What makes a good walk?

Most of the E4 is excellent and the route takes you through wonderful countryside along walker friendly trails.  Some bits, on the other hand,  are just awful and should only to be walked by nutcases determined to complete the whole trail.  Going from Tarifa to Budapest I was that nutcase but was not far enough gone not to wonder why a particular stretch had been designated as a walking trail and whether or not “standards” had been applied.   In fact it became a bit of obsession, and I would bore friends who joined me to do bits of the E4 with my ideas for some sort of trail accreditation scheme

What I hated most were long stretches of road walking.  I’m still bitter about a hot sunny day spent walking a 35 kilometre busy road  stretch of the E4 from Santiago de la Espada to Puebla de Don Fadrique in northern Andulucia.  

On the road to Puebla de Don Fadrique

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

The best long distance footpath in the world?

Is the the E4 Euro Path the best long distance footpath in the world? Well it could be.

Starting on the Atlantic Coast and at the southern most tip of Spain (at Tarifa) you begin a journey that takes you through some of Europe's most stunning scenery.

You cross Andulucia through a series of national parks with a northern and southern option in the middle (the northern option takes you higher into the Sierra Nevadas while the southern one is closer to Granada).

The next section, Murcia, is about 300 Km long and takes you through the spine of the province, from west to east, and includes the landscapes of the Spanish high plateau and the fertile plain of river Segura.

The next section takes you north through Pais Valencia along 550 km trek inland but on a track which parallels the coast.

The final Spanish part of the E4 takes you through Catalonia, from Fredes in the south to La Seu D'Urgell in the Pyrenees. One guide suggests that the 367 km can be covered in 92 hours and 15 mins!

The French section is 1,100 km long and crosses three national parks (Haut Languedoc, Cevennes and Vercours), and southern park of the Massif Central, the Rhone Valley and then on into the French Alps, crossing into Switzerland.

The Swiss part of the walk takes you 300 km through the Jura Park, through limestone classic limestone and along 180km ridge walk known as the the Chemin des Crêtes du Jura, or Jura High Route. At From Dielsdorf, the E4 continues along S shores of Lake Constance via following settlements to village Rheineck at German borders. (150 km)

Through Austria the route follows the Alpine Route 1, high level for most of the way with glacier and other bits of challenging walking. As well as stunning scenery you get the chance to stay in Austrian Hutte, a fairly unique experience. The Austrian part of the walk is 1100 kilometres.

Still working out the extent of my ambition in Hungary. Could stop just north of Budapest or walk on the Hungarian border and complete E4 as far as it goes in western Europe. Either way you travel along the Blue Way which, for a Hungarian, is the No 1 walking experience.

So is this the best walk in the world and is walking it in one feasible or just a mad idea. Still got a lot of work to do on the route but at the moment its looking like 190 days walking.