Corfu Trail (2014)

The Corfu Trail has been designed by an English lady who choose to live on the island – as so many British have done. The published edition follows the original except for the beginning and the end.
We missed one track because the weather forecast mentioned thunderstorms and high winds; but it wasn’t that bad at all.
The description in English must be taken literally – which is easier when English is your native language. Signposting isn’t always clear, you need the map and some good sense – and some luck. For almost every leg, I added comments.
The images, tracks and comments can be found here.

Thanks to Aspergi Travel in Corfu City, for arranging all lodging and a well balanced schedule and, when needed, transport. There were two occasions where we had to handle this ourselves – with a helping hand of locals.

Lahn Wanderweg (2013)

In fall of 2013 we walked the western part of the Lahn Wanderweg – a long distance footpath between the Westerwald and Taunus regions along the Lahn river; rather close by, occasionally further off (and therefore, on higher grounds) but not as far off (or high) to call it a ‘Steig’ – such a path usually follows higher grounds.
We camped in Diez, and started the tour from Limburg an der Lahn, walked along the river to Lahnstein, on the Eastern shoulder of the Rhine – opposite Koblenz. This took four days – and the remaining two we did two more sections, East of Limburg. This way, this walk covered the whole part of the river that runs from East to West. The remainder runs from North to South, and will be covered another time.
Part of the route between Limburg and Lahnstein has been covered earlier – the area, anyway.
The whole route has been tracked and imaged.

Morocco 2013

In 2012, we planned a tour through Morocco’s High Atlas: walking through the mountains in a group, with aguide. But that trip was canceled by the tour-operator due to a lack of participants.
This year, we found a trip to Morocco with another operator, and no matter the number of travelers: that trip would be executed, with an English speaking local guide. He would lead us over the Saghro mountains – an area created and formed by volcanic activities, and into the Sahara, both rocky and sandy environments. Walks of about 6 hours from one location to the other, where the luggage was transported by mules of camels, we would stleep in tents – or, in the desert, in open air.
Normally, it is quite warm in May, but this year temperatures were modest, and due to the amount of wind, it was well bearable: temperatures around 30 degrees in the Saghro and about 35 in the desert – considered mild conditions.
In the Saghro we could walk 6 hours with some stops underway, but in the Sahara we walked for 4 hours to a place with lots of shadow, and we would take a siësta for a few hours, to avoid the hottest time of the day; after that, it would be a walk of 2 hours to the camp.
In between, we visited the Todra gorge, but that was somewhat disappointing: the original gravel riverbed, once suitable for four-wheel drives only, is now fitted with a concrete road to allow more traffic to the inland beyond the gorge; needed for the local economy, but it spoils the wildness of the area – and allows more and more ‘traders’ selling their stuff to tourists like us.
After all trekking, we spent the last four days in Marrakech – the first day in a large hotel outside the old city, as part of the trip itself, and the rest in an original old-city house – a riad – that has been restored and converted to a hotel.
Of course I tracked all walks, and some of the intermediate rides (by our own bus), and took a lot of pictures.

Rhein-Nahe Weinwanderweg (2012)

In fall 2012, we had a week of walking in Germany: we found the Rhein-Nahe Weinwanderweg, from Kirn to Bingen, along the Nahe river that runs South of the Hunsrück. Given the name, the route runs through vineyards on the slopes of the hills.
When we arrived, is was pouring with rain, and using a wooden cabin was just a little bit more expensive as setting up the tent – so we decided to go for the cabin. Just this first day was rainy, the remainder of the week the wather was fin – though the mronings would be chilly and therefore misty; But during the day, the fog would disappear and we would walk in bright sunlight.
The images and tracks can be found on this spot.

Austria, 2012

In 2012, the summer holidays were planned to be spent in Marocco; traveling with a group for two weeks: walking the High Atlas for about a week, staying in hostels and private homes in villages, and the remainder a stay in Marakech. It required at least 10 travellers, but that number wasn’t reached so the trip was cancelled by the organization. They are not to blame, it was a know risk, though unlikely.
But it happened, so we had to look for an alternative.
One thing we already thought about before, was a cycle tour along the Danube river, from Passau to Vienna. This is a flat route, down river so no climbing (at least, not much) that could easily be done in a week. We already had bought a booklet on the route and found enough places to stay overnight. So we decided to take make that ride, and would decide afterwards what to do next: it would be in the mountains anyway, but we hadn’t decided yet where to go: Vorarlberg, Tirol or Kärnten. We could decide later, based on location and weather.
So first: our cycletrip. It turned out easier than thought. Originally planned to last a week, we made it in four days, 60 kilometers a day being too little. Cycling along the river was so easy, fair weather and the wind in our backs, 80 kilometers a day was an easy target. Most trips tracked on GPS, and pictures taken at interesting points along the way, including the power stations. At end a day visit of Vienna – which is way too short. The trip back to Passau by train, after which we had time to pay that city a visit. Here you’ll find the images and tracks of this ride.
Next we put the bikes back on the car and headed South, to Zell am See, where we would decide wich mountain area we would got to next, Vorarlberg was considered too far away, so the choice was between Tirol (West) or Kärnten (East). That night we stayed in a hotel and decided to go East, the Maltatal, based on descriptions. The next day, we crossed the GrossGlocker pass and headed East. The remainder of the holidays we walked “valley of the thousand waterfalls” and visited the neighbourhood, including the highest barrage in Austria. The results of this decision – both images and tracks, are available here.

