How much you put in your bag makes a difference. If you're 12 stone, and you walk 9 hours a day at 3 miles an hour you consume 2993 extra calories a day. 9 hours is a lot of walking and three miles an hour is a sustained speed but this calculation assumes no climbing (using Naismith's rule you add half and hour for every 1,000 feet climbing). If you're 14 stone, you consume an extra 500 calories. Now I'm not sure if carrying a bag weighing 2 stone makes 12 stone person the equivalent of a 14 stone person (without the bag) but there must be a rough equivalence. An extra 500 calories a day is a lot, 90,000 calories over the length of the whole walk, or 30 days extra food consumption!
A helpful list for loading your bag is provided on the Confraternity of St James website (for walkers planning for the St James Way walk).
Not sure about the starting premise which says you need a 60 litre bag if your a man and a 35-45 litre bag if you're a woman. I guess it's assuming that you can carry more and that some of the items of clothing are bigger. Anyway 60 litres is a much bigger that any bag I've carried so I must be doing something wrong (or right).
I don't think you need much in the way of clothes. The key thing I guess is to be able to wash them and to make sure sure that everything is made of the latest quick/drip dry synthetic materials. Three tea shirts, shorts/trousers, fleece, waterproofs,hat, something to put on your feet in the evening and socks seems enough to me.
Wasn't much taken by the idea that you can buy specialist clothes with silver threads that can absorb oder for up to three weeks. Is that the same underwear for three weeks?
The suggestion that you rub your boots with wild fennel or mint whenever you get a chance seems like a good idea, particularly if you've been wearing your underwear for three weeks.
Anyway the top tens question I need to answer before packing my bag:
1. How long do socks last, how many miles?
2. How many pairs of socks should I take given that they take forever to dry?
3. How long do boots last?
4. Will I need to wear some boots in before I start or do your feet change shape after so many miles walking?
5. Will my clothes last 180 days of walking, or will I need to be sent supplies?
6. Given that I look like an idiot in a hat, what sort of hat should I get?
7. What is the very best stuff for keeping mosquitoes at bay? They will already know I'm coming.
8. Should I go modern and get one of those integrated watering systems (intravenous?)?
9. Will I need the same clothes in Austria as I need in Spain?
10.Should I take my ipod?
Eurorando 2011
Brilliant. Eurorando is the five yearly celebration of the E long distance walking network and the next one is in 2011 coinciding perfectly with the planned amithefirst "conquest" of the E4. If that bit of good fortune wasn't enough the association organising the event is Spanish (the FEDME) with the walking club in Andalusia taking the lead. Tarifa, the starting point for the E4 walk is in Andalusia. The only slight problem is that I'm proposing to walk from west to east so I should be in Budapest when everyone else is celebrating in Granada. Small detail to be ironed out at a later point.
Plans for the Eurorando 2011 are well advanced - its a significant event for tourism in Andulasia and if I understand all the documents correctly there is a budget of some 1.6 million euros. There is even a video which looks great (but of course is in Spanish).
Apart from creating a bigger interest in the concept of the long distance walks I'm not quite sure yet what this means for the amithefirst project. What I need is a really good Spanish speaker to help me engage with the project team in Andulasia to see if they are interested in promoting my attempt.
Which Charity?
After completing the walk the second objective for the amithefirst project is to raise money for charity. So which charity?
I get lots of different things from walking. One of the particular pleasures, especially on the big iconic walks like the Haute Route, or Everest Base Camp, is the sense of international solidarity you get from sharing something with people from different countries. So it was a special Christmas Eve spent drinking with a group of Mexicans, Spanish, Indians and Nepalese in a freezing tea house at Poon Hill on the Annapurna Circuit. The memory of the tiny Nepalese porters giggling uncontrollably as the much larger, in your face, female trekkers from Spain sang louder and louder as they drank more and more Indian whisky is both really nice and in a way inspirational.
The E network of trails is, in itself, a sort of international solidarity manifestation. The European Ramblers Association, which looks after the network, exists to promote trans border access for walkers and to support "activities which serve to strengthen greater understanding between the peoples and nations of Europe".
So a charity which promotes international solidarity seems to make sense.
It would also be nice to support something that was real and generated a tangible result.
