking started in Nepal. In 1965 Colonel Jimmy Roberts, a former Gurkha Officer and Military Attaché at the British Embassy in Kathmandu, had the then revolutionary idea of providing trekkers with tents and Sherpas, to guide and cook, establishing a model which is still used. This opened up Nepal and the Himalaya to a wider community with many British companies, which now offer destinations worldwide, starting businesses in Nepal. Despite the growth of alternatives Nepalese treks feature high in any top ten list and the trek to Everest base camp is the trekker’s equivalent of a medieval pilgrimage. Sir Christian Bonington is one Patron of BNMT and Colonel James Stuart is another – maintaining a Gurkha link. A late founder patron of BNMT, Colonel Charles Wylie, was logistics officer to Lord Hunt’s successful ascent of Everest.
Nepal is also a very poor country and one of the least developed in the world. It suffered a 12 year civil war which ended in 2006 after 13,000 people had lost their lives. The monarchy has been replaced by a republic but peace is fragile. As well as the legacy of war the country has only embryonic governance and welfare structures, a particularly complex ethnic history and a very underdeveloped infrastructure. Many of its people though are lively entrepreneurs and show true resilience in adversity.
BNMT started in Nepal in 1966 when a team of British nurses and doctors approached the Nepalese government with an offer to help. It was established as a UK registered charity a year later. Initially concentrating on the control of tuberculosis (over 1 million BCG vaccinations provided by 1976) it has developed a broader based capacity building programme for improved health, transforming itself from a British to a Nepalese managed operation in the process.
Its current objectives sound familiar to those of us who have worked in UK local government, namely:
· To empower people at the community level by ensuring access to information and access and control over local resources and through increased assertiveness improve participation in decision making.
· To strengthen governmental and non-governmental health service providers at district, regional and national levels.
· To improve the livelihoods of disadvantaged people.
While the context is completely different to the UK there is a shared belief that empowering people locally secures good governance and good public services. The charity’s Board is UK based with British and Nepalese trustees.Company administration is from Tonbridge, Kent. BNMT is now a Nepalese managed operation with Nepalese Co-Directors and around 30 staff working on programmes “in country”. Compared to the UK, relatively small amounts of money go a long way in Nepal; the overheads to the charity are minimal and the impact of any funds raised can be very significant.
In discussions with Dr Ian Baker, a BNMT trustee, we have agreed that any sponsorship and other donations I receive for the E4 walk will raise money for the charity’s work. The projects in Nepal which are supported by funds I raise will be described on this blog and on the E4longdistancewalk.com website (once I’ve set it up), hopefully with some direct inputs from the staff in Nepal.
So why Nepal and why the BNMT?
Nepal with 8 of world’s 10 highest mountains is an incredibly beautiful country and is a very special place for trekkers. My wife and I have been there twice (Annapurna and Everest) and we are going again in November to Kanchenjunga on our biggest trek so far.
You can argue that the history of modern trekking started in Nepal. In 1965 Colonel Jimmy Roberts, a former Gurkha Officer and Military Attaché at the British Embassy in Kathmandu, had the then revolutionary idea of providing trekkers with tents and Sherpas, to guide and cook, establishing a model which is still used. This opened up Nepal and the Himalaya to a wider community with many British companies, which now offer destinations worldwide, starting businesses in Nepal. Despite the growth of alternatives Nepalese treks feature high in any top ten list and the trek to Everest base camp is the trekker’s equivalent of a medieval pilgrimage. Sir Christian Bonington is one Patron of BNMT and Colonel James Stuart is another – maintaining a Gurkha link. A late founder patron of BNMT, Colonel Charles Wylie, was logistics officer to Lord Hunt’s successful ascent of Everest.
Nepal is also a very poor country and one of the least developed in the world. It suffered a 12 year civil war which ended in 2006 after 13,000 people had lost their lives. The monarchy has been replaced by a republic but peace is fragile. As well as the legacy of war the country has only embryonic governance and welfare structures, a particularly complex ethnic history and a very underdeveloped infrastructure. Many of its people though are lively entrepreneurs and show true resilience in adversity.
BNMT started in Nepal in 1966 when a team of British nurses and doctors approached the Nepalese government with an offer to help. It was established as a UK registered charity a year later. Initially concentrating on the control of tuberculosis (over 1 million BCG vaccinations provided by 1976) it has developed a broader based capacity building programme for improved health, transforming itself from a British to a Nepalese managed operation in the process.
Its current objectives sound familiar to those of us who have worked in UK local government, namely:
· To empower people at the community level by ensuring access to information and access and control over local resources and through increased assertiveness improve participation in decision making.
· To strengthen governmental and non-governmental health service providers at district, regional and national levels.
· To improve the livelihoods of disadvantaged people.
While the context is completely different to the UK there is a shared belief that empowering people locally secures good governance and good public services. The charity’s Board is UK based with British and Nepalese trustees.Company administration is from Tonbridge, Kent. BNMT is now a Nepalese managed operation with Nepalese Co-Directors and around 30 staff working on programmes “in country”. Compared to the UK, relatively small amounts of money go a long way in Nepal; the overheads to the charity are minimal and the impact of any funds raised can be very significant.
In discussions with Dr Ian Baker, a BNMT trustee, we have agreed that any sponsorship and other donations I receive for the E4 walk will raise money for the charity’s work. The projects in Nepal which are supported by funds I raise will be described on this blog and on the E4longdistancewalk.com website (once I’ve set it up), hopefully with some direct inputs from the staff in Nepal.
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