There is a possibility that Eco Expedition Eurasia will be done with my soon to be wife by bike.
We’ll try to visit WWOOF farms on the way, to study the different ways of farming throughout Eurasia.
I do still hope to do at least part of the Great Himalayan Trail on foot if we get there.
This plan is only for in a few years, as I am still studying at the moment.
All the best,
Harald
The site hasn’t been updated for quite a while now and that is because I’m studying at the moment.
I do plan to still go backapcking, and maybe EEE will once be done by bike.
I’ll try to update reviews and add more as my backpacking adventures go on.
– Harald
From Lindux to Egergui.
After a “good” night sleep on the hard floor of the hut (upon a thin foam mattress) I woke up, seeing Dan packing away his stuff. I hurried up and started packing everything away as well. Leaving the hut 5-10 minutes after him. To my surprise Dan was standing in front of the hut trying to figure out where to go. I took the lead and we went back down to the road we had been walking the day before.
We almost never really walked besides one another, but the one in the back always had the advantage of not having to figure out where to go. So sometimes I was in front and sometimes Dan (Dan was in front most as he just walked faster). We soon came to Col de Roncevaux and started a long ascend towards France again. During this time we followed part of the Camino to Santiago which had so many markings (2 meter high poles with a blue top) that it seamed a joke (once there where 8 only 2-3 meters from one another).
Once at the border the route followed it and I took a break leaving Dan to go on. This was the only time of the day I took some pictures.
I ate a bit and took off. As I came closer to the hill you can see in the picture I saw there where many tourists climbing up to watch an old Roman tower (at least the ruins of it, if you look good you can see it on the picture above).
The path now went to an other pass, first going down a bit and then up again. Instead of following this road I followed one of the many wild horse tracks which stayed level and was more enjoyed by me then a dirt road. After the pass it was down again and almost at the next “pass” I could see Dan standing at a sign post and the French men going towards him. I trotted on and we met each other at the sign post, the French men having gone through a tiny valley and me having gone around it.
It seamed they had some problems finding the route but soon afterwards all 3 of us hiked on towards the Col d’Orgambidé (988m). From there the HRP followed a tarmac road which ended near the Grotte d’Harpéa. There we ate near a shepherds hut and talked a bit to the grand daughter of the inhabitant. I ate my last peace of the delicious cheese I had bought the day before and after a good rest we went down towards the valley bottom where a long steep climb waited upon us. It was a more then 300m ascend which zigzagged up the steep hillside. The first corner I cut off, just walking up the steep grass slope, but only arrived there as fast as the others so followed the zigzagging path up to the Col d’Errozaté.
Once at the top after a hard climb we had a short break before following a stream bed down again. After some time the stream bed contained a stream and we took the chance to wash us in the ice cold water. My blisters had gotten bad and I putted some tape around them which made it much more bearable to walk again (the pain in my hip and knee hadn’t returned since the morning of the day before).
As we where going down again I started falling behind and as they where navigating I took the chance to close the gap between me and them, not checking if they where actually going the right way. Only half way up the next hill (about a 180m climb) I checked the guide book, seeing that they had gone up to early. I again was a 100m behind them and shouted they should go left towards the top of the hill. I took a short cut towards there and we met each other 50m before the highest point. I told them to get towards a pass between 2 rocky points of the hill top and once there we saw a road. Frustrated as I was about me following them I told them to sit down and give me the map. I was able to locate us and saw that we where totally wrong, having climbed up the wrong hill. The only thing we could do now was descent the steep side full of bracken at the other side of the mountain. Every one of us at least fell once into the bracken, trying to get down. Once more I was the slowest and they got down to the stream in the valley about 10min before me (the stream we just should’ve followed all the way down to a confluence of 3 streams instead of climbing a random mountain!).
We had lost more then 3 hours and our plan to get to Chalet Pedro (with beds! and good food) was become questionable. If we wanted to get there before 10pm we had to hurry and as I and Dan had good headlamps it seamed doable. I thought for a short moment, drank some water and decided to come with them, starting to climb stream upwards and after we had come to the confluence of streams we headed SSE onto the actual hill (the right one).
My words “Let’s stick together now” where soon forgotten and I again was dragging behind. Near the top I started feeling bad and as my lips started cracking and my tong started getting stuck in my mouth. Stupid as I was I hadn’t filtered water at the stream, not wanting to hold them up much longer as we had to decide fast. But now that mistake was soon to become a threatening situation 45min up a hill. I sat down and took my whistle, directly giving an SOS signal hoping they would react (the French men was about a 100m from me and Dan was already at the top about 200m in front).
Luckily the French men turned around and started going downwards again after a few SOS signals. After explaining the situation in French with my tong stuck in my mouth he gave half an apple as he too was running out of water, only having a tiny bit left. Once Dan had come down (without backpack) I had had a bit of water and after a fast discussion the French men (whose name I forgot) said he would go down with me again. I told Dan he could go on and hoped he would have a bed to sleep in that night.