In both Nepal and Ethiopia we were lucky to get invited into local schools. In Ethiopia we were invited into schools in Lalibela (famous for its churches carved out of rock) and later on the trail itself in the village of Chiro Leba (the day before climbing Ras Dashen). Both schools were joyous places with children seeing education as way to a future. In Lalibela we were struck by the organisation. A large school, children started at different ages and were taught by a combination of teachers and other children who had learnt more. To add to the organisational complexity the school ran a two shift system with a 1,000 or so children attending in the morning and another 1,000 going there in the afternoon (different children - same teachers). In Chiro Leba the school was much smaller, uneven earthern floors, with walls incapable of keeping livestock out when the children weren't not there (the evidence was on the floor). Throughout our time in Ethopia children came up to you not for money but for pens. The empty biro refills (the bit in the middle not the pen) on the floor of the school in Chiro Leba showed us why.
So a charity which supported international solidarity and which did something tangible, which made a difference to say a school in Ethopia, would be nice.
What I'm looking for now are some ideas.
I get lots of different things from walking. One of the particular pleasures, especially on the big iconic walks like the Haute Route, or Everest Base Camp, is the sense of international solidarity you get from sharing something with people from different countries. So it was a special Christmas Eve spent drinking with a group of Mexicans, Spanish, Indians and Nepalese in a freezing tea house at Poon Hill on the Annapurna Circuit. The memory of the tiny Nepalese porters giggling uncontrollably as the much larger, in your face, female trekkers from Spain sang louder and louder as they drank more and more Indian whisky is both really nice and in a way inspirational.
The E network of trails is, in itself, a sort of international solidarity manifestation. The European Ramblers Association, which looks after the network, exists to promote trans border access for walkers and to support "activities which serve to strengthen greater understanding between the peoples and nations of Europe".
So a charity which promotes international solidarity seems to make sense.
It would also be nice to support something that was real and generated a tangible result.
In both Nepal and Ethiopia we were lucky to get invited into local schools. In Ethiopia we were invited into schools in Lalibela (famous for its churches carved out of rock) and later on the trail itself in the village of Chiro Leba (the day before climbing Ras Dashen). Both schools were joyous places with children seeing education as way to a future. In Lalibela we were struck by the organisation. A large school, children started at different ages and were taught by a combination of teachers and other children who had learnt more. To add to the organisational complexity the school ran a two shift system with a 1,000 or so children attending in the morning and another 1,000 going there in the afternoon (different children - same teachers). In Chiro Leba the school was much smaller, uneven earthern floors, with walls incapable of keeping livestock out when the children weren't not there (the evidence was on the floor). Throughout our time in Ethopia children came up to you not for money but for pens. The empty biro refills (the bit in the middle not the pen) on the floor of the school in Chiro Leba showed us why.
So a charity which supported international solidarity and which did something tangible, which made a difference to say a school in Ethopia, would be nice.
What I'm looking for now are some ideas.
How many days will it take to walk the E4?
Probably turning into some sort of mapping/internet nerd but I have found researching the walk really interesting. The key thing is that there is no one source of information that takes you from one end of the walk to the other. At the European level the walk is described on the European Ramblers Association website, and even on Wikipedia, but not at the level of detail you need to determine the daily length of each walk. Wikipedia (when it does do detail)is sometimes wrong. Plotting the route, from end to end, has therefore involved piecing it together from a whole series of sources (translating the sites into English using the Google translate tool)and then estimating what the daily walks will involve.
I have plotted the route in Google Earth. Google Earth is incredibly powerful and I'm still learning how to use it. I now have a file, which plots my version of the walk, which I can "play" in Google Earth. This means I can fly virtually, place to place, from one end of the walk to the other. Nerd or what!
What I haven't worked out is how to publish my file, i.e. share it on the internet. I'm sure this is possible so hopefully I can do it soon.
Some of sources of information actually provide walking times and I have used these to plan the days. Where this is not available I've used Google Earth. Previous planning experience suggests that I can overstate my daily walking capacity (12 hour walking days in the Dolomites bear witness) so the current plan will definitely need some more work.
What the plan is telling me is that I need to walk for 172 days (I have walked 16 before!). If I walk six days, and have every 7th day of, this makes for a total elapsed time rounded up to 200 days.
If I have got this right it could work. What it means is that I could start at Tarifa at the beginning of March and spend the spring crossing the Sierra Nevadas and eastern Spain. By mid-May I will be in France and the Cevennes, going up the Rhone Valley to Grenoble in June/July. The Swiss part of the walk looks really nice and easy and I should be able to get to the tough Austrian part mid-way through August. The Der nordalpine Weitwanderweg 01 looks brilliant but is the highest and most exposed part of the walk, involves 40 days walking, so I need to start this as early in August as possible.
