Showing posts with label hiking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hiking. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Via de la Plata 1/3, October 2023

Via de la Plata, October 2023.

Hola Via de la Plata, here I come. It is always a great feeling to start a new pilgrimage. Started from Seville. Had no high expectations but I was wrong. The landscape of the first third of VDLP was warying. The first week was very hot but normalized later on. I met many other interesting pilgrims and enjoyed various discussions in the evenings. After walking for 15 days and about 330 kms I ended up in Canaverall.

Click on the first picture to start.

Monday, October 31, 2022

Camino Portugues 2/2, October 2022

Camino Portugues 2/2, October 2022.

At last after two years of covid I was able to continue on the camino from Porto. Not that many pilgrims on this particular trail. Most spaniards started from Tui, Spain. The northwest of Spain is called Galicia, this region is known for being rainy which I experienced first hand. It was an interesting peregrination and I met many interesting people from different coutries. Hiked 11 days and covered 211 kilometers.

Click on the first picture to start.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Camino Portugues, October 2019

Camino Portugues, October 2019.

After having walked to all three major christian pilgrimage destinations had to ask myself: what´s next? Decided to walk towards Santiago de Compostela but this time from Lisbon. The first half was rather flat and not so crowded. After walking the Camino for 15 days and 390 kilometres I ended up in Porto. The days were mostly sunny and everything was great.

Click on the first picture to start.

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

The Lycian Way, October 2018

The Lycian Way, October 2018.

Lycia is the historical name of the Teke Peninsula which is the bump on Turkeys southwest coast between Fethye and Antalya. In ancient times there were many small towns and the region was called Lycia. But soon it was invaded by persians, greeks and romans. They have all left their marks.

My hike started from Fethiye and ended up in Geyikbayirinear Antalya. For the most part I follewed The Lycian Way which is marked, although I took some shortcuts. Walked 18 days and covered about 350 kilometeres.

Click on the first picture to start.

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Hiking in Israel, November 2017

Hiking in Israel, November 2017.

Every fall for the past seven years, I've walked different stages of an ancient pilgrimage trail. I started walking, from Great St. Bernard Pass in Switzerland, and I've now reached Israel. The pilgrimage this year took place in November to avoid high temperatures. I walked mostly my own paths but also along the Jesus Trail and part of the Israel National Trail. I Visited many biblical places, met many religions and interesting people. After 15 days of walking I ended up in Jerusalem and Via Dolorosa.

Click on the first picture to start the lightbox slideshow with commentary.

Monday, October 24, 2016

Hiking in southern Turkey and Cyprus, October 2016

This year the pilgrimage started where I left off last year, Antalya. The plan was to take a ferry from Alanya to Cyprus, but surprisingly there were no connections. Had to travel to Tosuco to catch one. I again lucked out with the weather during my trip with no rain and temperatures of between 25 and 30 degrees. The next trip in 2017 is in the Holy Land.

Click on the first picture to start the lightbox slideshow with commentary.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Hiking in Turkey, October 2015

The pilgrimage this year started from Izmir (former Smyrna) and ended in Antalya. Had no fixed waypoints other than Efesos but came across many interesting places during the walk. People I met were polite and very friendly. Often we didn't share a common language but some elderly men had worked in Germany and spoke german. All in all the journey was a very positive experience.

Click on the first picture to start the lightbox slideshow with commentary.

Friday, August 1, 2014

Hiking in Finnmarken, August 2014

Spent the first weeks of august hiking and fishing. There was no human contacs during that time. The weather was good and sunny during the whole trip. The food consisted mostly of fish and was delicious



Click on the first picture to start the lightbox slideshow with commentary.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Cammino di Assisi, October 2012

Cammino di Assisi is a relatively new pilgrimage route in central Italy. It stretches from Dovadola near Forli to Assisi near Perugia. The map we got in Dovadola was not stellar but luckily we brought a roadmap with us. The pilgrimage is about 300km and planned to last for 12 days. The pilgrimage was very good exercise because it was most of the time either uphill or downhill. We were this years last pellegrinis and all in all it was a very interesting experience.


Click on the first picture to start the lightbox slideshow with commentary.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Via Francigena terza parte

The third and final part of Via Francigena. We started from Siena where left off last march. Via Francigena roughly follows the SS2 (Strada Statale) highway, which is mostly built on the old roman Via Cassia road.

