When I tell people I’m going to spend two months walking a trail this summer, the first thing they tend to ask is how long and how much per day. Well I’m a bit vague on this for a number of reasons. The guide book talks about 750 km, but when you add all the sections I’m doing, including the so called ‘ring of three nations’ loop I get, from the very same guide book, 757 km. A rough conversion makes this about 473 miles. Allowing for additional walking to and from where I’m staying, the fact that in reality all the little twists and turns , ups and downs, always add up to more in real life than on the map, and inevitably going off trail from time to time, I’d be very surprised if I don‘t find myself walking more like 500 miles. That’s further than London to Inverness.
So when I spotted a walking magazine promoting the idea of walking a 1000 miles in 2020, I thought why not? I’ve got to get fitter for the trek anyway, and I usually walk several hundred miles in day hikes a year anyway. Plus having started last year to do circuits of Crystal Palace Park, on days when I’d otherwise do no exercise, and walking a mile to and from the office every day, it’ll soon add up. So doing another 500 miles or so this year gives me an incentive to get in shape.
Of course the distance is only the half of it. According to the guide book , again, there’s at least 30,000 metres in ascent and 33,000 in descent to cope with in total. That’s over three ascents and descents of Everest. Or lots of walking up flights of stairs….
But spread over 42 days with rest days in between it doesn’t look any harder than anything I’ve done before, just longer. We shall see…..
Across the Alps to the Adriatic 