The E4 revisited - my journey in GPX

Although it's five years since I started on my trek across Europe on the E4 from Tarifa in Spain to Budapest I still get lots a questions about the journey.  The most common and in some ways the hardest to answer is 'what route did you take?'.  Although there is lots of information in the blog the route is not defined in a way a potential E4 walker could adopt. The reason of course is simple - I didn't plot it and given the number of times I went wrong, revealing the precise journey would be just a bit embarrassing.

I've started so I'll finish

This blog will put that right and now, if you have six months to spare, you can follow my route (roughly) from the southernmost tip of Europe through to Hungary's beautiful capital.  I say roughly because I've ironed out the mistakes I made and in one or two places improved the original route I took.

The Plan - A day-by- day schedule for the E4 Walk

"The best-laid schemes o' mice an men

Gang aft agley"

I might be mad but I have a plan, a schedule of where I'm going to be every day of the E4 walk (attached to this link).  Although it's almost certain to go wrong, it's necessary for the people who want to join me (my wife, Christine for example) to plan their journeys and book leave.

I'm now pretty certain about the route and the stop-overs.  The main issue has been about rest days, how many to take and where.  There is a lot of conflicting advice on this. Some people saying I should stop on a regular basis (every 2 weeks for example), while others have said "crack on" and build up contingency to cope with the things that will inevitably go wrong.

My schedule combines both approaches (typical).  It's got 10 stop-overs in places that are accessible and where it should be possible to do some essentials, getting my hair-cut for example.   I'm planning to take two days in Tarragonna because it looks such a like a nice place and there is lots to see. 

If all goes to plan I should be in Budapest by the 8th of September, which is a couple of weeks earlier than I anticipated when I started planning. I want to get well past the Alps by August, so I have two to three weeks contingency. 

I've been particularly encouraged by Nat Severs' experience on his walk around the UK coastline (great blog by the way).  Nat describes how he struggled at the beginning with 20 miles a day, but after a while found 30 miles easy.  I know Nat is 30 years younger that me, but I'm not carrying anywhere near as much as he did, and only rarely will have to do 30 miles.

Stamina, I think, is one the attributes you can hold onto as you get older (my memory went years ago).  On my recent trip to Nepal, there was a big American who, at 67, played with the Kanchenjunga, and who, a couple of years ago, climbed Aconcagua in Argentina, which is just shy of 7,000 metres.  

Well the first person I need to convince is myself, and I have a plan!

I will get to:

• Alacala la Real by the 14th of March;
• Cazorla on the 21st;
• Montanejos on the 18th of April;
• Tarragonna on the 29th of April;
• Carcassonne on the 21st of May;
• Malataverne on the 8th of June;
• Grenoble on the 18th of June;
• Konstanz on the 13th of July;
• Salzburg on the 31st of July;
• Kozeg on the 21st of August;
• Budapest on the 8th of September.

Of course all the things I will miss while I'm away are starting to become apparent.  Perhaps the best one will be the dodgy start my team usually makes to the football season - by mid-September, the mighty Spurs will be all guns blazing.

Budapest in September

The Britain Nepal Medical Trust Video

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.

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.

Admont Abbey

Hess Hutte with Hochter behind

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.

Leopoldsteiner Lake

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.

Karl Ludwig down to Wax Reigel

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

Koszeg

Stage 15 -Through the Salzkammergut

Although Bregenza, the starting point for Stage 14, is in Austria, most of the Maximilianweg is in Bavaria and Germany.  If you follow the sub-alpine variant it's not until you get to Salzburg that you start to walk through Austria in a sustained way.  I have walked in Austria three times (including the test run earlier this year) and it's very walking friendly.   There is a  really strong walking tradition, well marked trails,  lots of good fun places to eat and stay in the mountains, and because of long history of tourism (both winter and summer) lots of good value accommodation in the towns as well.   It shares with Switzerland a brilliant public transport system and is an easy country to travel in.

Have also stayed in Salzburg and Vienna and both are really interesting places.  Vienna in particular with its imperial legacy is fascinating.  Austria, which after all is quite a small country, has a capital which a hundred years ago was the centre of a huge and complex empire.  The empire has gone (almost overnight) but the imperial architecture remains.  