Fall in Switzerland

Fall of 2011 we made a trip into the Swiss Alps. We stayed on a camping site in the village of Bönningen, a few kilometers East of Interlaken, on the Southern side of the Brienzer See, and made a several walks on the slopes of the Jungfrau range, and on the other side of the two lakes, West and East of Interlaken. This resulted in a huge amount of photographs, since a mountainous regions offers so many views….
Switzerland is known for its pricing, so we bought a ticket that gave us free travel for 5 days, and discount on the remaining days, for most of the trains, narrow-gauge trains and busses in the area. Not all of them, though. But it’s worth the pricetag, because it brings down the cost of traveling substantially. And since quite a lot of places cannot be reached by car, that makes a difference.
Nor didn’t we need to buy maps – these are available online and all regular walks are well signposted. And since I marked the walks – roughly – on the maps of the area, and afterwards, the walks are drawn on the these downloaded maps. I didn’t bring my GPS this time, so that all you will get 🙂

Germany 2011

This year, we made two short holiday trips to Germany.
In spring, we made a short break on the eastern slopes of the Sauerland. We stayed at a camping site in Barntrup and we made longer walks from the site, and from Bad Driburg; some of these are part of the Hermannshöhen collection of routes. The tracks have been recorded, and the tracks with the accompanying images can be found here.
In summer, we spent out annual summer holiday in the South of Germany, on the German-Austrian border.
Our first four days were spent at the Bodensee, at a comping site at Linday, quite close to the border. Here we rode our bikes and made boat trips to get to our starting point, or returning to the site. One of these trips lead us through three countries after crossing to Switzerland, and riding back along Bregenz (which is Austria…), we took the opportunity to transport our bikes up the Pfälzer mountain by cable train, and decended from there. Most tracks have been recorded, and the tracks with the accompanying images can be found here.
The fifth day we drove along the Deutsche Alpenstrasse to Berchtesgaden, parked our car there and walked a long distance way circling the Berchtesgadener and Salzburger Land; overnight we stayed at B&B of small hotel. This 160 km route, with a total ascend (and descend) of 5000 meters, took one week – over 20 kilometers a day, and, except for the last day, at least 500 climbing.
From this walk, all tracks have been recorded, and the images, and all tracks, can be found here. This also contains photograhps taken in and around Tittmoning on our way back home.

Note: My normal lens was broken, I could only use my larger lens, so I had to do a lot of combining and stitching, and the results are bigger tha ususal

Havezatenpad – All of it

The last legs of this long-distance path have been walked, and now the route is complete.
Continueing where we last ended – that is: close by – we walked from Zwolle, via Hasselt en Genemuiden to Zwartsluis – the last leg we did before in the prologue. We returned by bus – halting closeby. Next, the eleventh walk in the series lead from Zwartsluis, through the Wieden National Reserve, to “The Dutch Venice”: Giethoorn. Again, it was fairly easy to return by public transport.
The twelfth walk however would not have that advantage, so we decided to postpone it to a time when we could use our bikes to return – and did the thirteenth and last walk first, starting at Oldemarkt, just off route, to Steenwijk, the landing zone, and head back by bus once more. This walk was done in winter conditions, in the snow.
This spring, we did the postponed walk – parked our bikes in Oldemarkt, drove to Giethoorn by car, walked to Oldemarkt and drove 15 kilometers back – in sunny, though windy conditions.
So the last few walsk may look weird…..
All walks and tracking data can be accessed here. (The tracks are available but the links still need to be created..)

Renswoude

A relatively short walk on a cloudy day, rather close by, starting and ending at a parking just outside Renswoude – on the East side, just across the line of sight from Renswoude Castle over it’s Grand Canal – similar to Versailles, but lacking it’s ‘ grandeur’. The route passes to the works of the Hollandse Waterlinie – a line of defense, consisting of dykes in the lower lands of the Gelderse Vallei. In times of war, these low lands would be inundated; the dykes acting as a lifeline to the fortresses buiklt along the line. This walk crosses two of them on the way.
At end, we headed back to Renswoude, ending on the side of the Renswoude Estate, passing it’s dovecote and church. and the housing of the servanst of the castle – a nattional monument.
I took a number of images, and of course, the track is available here, in Garmin, general and .CSV formats

Harz 2010

After our RheinSteig walks, we headed East to the Harz – a mid-range mountain area, wooded – and once a major element in the Iron Curtain that devide Eastern Germany – the communist German Democratic Republic – DDR – and Western Germany – the capitalistic German Federal Republic – BDR.
We stayed at the camping site of Hohegeisz – a village on the edge of Western Germany: some backyards literally a few feet away from the former boundary.
Our first walk was into the woordland to the West of the village – to a location named “Nullpunkt”: Point Zero. From what: probably the starting point of trigoniometric measurements? but that is defeated by it’s loxcation: in the midst of mountains. Or a location from where logging was started?
The second day, we drove a little North to start a walk up the Brocken mountgain, the highest peak in the area, and now a popular destination for walks – or a train ride using the narrow gauge railway that leads to the summit – here the former espionage buildings now house a meuseum.
Our third day we joined a tour in the former boundary area; a no-go area for DDR citizens; our guides were a former GDB customs guy, and the major of a former DDR village. Part of that journey was a ride with the Harzer Schmallspur Bahn – the narrow gauge railway kept alive because of it’s value for the local people.

No maps or tracks for these walks – I lost the tracking data and I don’t have maps to reconstruct them – but the images are available.