Friday, 16 June 2017

A hike through Eastern Europa


Last year around the same time I had already announced a hike through Eastern Europe - but then things turned out very differently. Instead of starting my hike at the German-Czech border I ended up in the emergency room of a hospital. And this unplanned hospital stay cut last year's hiking short.

But now I will give it another try and hopefully complete my West-East European traverse. So this is the plan:

I will start at Zinnwald where I have already started in 2012 when I hiked westwards to Santiago de Compostella. Now I will head eastward towards the Black Sea Coast in Bulgaria. Due to political reasons I have given up the idea of heading towards Istanbul.

Basically I will follow the European long-distance trail E3. Through Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia the E3 coincides with the International Mountain Trail of Friendship from Eisenach to Budapest. But once I hit the Hungarian border I will continue on the E3 trough Eastern Hungary on the Aföldi Kektura. Then I will be one of the first hikers ever to hike the new route of the E3 through Romania! For decades the E 3 has been interupted between Hungary and Bulgaria but luckily now the Siebenbürgischer Karpatenverein, a Romanian hiking organisation has planned a new route and provided me with the relevant tracks and Information. Although the route is not yet marked on the ground I hope to be able to follow it.

I have not been that lucky in Serbia. Although I have heard that the Serbian hiking association is working on a connecting trail as well my emails and calls were never answered. In the end I have created my own route now through Serbia which is mainly roadwalking.

In Bulgaria the E3 coincides with the KomEmine trail, one of Europe's longest, uninterrupted mountain trails.

Altogether my planned route is about 3,000 kilometers long. I am awfully out of shape and I want to do a lot of sightseeing on tour - and therefore I am thinking that it will take me around 4 months to hike.




The first part of this year has been rather turbulent for me and I have worked hard on my second book. Therefore I am really looking forward to be outside and hiking again. I just do hope that this time no health issues will turn up ...



15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hallo Christine,
gut von dir zu hören, die lange Pause war fast ein wenig besorgniserregend...
Wir wünschen dir alles gute für deinen Walk.
Maeine Frau und ich haben auch bald wieder Sabbatjahr und machen dann den AT fertig, den wir ja in sections laufen, und dann gehts wohl hoffentlich auf den Te Araroa in Neuseeland :-)
LG
2Tall

Richard Hartfield said...

Good luck Christine! I've been interested in finding a hiking route across Romania for a while now so can't wait to see how it goes!

Richard aus Vorarlberg said...

Viel Glück und Erfolg auf deinem Trip.

Lg

John said...

Hi Christine, I'm looking forward to hearing about your trip across Eastern Europe. If you ever translate your books into English, I would buy them.
John (from Ireland)

Amy L said...

Good luck with the weather and especially with your health. Amy&James

Anonymous said...

Best of luck on your new adventure. I look forward to following along with your blog.
Geneislucky

Jay said...

Thanks for sharing. I'm really looking forward to your trip updates as Eastern Europe is somewhere I'd like to explore more. Apart from a weeks cross country skiing in Poland, and some time in the Julian Alps in Slovenia, I know little about this part of Europe. I've read about the wonderful Boreal forests a little. Have you ever considered hiking in Georgia? I've heard that the landscape and hospitality are amazing. Best wishes on your next adventure!

Ron Haines said...

Wishing you all the best. Have a great trip!
Ron

Banya Meadow said...

Hallo Christine, ich plane eine Tour diesen Sommer im Zentralen Balkangebirge. Ich wollte fragen, ob Du etwas über die Wasserverhältnisse dort weisst? Oder Links mit brauchbaren Informationen? Das wäre super... Beste Grüße!

Michal said...

Best of luck Christine! It's a shame I wasn't home in Eastern Czechia, I could have hosted you :)

Der Wanderschuh said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Der Wanderschuh said...

Hi Christine,
wann ist etwa mit dem Erscheinen Deines zweiten Buches zu rechnen?
Alles Gute auf dem Osteuropa Trip!!

German Tourist said...

Das zweite Buch erscheint am 1.3.18. Bis dahin kannst du meine Wanderung auf Facebook unter @christinethuermerautorin verfolgen.

fr said...

E3 in Bulgaria should be easy, if you go in late summer/autumn. Lots of staffed mountain huts with food in the high mountains, so you never have to carry much. Once you get past Kotel, no more huts, but enough towns that finding food never too difficult. See my webpages at http://www.frankrevelo.com/hiking/dest_eu_bulgaria.htm, http://www.frankrevelo.com/hiking/trips_2015_05.htm and http://www.frankrevelo.com/hiking/trips_2017_08.htm.

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