El Pont de Suert - Circular Walk No1

This walk is an easy one that, with its delights and frustrations, is a good introduction to walking in northern Spain.  There are signs everywhere of a countryside which used to be a lot busier.   Unfortunately the low usage levels of paths originally used to connect villages which are now abandoned means that some are getting overgrown.  Navigation is occasionally a challenge, particularly when the way marking is less than perfect.

On the face of it, this is a straightforward walk.  Just to the east of  El Pont de Suert is a shallow secluded valley full of small oak trees.  The walk heads out near the valley bottom and returns higher up on its northern side. It follows an old trail connecting ancient villages and farmsteads. 

El Pont de Suert and the Vall de Boí

The Vall de Boí is a gem.  With 9 churches, it has the highest concentration of Romanesque architecture in the world, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is also a great place for walkers. Combined with El Pont de Suert further down the valley, there is enough walking to keep you busy for a week.

Suggested walks around the Vall de Boí

The main attraction is the Vall de Boí itself.  A tight secluded valley, it features a series of lovely stone villages each bedecked with a Romanesque church (my favourite, Taüll, has two). The tall, skinny church towers, set off against a green mountain backdrop, are particularly photogenic.  The villages and the churches date back to the 11th Century when the local rulers spent their wealth, derived from silver trading, on architecture inspired by pilgrimages to Italy. Originally these churches were lavishly decorated with murals and although most them have now been moved to the national museum in Barcelona the church at Boí still has some of them in situ.

Walking in the Prepirineo

The Prepirineo, or pre-Pyrenees, are the ‘foothills’ of the Pyrenees on the southern side of the Spanish border with France.  Although little appreciated outside Spain they are a walker's paradise. They combine great scenery, wildlife, historical interest, good local food, a huge choice of accommodation, good weather and a comparatively long walking season.  With the help of my Spanish friend Juan Holgado, the expert on Spanish walking, I'm researching the area (an excuse for a series of Spanish holidays) and if it's as good as I think it is I will write a guide.

Defining where foothills start and finish is always a challenge and that's as true of the Pyrennees as it is of the Alps.  The Prepirineo to an extent are defined by geology.  The Pyrennees correspond to an exposed line of particularly old rock (known as the 'axial line' or 'primary axial line') with the Prepirineo formed by younger rock sitting either side of the ancient core. Geologically the Prepirineo are uplifted remnants of rocks that would originally have covered the older rocks in the middle, but being younger and softer they didn't last as long.  Of course, with great slabs of rock folding and faulting over each other it's actually more complicated.  In particular, it's not symmetrical and there are lots more of the younger, softer rocks on the southern Spanish side of the core than on the northern side.

Farewell to the Osprey Exos 44 - a 10,000 km Backpack

Saying farewell to a rucksack that you've carried for 10,000 km is a wrench.  When setting off on a trip that first feeling of the bag on my back is like firing the starting gun for an adventure.  I've got so used to it, I know where everything goes and together we've developed a system which works.  Not quite on its last legs it has, however, started to show its age.  My wife claims that it smells and if I'm going to avoid offers of loose change as I wander through towns I have to accept that I need to smarten up.

Osprey Exos 44 at rest in Hungary

I was first introduced to my Osprey Exos 46 three and half years ago as I set off on my 5,000km trip from Tarifa, on the south coast of Spain, to Budapest.  Since then we've crossed Spain three more times, walked the Apennines in Italy, bashed our way through Bulgaria, crossed the Alps twice and been on numerous trips to France and various parts of the UK.  In three and a half years the Exos has been clamped to my back for at least 300 days.

Munich to Venice - the 'Dream Way'

Known as the Traumpfad (Dream Way), the Munich to Venice trek enjoys a huge reputation  in Germany.  Does it deserve it? Having done it and despite walking 550 km and climbing 22,000m, during the worst Alpine summer in living memory, I can emphatically say that it does. I've crossed the Alps on foot many other times but this was the best.

The start

As a route it succeeds at many different levels. Great scenery is almost a given in the Alps but on the Dream Way it is exceptional, day after day. Climbing over the Karwendel, Tuxer and Zillertal Alps and passing through the Dolomites means you walk through the most spectacular mountain landscapes in Europe.  There is some flat walking at each end but, with Venice as the destination, who cares?

Day 26 Munich to Venice - Venice

Finished, all done and dusted, and after 525km and something like 22000m of climb we have arrived in Venice. It feels very strange, a whole bag of mixed emotions.  I'm relieved it's all over and looking forward to getting home, but already missing the prospect of setting off in the morning on another walk.

Leaving Jesolo

The last day from Jesolo was similar to the last four, long hot and flat. The first half involved a quiet walk along the bank of a river and the second a cycle way on the side of a road. We again crossed paths with the two German hikers we have been unable to shake off for the last three days, uncannily we seem to go everywhere together, even the to the same ice-cream shops where the choice is not exactly limited.

Days 24-25 Munich to Venice - Jesolo

We were warned by lots of Germans that the last part of the Munich Venice walk was not nice and had the impression that we would be walking along busy roads with lorries humming past. Although the last 48 hours have not been great walking, it wasn't that bad.

Three things dominate my memory of the last two days.

Firstly the levees. The countryside is totally flat and the route sticks limpet like to top of a never ending line of flood defences or levees bordering the river Piave. From the top of the levee, usually walking along a gravel or grassy path, you can see everything there is to see -field after field of maize or beans.

Endless fields of beans