Inspired by movies like Wild and A Walk in the Woods, the pilgrimages people make walking the Camino to Santiago , and my own experiences walking routes like the Pennine Way and the Stevenson trail, I wanted to do my own trek through the mountains. This time, not just a “holiday” but an adventure, something lasting at least a couple of months, where I’d really get the chance to connect with nature, escape the rat-race, and gain a sense of achievement.
I’d already tried, and eventually given up, having to carry my own bags across the Alps once before, doing the Alpine Pass route in 2004. That was tough, and I’m not getting any younger. Back trouble caused by years of office working meant that realistically I wasn’t going to be able to manage carrying all my gear for two months along something like the Appalachian trail. So when a brochure advertising a new route across the Alps, where your bags could be carried the whole way, and you could stay in a comfy hotel bed every night fell out of a walking magazine I was reading, I knew this for me. Four years later, and with an understanding wife and employer, plus exceptionally helpful staff in the Carinthian, Slovenian and Tarvisio tourist office, this dream is about to become a reality in summer 2020. The Alpe Adria trail is about 750 km long, stretching from Gross Glockner in the Hohe Tauern national park in Austria, through the beautiful Soca Valley of Slovenia to the vineyards of Fruili Venezia Giulia in Italy, near Trieste.
And what better opportunity to highlight and help the predicament of the world’s most trafficked creature, the pangolin, who through no fault of its own finds itself threatened around the world due to the demand for its scales and bushmeat. As an animal that it has not proved easy to keep in captivity, it’s essential that projects around the world are supported to help these creatures survive before it’s too late and they disappear for ever. So if you’re reading this blog, please do donate to one of the charities supporting pangolins such as savepangolins.org , Fauna and Flora International or the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation. And spread the word that we desperately need to do more to help these beautiful and unique animals survive in the face of human exploitation.
Across the Alps to the Adriatic 