Trailing Around the World
The 1419km Baltic Coastal Hiking Route forms part of the E9, one of Europe’s long-distance paths, which runs for 9880 km from Tarifa, Spain to Narva-Jõesuu in Estonia. The Baltic Route begins at the Kaliningrad/Lithuanian border on the Curonian Spit, heads north through Lithuania and Latvia and finishes at Tallin in Estonia. It takes around 70 days to complete.
BTF members and End-to-Enders Michael Schulze and Veronika Winkler set out to thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in the USA. The PCT is a wilderness trail stretching 4246km from the Mexican border to the Canadian border through Californian desert, the high alpine regions of the Sierra in California, over the hills of Oregon and the Cascade Ranges of Washington. These are some of the highlights of their trek, told by Veronika:
Jim Baker, WA The Way is mainly ridge-top walking with soft grass underfoot, interspersed with leafy country lanes, farm tracks through patchworks of fields and pastures and quiet trails through ancient beech forests. Countryside like this is best enjoyed in fair weather and fortunately I was blessed with the kind of benign conditions that only […]
Alan Pitman and Denise Hilsz, WA At the completion of the Three Capes Track this quotation from the Track guide book captured the four-day experience. “This is a world-class and innovative track which connects breathtaking coastal scenery with the nature and spirit of the land.” The walk takes four days and covers 45 kilometres. For […]
Su Becket, WA A typical temple At mid-day, late in March 2016, I embarked on my pilgrimage at temple number one, following in the footsteps of Kobai Daishi (aka Kukai), the founder of Shingon Buddhism. My plan was to walk each day and stay wherever I could find somewhere to sleep. I knew some temples […]
Barry and Daphne Bastow, WA Lake Silvaplana We all know how picturesque the Alps in Europe are but when seen through the eyes of the local group leader (John Iacomella) you get not only the views but a lot about the culture, food and local experiences of the area as well. We joined John and […]
Jim Baker, WA Some time around about 750AD, Offa, King of Mercia and overlord of the greater part of England, decided to dig a ditch, or dyke, some 180 miles long marking the border of his kingdom with Wales. Exactly why Offa wanted to construct such a huge earthwork, which in places measured six meters […]
Sophie Giles, WA The Heysen Trail marker The prevalence of rock was the single constant in our recent five-day walk from the northern trail-head of the Heysen Trail in South Australia. At the end of the trek we learned about the beliefs of the local Adnyamathanha (the rock people) from Ringo Coultard at Wilpena Pound. […]
Jim Baker, WA Hadrian’s Wall is possibly the best known example of a border of the Roman Empire, which dominated what is now Europe for five centuries. The wall was built at the behest of Emperor Hadrian (AD117-138), and stretched 117 kilometres from the north-west coast of England, to Wallsend, on the banks of the […]
Katie Stevens, Perth, WA In 2018, my partner and I ended a wonderful chapter of our lives living in Melbourne and moved back to Perth to get married. The planning of this relocation, wedding and resignation led us to the realization that this may be the perfect and possibly only time that we would have […]