I followed the French guy down back to the stream and as the sun was going down we reached it. He knew the mountains and knowing how serious things could get with the burning sun and dry (but cooling) wind he would set up his tent besides mine. I filtered water and lent him my water filter as he didn’t have one. Once I had set up my tent I got into, lay down and got really dizzy and sick. The plan of us eating together was soon dismissed as I couldn’t eat. I just lay there in my tent, zipped up in my small home, feeling miserable. I don’t know how long I lay there but I did fall asleep after many hours. As I woke up at 2am I fell totally fine again and ate some chocolate and nuts. I lay there thinking over all my options and how I would go on with Eco Expedition Eurasia. I lay there awake for more then 2 hours before finding sleep again.
The next morning I woke up and heard my neighbor packing his things away and leaving. I got out of my tent to greet him and took the following pictures:
A man I will be forever grateful.
And again he climbed up the hill side …
I did not, I packed up my things, took my water and followed the road towards France in search of a mobile signal.
I walked for more then an hour and then called back-up, I walked for an other hour (not one car going in the direction I was walking) and came at a coll. After having eaten a bit there and resting I walked on but soon could walk no more. I sat down against a pole in search of a bit of shadow. I always had tried to put on enough sunscreen but the tips of my ears where not more then a crust which when touched started bleeding, my hands too where burned heavily. I sat there for 50 minutes before the first car passed. The car was full and so I went to sit down again and waited some more. Luckily 10min later an other car came and they had one place left. They took me to Saint Jean Pied de Port where I had an amazing meal in one of the many restaurants. After an hour of eating and drinking (ice cold water and lemonade) I had to go on, as I had told my “back-up” I was going to hitch-hike to Pau and then call. After an other half hour of walking I had a ride to a village only 20km from Pau (from where I was this was almost a 2 hour drive). On the way towards there I got a call of Lut who told me Rico was already driving to Saint Jean Pied de Port. They weren’t able to reach me before and Rico now had to turn around and drive towards the village I was being dropped off. We came to the village almost at the same moment and 2 hours later I was at their home, ending this story.
I want to thank Rico and Lut in particularly for picking me up and having me at their home for an other 2 weeks, where we had a great time (at least I had), thanks for driving all the way out to me and then back, something I can imagine can be irritating! To do this directly after a single phone call from the Pyrenees is not worthy, Thank you very very much!
Off coarse I also want to thank the French guy, who once had a name but now will always stay the “French guy who saved me”. Merci beaucoup!
From Soalar to Lindux.
As I woke up I was greeted by a beautiful day with a beautiful view. I hadn’t forgotten the previous day and since the last evening had been thinking about how long I would stay on the trail if things went on the way they went. So I packed away my gear and went to a nearby clearing upon the hill to have breakfast and think things over.
I was going to at least walk to Les Aldudes. There I could leave the trail if I wanted to or push on to a hut near Redoute de Lindux (1220m). So off I went, soon climbing over a hill which got me better views and tiered legs. I again made a mistake, I took the wrong dirt road and instead of going around a small hill went over it. This wasn’t a major mistake and I should’ve seen that it was more of a grass road then a dirt road …
After getting back on the road I had a break and saw an other backpacker coming closer (the first HRP backpacker I met going the same route and direction as me). His name was Dan and he was from New York. This definitely raised my spirit, having some company to walk with and we joined forces climbing up the Burga (872m). By 2pm we where in Les Aldudes and had a meal in a small restaurant. For €4,50 I had a great paela and joined with something cool to drink I was ready to walk on to the hut near Lindux which was an other 5 hours walking.
The next 2 hours are a nice walk up a rocky slope, over hills and through forests. The 2 hours that followed them where 2 hours of following tarmac roads with cars buzzing by now and then, this surely wasn’t fun but the walking did go quite fast. By 6 or 7pm we had reached the Redoute de Lindux but before climbing it I bought some local cheese from the shepherd himself and started the climb to the top where the American already was eating his dinner. Just in front of me a French guy was climbing up as well a person who I would be walking with the next day.
Once at the top there was a cold harsh wind and it was hard to keep warm. Me and Dan sat there for a while talking about why people do such long distance trails, etc. He had already done the Apalachian trail and said I’d taken a hard one as my first (the HRP). As the sun started to go under we headed down and towards the hut (which I could only find because I had seen it from the top).
Once at the hut I was able to wash my socks again, treat my feet (which started having blisters) and start a fire. The rest of the evening was spend writing down my journal, cutting of parts of my map and reading the guide besides the fire. When brushing my tooth this was the amazing view i had:
During the night I also went out once and saw the most amazing sky, full of stars and the milky way.
