Stage 13 - The E4 through Eastern Austria

Coming up with a simple explanation for my route through the eastern half of Austria is not easy.  Firstly I have to explain that there are two E4 options through Austria, one which takes you along the Nordalpenweg 01 and one which takes you along the NordAlpenweg 04.  Secondly the route I took combined bits of both options - I took the 04 for the first six days after Salzburg and then switched south to the 01.  Thirdly I have to explain that my last two days in Austria were on an option which I made up myself designed to avoid what I considered to be an unnecessary diversion which goes north and then south again before joining up with the E4 through Hungary.

Of course I was trying to save time.  I had been walking for five months and was keen to get to Budapest and home to London.  The bad weather through Bavaria had taken its toll on my morale and the forcast was for more rain.  More important neither of the official E4 options seemed to make sense to me.  Both routes struggle to join up with the start of the Hungarian section in a direct way.  The northern variant takes you to Vienna and then south while the southern variant takes you east, close to the Hungarian border, but then heads north to Neusiedler See, before retracing its route south.

The truth of the matter is that the international long distance routes don't always make sense.  They are superimposed on national routes which vary in complexity and develop over time.  Given the huge potential for beautiful walking, the route is particularly complicated in Austria.  Not only are there two basic variants (one following 01 and other the 04) but there are variants within variants (with the 01 splitting in eastern Austria with one leg going to Vienna and the other to Rust).

Nordalpenweg 04 and 01

Stage 12 - The Maximilianweg, the E4 through Bavaria

At Bregenz, at the eastern end of Lake Constance and a day into Austria, the E4 splits.  There are two options, the Nordalpenweg 01 and the Nordalpenweg 04.  Both head east and both finish in Vienna.    I was keen to save time so decided to get through Austria by combining the routes, travelling firstly along the 04 and then, in eastern Austria, crossing over to the 01.  This approached saved me about 10 days.

Part of the saving results from the fact that the 04 is an easier walk than the 01.  It's still Alpine but involves less climbing and you cover more distance each day.  After a couple of days in Austria it crosses into Bavaria and, until you get to Salzburg, involves walking along a route called the Maximiliansweg following a journey undertaken in 1858 by King Maximilian II the then king of Bavaria.  The 04 is an Austrian long distance footpath which, for much its route, takes you into Germany.

Linderhof

When Maximilian undertook the trip he was visiting some of the most beautiful locations in the Bavarian Alps. Starting at Lindau (not on the E4), the route visits Bregenz, Fussen (where his son Ludwig II built the Neuschwanstein Castle), Linderhof (site of another amazing palace built by his son) and Bertesgaden. For much of the time you're walking along or close to the very northern edge of the alps with long views down into Germany.

Stage 11 - E4 through Switzerland

You could blame Switzerland for my E4 adventure.  The first time I did place to place unassisted walking was about 10 years ago, with Christine, when we went from Grindelwald to Gstaad and my enthusiasm for this style of walking has grown ever since.  Of course we were completely spoilt by the scenery, particularly the awesome views of the Eiger and the Jungfrau, but it was the excitement of a new walk everyday and the sense of achievement from looking back over ground covered that really got me hooked.

Switzerland really is a different country.  Intensely associated with the Alps (almost interchangeable) it has lots things going for it.  Famous for its long history of independence and neutrality it somehow combines an intensely decentralised form of government (all the way down to referendum) with really strong national institutions (a conscript army based on national service).  Famous of course for its financial services (infamous to some (particularly Harold Wilson)) it actually has a broadly based economy with the highest per capita level of manufacturing in Europe (interesting counter factual - it also has the lowest proportion of graduates in its workforce).  Switzerland is a successful country and all this makes for easy hassle free visiting.

Stage 10 - The E4 from Grenoble to the Swiss Border

By the time I got to Grenoble I was three days ahead of schedule.  Because friends had booked flights and were expecting to meet me at a particular place, I had to lose some days.  Some friends near Grenoble had offered to put me up so taking a few days out made a lot of sense.  I finished walking on the Wednesday and was back in Grenoble lunch time on the Saturday.  It rained almost continually for the three days so my timing for once was impeccable.

View across the Isere Valley

Getting to the Swiss border, where the E4 turns firmly east, involves a journey of some 245 kms, 10,500 metres of climb and 9110 of descent.  It took me 9 days with some long days where the accommodation was a bit limited.

Stage 9 - The E4 through the Vercors to Grenoble

Although you're walking through mountains for almost of the French part of the E4 it's not all the same.   Crossing the Rhone in particular meant I was leaving one type of geology and geomorphology, the ancient and fairly gentle Massif Central, and moving into another type which was younger and fresher.  I was now moving into the Vercors, essentially the western foothills of the Alps.  The Vercors, like a lot of the Massif Central, is limestone but here the uplifts have been relatively recent and as a consequence the erosion and the resulting cliffs are more dramatic, a little bit like their cousins in the Dolomites but of course with a different colour.

From Leoncel onwards the walk takes you through the Vercors Natural Park where the mountains form what has been described as a limestone "citadel", a huge upland massif with deep gorges sliced out by the rivers.

Stage 8 - The E4 through the Cevennes and the Ardeche

Stage 8 provides a high level description of my walk along the E4 from Lodeve on the southern edge of the Massif Central to Chateauneuf du-Rhone on the eastern side of the River Rhone.  I started this Stage  on the 27th of May and was in Chateauneuf du-Rhone on the 6th of June.

I was very much looking forward to his stretch of the E4.  The route takes you through the Cevennes and the Ardeche, distinctive parts of France both with a reputation for good walking.  The Cevennes and the Cevennes National Park are on the eastern side of the Massif Central and run from the Montague Noire (Black Mountains), which I crossed  a week earlier, through to the Monts du Vivarais.  If you drive through France it's the place where signs on the side of the motorway point out the watershed between the rivers which flow west to the Atlantic (the Loire and Allier) and those which flow into the Rhone and south to the Mediterranean.  With its limestone geology the area is also famous for its massive gorges, in particular the Gorge du Tarn.

Stage 7 - The E4 from Carcassone to Lodeve

In its own right, standalone, the walk from Carcassone to Lodeve has a lot going for it.  Both ends are easy to get to and sensible people would spend a bit of time at Carcassone which should be on most people’s must see list.  The walking itself is easy, pleasant rather than spectacular, and there is plenty of accommodation along the route in interesting French towns and villages.   The only downside is the long trip from Carcassonne to Mazemet, which really needs to be broken up with a taxi trip, and one or two bits of fairly dull walking through commercial pine plantations.  It’s good if not quite spectacular walking.

If you’re walking 5,000 kilometres you probably fail the sensible person test and I had decided that I didn’t want to stay in Carcassone.  Had done a huge walk the day before arriving, got there late, didn’t get my bearings and ended up in an expensive hotel.  I went through the walls, into the old town, and to me it felt 100 per cent tourist.  Don’t get me wrong I love going to see interesting places with lots of history but I struggle to flip from  the mode of walk walk walk to site see site see site see.  So apart from a perfunctory tick in the box I didn’t really see Carcassonne.