High Altitude Training in Nepal

No blogs in November - I've been away.  Nice to call it "high altitude training" for the E4 but actually have had a extended trekking holiday in Nepal with a bolt on visit to Delhi.

The walk was great - a trip to Kanchenjunga (the third highest mountain in the world) and its north and south base camps  - a 21 day camping trek with KE Adventure Travel.  The walk had everything, lovely Nepalese villages and welcoming friendly locals, as well as the spectacular scenery of the high Himalaya.  It was cold at night, and when it was cloudy in the day time as well, but we got some amazing weather particularly when were at the base camps.  The north base camp is particularly stunning and, unlike Everest, you get the views of Kanchenjunga right from your tent.

Was a bit disappointed with KE if I'm honest.  Have let them know about the specific complaints but really don't understand why a company claiming to support sustainable tourism used a non-Nepalese speaking western guide to lead a trip like this.  Nepal has a really well established trekking industry and individual Nepalese leaders have made the effort to learn virtually every language under the sun and responsible companies wanting (and needing) a successful Nepalese trekking industry should use them.  Not only is it good practice to support local leaders it also gives the trekkers a better experience (based on my trips) and at much lower cost (western guides cost 10 times as much as their Nepalese equivalent).  The KE leader was a nice guy and, in a general sense, was very experienced.  He didn't however speak Nepalese and had only been to Kanchenjunga once before.  KE might come back to me with a response and I will update the blog if they do.  I suspect however that they feel that they can attract more customers if they offer them the security of a western guide - if so then it really doesn't say much for "adventure travel".

I'm a bit annoyed with myself actually and should have checked it out before I booked.  After all I am trying to raise money for a Nepalese charity and going on holiday with a company whose practices are off the pace in what I regard as good sustainable tourism practice is a bit of an "own goal".  Fortunately the charity I'm working for does fit the bill in terms of sustainable development and the personal highlight of the trip was meeting the charity's leadership and staff in Kathmandu at the end of the holiday.  Although initiated by British medics in sixties the Britain Nepal Medical Trust is now essentially a Nepalese charity successfully developing Nepalese solutions for Nepalese problems.

Spending an afternoon with the BNMT team gave me a real fillip and in particular a much better understanding of how the money raised from my walk could used to fund initiatives which struggle to attract money from the usual development resources.  The final package is still being developed and will be subject of a blog within the next week or so.

Before travelling home I made my first ever visit to India and Delhi.  Talk about noise, hustle and bustle - what a place - has certainly wetted my appetite for more visits.  And then back to London, Brighton and snow - washed my thermals after Kanchenjunga and put them on again.  The only thing that has warmed me up was watching the recordings of three amazing Spurs victories on the trot (have now revealed my true colours!).

Children everywhere

Map reading skills essential

Running wild

Getting seriously cold - Jannu (7710) in the background

Around the corner and it's Kanchenjunga (8586)

Nice view to relax to - underpants drying

Early morning view across the glacier to Kanchenjunga

A lot of shouting children - assured it was friendly banter

With co-directors of the BNMT

Once in a lifetime photo

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.

Stage 17 From Koszeg to Budapest

If I make it to Hungary I guess I'll feel like running to Budapest. I'll be desperate to finish and get home. The pre-occupation with finishing could be a shame as the last stage of the walk looks completely different to anything that has gone before and special. The E4 in Hungary follows the route of the Countryside Blue Tour which can claim to the first long distance hiking trail in Europe (although other E4 parts can make that claim) and is without doubt the most important walk in Hungary. After crossing a whole series of mountain ranges since leaving Tarifa it has also has the attraction of being relatively flat.

The Countrywide Blue Route

After struggling to get quality information on the E4 route through Austria, alignment of E4 with the Countryside Blue Tour means you don't have this problem in Hungary. The information available online is the best so far with two outstanding sites, available in English and both called Countryside Blue Tour, one maintained by Peter Istvan Papics and the other by Horpolin and Son.   I used both to develop my proposed itinerary.

Have been to Budapest twice before, the first time about 15 years ago and the second 5.   The first time I stayed in the famous Hotel Gellert and swam in the Gellert Thermal Baths which are a definite once in a lifetime must.  Budapest is a really lovely city which given the quality of the buildings must have been very properous in the period running up to the First World War. It feels to me a bit like Paris.

Although I never got out of the city on either visit I did visit the Budapest Central Market.  As well as another wonderful building, buzzing like markets should, it is full of "produce" all pointing to a lush and rich Hungarian countryside.

Budapest bears witness to the prosperity of the country running up to the First World War but after that it went through a period of sustained turmoil from which it only emerged following the collapse of the Soviet Union.  Although the country's economy is suffering following the recent recession its success over the last twenty years has been huge.

Given that I will inevitably be looking to home and the end of the trek the route from the border to Budapest is not very direct.  In fact it meanders both at the macro level, heading south then north and finally south again, and at the micro level, with some of the loops being so complete they almost form circles.  As well as linking the country from border to border (I'm justing doing the western half) the aim is clearly to visit as many of the local highlights as possible.

This is not a mountainous walk but nor is it completely flat.  Based on the huge quantity of pictures on both web-sites there is almost the look of some English countryside with the long views, hills protruding from what would otherwise be a plain and very green.  The architecture is completely different and we are back to hill-top towns and ruined castles.

The itinerary I have developed assumes both fairly level walking, body fully functioning, and a desire to get to Budapest quickly.  It assumes 16 days of walking which is not going to break any world records but is cracking on.

The itinerary is attached and involves identified accommodation at every stop-over (assuming you can stay at the Gyangyosi Inn on Day 5).

After Koszeg particular highlights look like being the hill top towns of Sarvar, Sumeg (with Hungary's best preserved hill top fortress) and Nagyazsony; the huge inland Lake Balaton and the special landscape of the Balaton National Park as well as what looks like lots of protected woodland.

Budapest of course, as well as the end of walk,  a highlight for that, is also a special place to visit.

Some of the sites along the way.

Savar

Sumeg

Rock formations in the Balaton National Park

Lake Balaton

Budapest

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