Welcome to the Transeurotrek - walking across Europe
Germany Munsterland to Brandenburg
WALKING ACROSS EUROPE
We have walked crossed Europe twice. 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.
Currently we are walking across France from from Calais on the English Channel through Pas-de-Calais and Picardy, south-west through Normandy and south via the Limousin to the Perigord, east into the Massif Centrale, Cevennes, Rhone, Provence and the Mediterranean.
We find our own routes using The European Long Distance paths created by the European Ramblers Association as a general guide. These are often not marked on a map or on the ground and we find our own way with map and compass. Maps vary a great deal in accuracy and detail - sometimes we use motoring ones. Our route take us along lanes, highways, forests, moors, riversides, lakesides, mountains, fields and through cities and along marked and unmarked paths and roads.
We go for periods between 8 and 21 days, carrying our gear on our backs and staying in hotels, guesthouses, B&Bs and mountain huts.
We go in all weathers - in heat, cold, rain, snow, ice, in summer, spring, autumn and winter. Each season is special and gives a different view of life and nature.
We mostly go through areas little travelled by outsiders and 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, villages and country towns. Travelling slowly we have time to absorb how it feels, how the people are, the local features and cultures. We have discovered centuries-old local festivals. We have seen how hundreds of years of long conflicts - between princedoms, states, religions, towns and countrysides - 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 for religious reasons hundreds of years ago are still marked and observed. Trading routes created a millennium ago are still followed. Cemeteries hold the victims of pogroms and wars over hundreds of years. Rivers, railways, roads and canals have waxed, waned and waxed again in importance. We have crossed previously impassable boundaries to re-unite east and west Europe.
Europe is blessed with huge forests. Britain's were cut down long ago and we now have few managed woods. It is a marvel to see carefully managed forests providing a steady supply of wood for energy, paper and manufacturing. We have watched the farming cycle - the hand-pruning of winter vineyards in in sub-zero temperatures, fertilising the soil from the farmyards, the first spring ploughing, acres of industrially grown mono-crops, cattle kept indoors throughout the year and cattle out of doors the whole year. We have still to solve the mystery of the abundance pof pork on menus but not a pig to be seen in the fields
Europe is full of beautiful and dramatic places. Although it is a crowded continent, Europe has traditions of access to the countryside unrivalled anywhere in the world. We must treasure this. We can walk just about anywhere without impediment. We can cross fields as long as we remember that it is the farmer's workplace and respect it. We can cross private estates keeping to the footpath. We can follow quiet and roaring rivers and cross mighty mountain ranges. There are hares, wildfowl, deer, foxes, badgers, bears, stoats, squirrels, and countless butterflies and birds. When we speed through by car we can 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.
The site is the story of our transeurotrek. Each trek has a master page 1ST TREK, 2ND TREK and 3RD TREK as well as pages specific to each country. Germany and France are large countries and take longer to cross so they have multiple pages. The countries are listed on the left. On each page there is a description of the trek. There are 16 pictures on each page which give a feel for the country.
We hope our Transeurotrek encourages you to do something similar. There are masses of tracks to follow, easy to get to and there is lots to explore. It gives a wonderful feel of freedom - of being free of the constraints of time, cars, buses, trains, planes, etc. You just get up, shoulder the light pack and walk each day on new trails and stay somewhere different each night. The paths are empty. You will walk all day and see no one else walking.
Sometimes when conditions deteriorate in a remote place it can be tricky. One of our trekkers recalls the drama at the end of a long wet day high in the Austrian Alps in the following poem: NIGHT WALKING
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