Tuscany and Lazio were the provinces we passed this time around. Again we had luck with the weather, even if it was october. Just a little rain on the last walking, there were a total of 15 walking days. Our goal was Basilica di San Pietro and Pietros tomb in the Vatican.


Click on the first picture to start the lightbox slideshow with commentary.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Hiking in Norway, August 2011

Needed some fresh air so we went hiking in Finnmarken in Norway. Nine days living rough and without human contact, food was great.

Click on the first picture to start the lightbox slideshow with commentary.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Via Francigena, stage 2/3, April 2011

Centuries old Via Francigena was calling us once again. We continued our journey from Fiorenzuola in Emilia-Romagna and ended this leg in Siena, Tuscany. There were very few pilgrims, during three weeks we only encountered four others walking this route.

The weather was on our side the whole way, blue skies and sunshine for the 375 kilometers, 15 walking days plus a couple of days as tourists in Lucca and Siena. This part was also kind of a gastronomic journey as it took us through the region of Parma and Chianti.

The last leg of the pilgrimage is planned for October 2011 and it will take us to Rome. They say all roads lead to Rome but we managed to get lost a couple of times. We didn't mind it as we took in the sights and scenery. We also took a couple of pictures as seen here below.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Via Francigena, stage 1/3, October 2010

In 58 BC Julius Caesar opened the 'Road of the Sun', the shortest route between the North Sea and Rome. This route was called 'Via Francigena' for the first time in 876 AD. The archbishop of Canterbury Sigeric wrote down the itinerary in 990 AD when he returned home from Rome. The road was used by merchants, armies and pilgrims. As a pilgrimage, this route fell out of fashion around the 17th century. In 1985 Via Francigena was retraced as described back in 990 AD by the archbishop.

The route starts in Canterbury, England but we started from Grand Saint Bernhard in Switzerland. From there it's 1020km's to Rome, on this leg we walked 360km's. The next stages are planned for march and october of 2011.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage, October 2009

The 1000 year old pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is known in English as the Way of St. James and in Galician as the Camino de Santiago. Each year, over 100,000 pilgrims from all over the world travel to Spain to walk the Camino, or part of it.

These are the pictures from the second part (Léon - Finisterra) about 410km in October 2009. Mostly good weather considering we started late in the autumn.
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Sunday, March 29, 2009

Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage, March 2009

The 1000 year old pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is known in English as the Way of St. James and in Galician as the Camino de Santiago. Each year, over 100,000 pilgrims from all over the world travel to Spain to walk the Camino, or part of it.

We walked the first half of the journey (St. Jean de Pied Port - Léon) about 470km in March 2009, during off- season. The second part, 380km, is planned for October.
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Thursday, September 11, 2008

Saint Henry's pilgrimage, September 2008

St Henry, the patron saint of Finland, was an Englishman who became appointed bishop of Uppsala in Sweden — or, according to other sources, as a missionsbishop. In 1155 he accompanied the Swedish king on a crusade to Finland and stayed on to do missionary work until he came to a violent end on ice-covered Lake Köyliö in 1156.

According to a legend his bones were first brought to Nousiainen and later in 1300 moved to the newly consecrated Turku Cathedral. In the Middle Ages the road from Köyliö to Nousiainen and further to Turku was known as St Henry's road and became a popular route for pilgrimages.
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Sunday, July 27, 2008

Hiking and fishing in Norway, July 2008

Last week in July, we made a 7 day fishing trip to Troms fylke in Norway. It wasn't Your typical summer weather. The fish did bite despite the grueling weather, but they don't grow big in the small mountain lakes compared to nearer the coastline.
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Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Riksgränsen Sweden - Norway, May 2008

Our last ski / hiking trip of the season was to Riksgränsen. Unfortunately the weather wasn't on our side with lots of rain and snow during all three days. At the same time southern Sweden enjoyed record warm and sunny weather. That's so unfair!
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Saturday, September 15, 2007

Höga kusten, September 2007

Having finished Kungsleden and Karhunkierros in past years, this autumn we decided to head across the pond to Sweden and the Höga Kusten "mountain" range. There's a map included so You can follow along.
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Friday, September 8, 2006

Karhunkierros in Lapland, September 2006

Karhunkierros (Bear's Ring) is an 80 kilometer long hiking trail in northern Finland. It took 3 days to complete, the fall weather was really nice, although it started raining on the last day.

Detailed map Hautajärvi - Ruka.
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