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1ST TREK

France and Belgium

Luxembourg

Germany Moselle to Heidelberg

Germany Black Forest

Switzerland

Italy

2ND TREK

Holland

Germany Munsterland to Brandenburg

Germany Brandenburg to Saxony

Czech Republic

Austria

Slovenia

3RD TREK

France Calais to Normandy

France Normandy to Creuse

France Creuse to Correze

France Correze to Aveyron

France Aveyron to Haute Provence

Kit Matters

The Trekkers

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German National Flag

Colin about to take the first of millions of steps on the beach at Dunkerque in France

WALKING ACROSS EUROPE

We have started a FOURTH long distance route from the Rhine in Germany eastwards along the E3. You can follow this trek on MY BLOG and on the map.

Europe is full of beautiful and dramatic places. It has unrivalled traditions of access to the countryside. We must treasure this. We can walk just about anywhere without impediment. We can cross fields as long as we respect it as the farmer's workplace. We can cross private estates keeping to the footpath and follow quiet streams and roaring rivers and cross mighty mountain ranges. There are hares, wildfowl, deer, foxes, badgers, bears, stoats, squirrels, and countless butterflies and birds. Speeding through by car, train or plane we miss it all. But they can all be seen so easily on foot. Europe is a treasure trove of history, tradition and natural life - right on our doorstep. Enjoy it!

We've already walked right across Europe three times.

Firstly from Dunkirk, on the North Sea in France, east through Belgium, south into Luxembourg, east into Germany and south across Switzerland, finally climbing over the Alps to Genoa on the Mediterranean Sea in Italy.

Secondly from the Hague on the Dutch North Sea coast and east through Holland and Germany then south to the Czech Republic and Austria and finally south-east through Slovenia to the Adriatic at Koper.

Thirdly we have walked across France from Calais on the English Channel through Picardy, south-west through Normandy and south via the Limousin to the Perigord, east into the Cevennes, Rhone and Provence to Italy.

We use The European Long Distance paths created by the European Ramblers Association as a general guide. These are often not marked on a map nor on the ground and we find our own way with map and compass. Maps vary a great deal in accuracy and detail - sometimes we must use motoring ones. Our route takes us along paths, lanes, highways, forests, moors, riversides, lakesides, mountains, fields and through cities.

We go for periods between 8 and 30 days, carrying our gear and staying in hotels, guesthouses, B&Bs and mountain huts.

We walk in heat, cold, rain, snow, ice, summer, spring, autumn and winter. Each season is special.

We often go through areas little travelled by outsiders. We see places and people we would not see by travelling in any other way. We see how a country lives in small valleys, remote country, farms, hamlets, and country towns. Travelling slowly we can absorb how it feels. We have discovered centuries-old local festivals. We have seen how hundreds of years of bloody conflicts - have moulded the country. Hill forts built in the 17th century were used again in the 20th and are still there in the 21st century. Community boundaries created hundreds of years ago are still observed. Trading routes from a millennium ago are still followed. Cemeteries hold the victims of pogroms and wars. Rivers, railways, roads and canals have waxed, waned and waxed again in importance. We cross previously impassable boundaries.

Europe is blessed with huge forests. Britain's were cut down long ago. It is a marvel to see carefully managed forests providing a steady supply of wood for energy, paper and manufacturing. We observe the farming cycle - hand-pruning winter vineyards in in sub-zero temperatures, fertilising the soil from the farmyards, spring ploughing, acres of industrially grown mono-crops, some cattle indoors throughout the year and other cattle out of doors the whole year. Despite an abundance of pork on menus there is not a pig to be seen in the fields!

There are masses of tracks to explore and a wonderful freedom from the constraints of time, cars, buses, trains, planes. All we have to do is shoulder a light pack and walk each day on new trails, staying somewhere different each night. The paths are empty.

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Deep snow in the Black Forest
So many fell - First World War graves 1914-18 in Flanders
River reflections near Gerardsbergen, Belgium
Snow at the Luxembourg-France-Germany border
At last - the Rhine
Covered bridge in the Black Forest
15th Century fortified church at Hrastovlje, Istria, Slovenia
Into the Alps
Xmas decoration in German mountain hut
Canals and windmills in Holland Christian cross on the Road to Compostella, Lot, Southern France Sign for horse-drawn rail in 19th Century from Budweis to Linz Hand-written E1 sign in northern Italy Walking across the long grass in a clearing in the forest in Slovenia Typically clear E1 signage in Czech Republic