You could go via Vienna if you stick to the sub-alpine variant of the E4 but I have now just about convinced myself that going along the sub-alpine variant and then switching over to the Alpine variant presents the fastest way to Budapest.  You could held south from Salzburg but instead I plan to continue east to Steyrling and then head south for just a few kilometers (along the Osterreiche Weitwanderwege 09) until I hit the Alpine variant at Spital am Pyhrn.  

Stage 15 has two obvious highlights, Salzburg itself and Salzkammergut, the area often referred to as the Austrian Lake District.  I have walked in the Austrian Lake District and it was so wet (like the last time I walked in the English Lake District) that I was forced to take a trip down the famous salt mines - a legacy of the industry which gives the area its name.  Both Salzburg and Salzkammergut are world heritage sites.

Salzburg of course is the birth place of Mozart, the location for the filming of the Sound of Music and famous for its baroque architecture.   Will be a great place to stay for a day after two weeks or so on the Maximilianweg.

The Salzkammergut has a reputation for some of the best walking in Austria.  It has its own Cicerone Guide "Walking in the Salzkammergut" by Fleur and Colin Speakman and offers truly varied walking from tough Alpine to lakeside strolls.

The plan is to do the walk from Salzburg, through the Salzkammergut, and down to the Alpine variant in 7 days. The total walk is 180 kms, with 5,500 metres of climb.  Most of the days are fairly easy although I'm planning to do a 12 hour, down hill all the way day.  The last day to Hinterstoder is very short so it will probably make sense to carry on along the Alpine variant of the E4 to the next stop.

The walking looks excellent.  Day 1 involves a climb up the Gaisberg, a mountain close to Salzburg and apparently very popular with the locals.  End of the day accommodation is at Faistenau, which looks like a small ski resort.  Day 2 involves two lakes, Fuschl am See and Wolfgandsee (via St Gilgen) and then up to the spectacular Schafberg.   Day 3 is a nice short walk down to a lake side stop at Wiessenbach am Altersee followed by a steep climb up to the Rieder Hutte on Day 4, again set in a spectacular location.  Day 5 is the long day with three lakes, Traunsee, Offensee, and finishing at Alamsee.  Day 6 involves a walk to Preisegg and then down the valley to Spital am Pyhrn where I can join the Nord Alpenweg 01 for the next stage which takes me to Hungary.

The proposal schedule can be found via the link.

Salzburg

Fuschl am See

Schafbergalm

Stage 10 - Walking through the Ardeche

Leaving the Cevennes National Park, Stage 10 of the E4 takes you through the southern end of the Parc Naturel Regional de Mont d'Ardeche, cut through by the famous Gorge D'Ardeche.  Over four, fairly easy days, the route takes you through some stunning limestone scenary providing a link between the Massif Central and the pre-alpine Vercors.  The plan is to go from Villefort to Chateauneuf-du-Rhone which has excellent transport links.  This involves a distance of around 115 kms, a gain of 2,500 metres and a loss of 3,000.

Day one is a 29 km walk to Berrias-Casteljau. Leaving Villefort, heading east, and walking through the high Cevennes for about 15 kms you arrive literally at the edge of the Rhone Valley (could be views across to the Alps) before heading downhill steeply to Les Vans (22 kms).  Les Vans, which is the southern gateway the Parc Naturel Regional de Mont D'Archeche, looks great and has plenty of accommodation but in the interests of pushing on I plan to go a bit further.  Shortly after Les Vans (now tracking the GR 4) you start to follow to course of the Gorge d'Ardeche  and Berrias-Casteljau is located close to it.

Gorge d'Ardeche

Day two is a short 22 km walk to Vallon Pont d'Arc .  The first 10 km is through cultivated countryside after which you climb a bit and again track the Gorge d'Ardeche.  Although you could go further, Vallon Pont d'Arc is a famous Gorge beauty spot and a good place for a leisurely afternoon.

Natural limestone "bridge" at Vallon Pont d'Arc

Slightly longer walk on day three but 35 km of fairly flat countryside so not too bad.  Again your tracking the Gorge until after about 25 km you "emerge" at Saint- Martin-D'Ardeche.  There are lots of places to stay.

It should be possible to make Chateaneuf-du-Rhone on Day 4.  It's at least 33 kms but the countryside is fairly gentle with 700 metres of climb and descent.  If time is not pressing than Saint Montan would be a great place to stay after about 20 kms.

St Montan