From Col d’Esquisaroy to a hill close to Soalar (827m).
As I woke up the first thing I felt was the faint pain in my knees and hip. After almost 12 hours of rest I could still feel the pain, this wasn’t a good sign. Nonetheless I started packing away my tent and other things and had breakfast.
Once everything was packed away the daily ritual of walking started again.
Looking at the map and the “walking time” in the guide I planned to walk to Les Aldudes in France, it would be 8 hours of walking which I felt wouldn’t overdo my knees and hip. I trotted along the trail, all on my own and at noon I halted to take this panorama picture (from Col Bagacheta I think):
It was a strange thing to look back at all the hills I had walked over but it felled good and the pain in my knees was almost gone. So after shooing away a wild horse that came threatening close and sitting down for an other minute I putted on my backpack and started hiking again.
As I had gotten over the last hill before Arizkun the guide book said to go right, I looked right and then looked at the book once more to check if I had read it right. Well, right it said so there I went. After about 20 meters I looked in the guide again, there still was written “turn right near a barn”. This just couldn’t be true, it was as if this road was going back the way I came, so I turned around and went downhill once again.
Just 15 minutes later I passed a graveyard which was in the guide and I knew I was on the right trail and that the book seemingly couldn’t always be trusted. Some time later I was in Arizkun and took a break at the church where I had another meal of bread cheese and sausage.
At the church in Arizkun.
After a good meal I headed towards the outskirts of the village and read “Turn right and follow a small concrete road (white-yellow markings).” Okay, this was a tough one, the white-yellow markings where going straight ahead and there was a car parked in front of a small road heading right. Well, it seamed I hadn’t gotten far enough? I followed the yellow-white markings and suspected to find a road going right any moment. But as I read on there was “a dirt road on your right and a house on your left”, it said to ignore the dirt road and walk on. Had Ton Joosten (the writer of the guide) made the same mistake again, saying right instead of left!?
I walked on upon the concrete road which Ton said was a shortcut but less nice than following the next dirt road up. After about half an hour (or more) walking on the concrete road I ended up in another village! This surely wasn’t right. I suspected him to have made a mistake about the shortcut so turned around and took the next dirt road left assured I would end up on the dirt road he had mentioned (as the more beautiful way to go). I walked on, trying to navigate by the bad map in the book (stupid of me I hadn’t brought a better one). To round up this story this is what happened in short: I ended up at a field full of cows, climbed multiple fences with my heavy backpack, got into a forest where I called my parents (just to hear their voices in this stressing situation I got myself in), bashed through the forest, came upon an other field and went up to the farm where the farmer and his family where looking at me with questioning eyes.
Luckily they weren’t angry and I tried to communicate with them which went quite well, me speaking French and they Spanish. They didn’t know of a path leading to Les Aldudes and advised me to go the other way around over the road. Well, I wasn’t giving up that fast but nonetheless had to go down there “driveway”. Once I did that I couldn’t believe my eyes, after 2 hours of “walking” I was on the same road again, the one with the yellow-white markings. I went back to Arizkun and started up the road to the right which had looked like a driveway but now looked as the only way that could be right. Off coarse it was right and after having lost more than 2 hours I was back on track in a mental state which wasn’t healthy. Les Aldudes was 5 hours away and there was no way I was going to make it there by evening. I trotted along, slowly and tired. A few hours later I stopped on the best place I could find and got up my tent.
The goats where really curious about the visitor they had and I was glad with their company. I was even more fond of the next meal of noodles but it was all a bit darkened by the bad day I had had, the painful hip and also literally by the dark clouds hanging around a hill top close by.
If there was coming a storm I still had a backup plan:
From Col d’Ibardin to Col d’Esquisaroy.
After a good breakfast and packing up my tent at the camping my parents got me back up to the Col d’Ibardin. It was 11 O’clock and we went down on the Spanish side taking a tarmac road to the left after about 50m. At the end of the tarmac road I said farewell to my parents and walked behind an English couple which where doing their own version of the HRP sleeping in a bed every night. We said farewell at the beginning of the climb up to La Rhune (900m) as they weren’t going up there but down into the valley.
It was a tough climb of 530 meters ascend but none the less it was worth it. Just before the top, somewhat out of the wind I had a good meal of bread, sausage and a beautiful view.
Once at the top I could see that there was a tourist train going all the way up here, which explained all the people walking around. It was great to see the sea and the hills that lay ahead.
The rest of the day was spend walking up and down many hills and cols, seeing more vultures then people. There where about ten circling around me at a distance of about 20m. The HRP guide said to walk on if this happens but I wanted to change to my tele-lens so I could take some pictures and once at a big rock I took the opportunity. Shortly afterwards they flew off.