I have plotted the route in Google Earth. Google Earth is incredibly powerful and I'm still learning how to use it. I now have a file, which plots my version of the walk, which I can "play" in Google Earth. This means I can fly virtually, place to place, from one end of the walk to the other. Nerd or what!
What I haven't worked out is how to publish my file, i.e. share it on the internet. I'm sure this is possible so hopefully I can do it soon.
Some of sources of information actually provide walking times and I have used these to plan the days. Where this is not available I've used Google Earth. Previous planning experience suggests that I can overstate my daily walking capacity (12 hour walking days in the Dolomites bear witness) so the current plan will definitely need some more work.
What the plan is telling me is that I need to walk for 172 days (I have walked 16 before!). If I walk six days, and have every 7th day of, this makes for a total elapsed time rounded up to 200 days.
If I have got this right it could work. What it means is that I could start at Tarifa at the beginning of March and spend the spring crossing the Sierra Nevadas and eastern Spain. By mid-May I will be in France and the Cevennes, going up the Rhone Valley to Grenoble in June/July. The Swiss part of the walk looks really nice and easy and I should be able to get to the tough Austrian part mid-way through August. The Der nordalpine Weitwanderweg 01 looks brilliant but is the highest and most exposed part of the walk, involves 40 days walking, so I need to start this as early in August as possible.
Bridges burnt and initial plans
Well I have now burnt the bridge of employment (technically just on fire as I will still be working until August). This means that the biggest obstactle to the E4 walk, time, has now been removed and that, theoretically, I can do it.
Have got a lot more information on the walk, have plotted it on Google Earth (haven't worked how to publish it) and the detail of it makes it even more interesting. I should be able to work out a start date soon and when I expect to have arrived at key points along the way.
Based conversations so far, some objectives for the walk have started to emerge, namely:
• complete the walk - get from Tarifa to Budapest (although the option of the eastern Hungarian border has been suggested)
• build up a network of people interested in the route (and beyond Hungary) and want to participate at some level
• promote cultural activities associated with the route
• link communities
• build a resource which can be used after the walk has been finished (a web-site, a book)
• raising money for charity
Have got a lot more information on the walk, have plotted it on Google Earth (haven't worked how to publish it) and the detail of it makes it even more interesting. I should be able to work out a start date soon and when I expect to have arrived at key points along the way.
Based conversations so far, some objectives for the walk have started to emerge, namely:
• complete the walk - get from Tarifa to Budapest (although the option of the eastern Hungarian border has been suggested)
• build up a network of people interested in the route (and beyond Hungary) and want to participate at some level
• promote cultural activities associated with the route
• link communities
• build a resource which can be used after the walk has been finished (a web-site, a book)
• raising money for charity
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.
The Idea
I'm thinking of walking from Tarifa in Spain to Budapest in Hungry along the route of the euro path, the E4. In total it's about 5,500 kilometers. As far as I can tell no one has walked this far along the route so I might be the first to do it, hence the title of my Blog "Am I the First".
I don't mind if I'm not the first to actually walk the route because there are a number of things which I would like to try which are genuinely new and first time.
Perhaps the most important thing I would like to achieve is a collaboration. I would like family, friends, colleagues and hopefully lots of people I haven't met yet to help me do the walk. I would like to collaborate in its planning and execution including people actually joining me for parts of the walk.
I'm interested in Web 2 and Social Media. I push others to use it as part of my day job but to be honest I'm not an expert in its detailed application. I want to explore how social media can be used on a collaborative venture like this and develop my own Web 2 expertise.
The plan at the moment is to start from the Tarifa end in the spring of 2011 leaving about 18 months to get ready.
I don't mind if I'm not the first to actually walk the route because there are a number of things which I would like to try which are genuinely new and first time.
Perhaps the most important thing I would like to achieve is a collaboration. I would like family, friends, colleagues and hopefully lots of people I haven't met yet to help me do the walk. I would like to collaborate in its planning and execution including people actually joining me for parts of the walk.
I'm interested in Web 2 and Social Media. I push others to use it as part of my day job but to be honest I'm not an expert in its detailed application. I want to explore how social media can be used on a collaborative venture like this and develop my own Web 2 expertise.
The plan at the moment is to start from the Tarifa end in the spring of 2011 leaving about 18 months to get ready.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)