By the end of the day both my right knee (the one without a knee support) started hurting and my hip too started feeling some pain from my hipbelt. I got my buff to function as knee support/bandage and tried fitting my backpack differently. By 8pm I had found the perfect place to camp with running “tap water” and some tables and benches, but most importantly a good grass patch to set up my tent and a good view.
After washing my socks, myself and my T-shirt I set up my tent and started cooking some noodles which where eaten as the sun was going down at the horizon.
During the first day of hiking I first went by car from Préchac-sur-Adour to Hendaye. Once arrived at the coast I had a nice meal with my parents in the Residence Croisière building at which the Hautes Routes Pyrenees begins.
Walking out of the Atlantic sea to start walking.
By 4 O’clock the plan was to leave to the village Biriatou where my parents would meet me with my backpack. While I was walking they would go swimming and buy a gas cylinder for my gas burner (which only arrived the morning I left Belgium). So I started walking, with Ton Joosten’s guide-book in my pocket, following the red-white marks of the GR10 through the city. Once at the bay I went to the other side of the road to walk past the water, knowing by the map in the book that the route only went left by the end of the road. As I arrived at the place where I thought I had to go left there where no red-white markings to be found and as I thought I would find them shortly I started navigating by the small map which after 15 minutes just didn’t seem to make sence. After about 40 minutes of zigzagging in the direction I thought I would find the GR10 I got the genius idea to take out my mobile phone and check the GPS for where I was. I was just gonna walk to the N10 road which at least was on the guide-book map but luckily after about 50 meters I was once again upon the GR10, probably only having lost 10 minutes in the process of zigzagging.
The road now leaded out of the city and in to the Pyrenean hills. To make up for the 10 minutes I ran some flat parts which got me right on schedule at the N10. The walking went good and some time later I arrived at the village Biriatou and walked to the church where I called my parents. It seamed they couldn’t find gas cylinders for my gas burner as the shops only sold Camping Gaz gas cylinders and as I needed a burner they also bought a Camping Gaz burner.
As they where still some way of the new plan was I would walk on for an other 2 hours to the Col d’ Ibardin, so I would have double the time of walking without a backpack. The route now went up to the 374m high Col d’ Osin between pastures and forests, along dirt roads and paths. I could see for miles over the Atlantic sea and the never ending French coast in Northern direction as I went up and down towards the Col d’ Ibardin, halfway between both cols I passed the 573m high Mandalé hill at my right, passing several grazing horses. At 8 O’clock I arrived at the Col d’ Ibardin after a steep rocky decent.
As it was already getting late I went down with my parents to a camping to spend the night. Walking around there I could feel a faint pain in my left knee so decided to wear the knee brace I had brought for this occasion and afterwards didn’t feel any pain anymore.
After setting up my tent and tugging in to the sleepingbag day one had gone over nicely.
It’s almost 8 O’clock in the morning and the sky is somewhat overcast and I like it! Yesterday it was 37°C and I was lucky to spend most of the day in a car with air-conditioning, but non the less I felt the heat during noon while visiting Oradour-sur-glane (a village which people were murdered and its houses burned down during the last days of the second world war).
How today looks like:
I woke up at 7 to put on my swimming shorts and jump in the swimming pool as the first rays of sun light hitted me from behind. It are great people with whom I’m staying and I’m somewhat unhappy having planned to leave by noon, but I also want to go walk in the mountains and somewhat stick to my schedule.
This evening I hope to sleep upon one of the Basque hills, the beginnings of the Pyrenees. I’ll start walking from Hendaye at the French-Spanish border to hopefully get to the Mediterranean in some 20-25 days.
Wish me luck!
Harald
Well, not today but tomorrow EEE starts. I’ve been looking out to this date for 3 years and I’m real excited!
During the last week I packed my gear, bought the last few things, threw some things out and packed again. I hope this may be the beginning of a life changing journey, a journey to never forget (in a good way).
First I’ll be hitch-hiking to Hendaye at the Pyrenees, to walk the HRP to the Mediterranean. After this I’ll hitch-hike to Portugal to the most Western point of Eurasia. From their I’ll go to the Alps. This is the first part of my expedition and will test my skills and strength.
You can follow me on this map where you’ll be able to see the places I sleep: FindMeSpot
Yesterday was my last day of work and now there’s only a week left before departing.
Today I’m trying out a film project to see if it’s possible to make a movie of my trip. Besides this I started putting all my gear out to pack it away in boxes what I’ll need when. This is because some gear I’ll only need in the Himalayas and other gear is for in Myanmar, Thailand, etc.
This picture has a ThingLink plugin which doesn’t work on this site, if you want to see the picture with captations of what gear you can see, then go HERE.
On the picture my water filter is missing as it’s drying just behind me and some other gear like the camera with which the picture is taken is off coarse also not on the picture.
I’ll be updating the blog frequently this week as my departure is coming closer and closer.
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