More kilometers

Preparing for a long walk (I mean a looong walk, like 2400 k) is not just about walking. After my first test walks to Trollhättan, a mere 10 k each, two weeks ago I biked 20 k in the cold (buyng food at WiLLY:S http://www.willys.se/  and back) and then came some snow ten days ago and I could ski some 10 k on Hunneberg http://www.algensberg.com/  known for its many elks, however I did not see any that day. During the week I finally manage to walk a full 20 k* - just my hands and fingers got really really cold**.  Last Sunday and tonight I have done some swimming 750 and 500 m. Altogether, I hope this will contribute to a better fitness i.e. a better body&soul.

*The river offered very nice colours.
**Some pain in my right foot arouse after two days - it will trigger me to study the anatomy of the feet and legs. They are, indisputeably, very important.

Test walk no.2 today Vänersborg to Trollhättan

Before 2 p.m. today I managed to find my walking sticks and get going the same 10 k as last Monday. The wet and stormy weather with westerly winds of Wednesday had changed to northen rather cold ones which meant however that I had the wind in my back. Today I used rather the same amount of time as last Monday 2:20 including a banana bite intermission at Överby shopping mall. Just in time for a bus back I decided to walk along the canal toStrandgatans Bistro for a cup of hot tea and a blueberry muffin taking returning by a later bus. No sun today but the same plain and gloomy day as those prevailing from late December (solstice). Here, in south Sweden, still two thirds is dark and only one third i.e. eight hours is light.

Walking model

2400 k is some undertaking even not regarding my age (67+). Why not bike? Or just use the ordinary public transport facilities of trains and buses? Well, have you once travelled 10000 k Sweden to Turkey (Bodrum) and back by car, you can certainly imaging how much of experiences you missed. People, places and smells - the small things. Thus, the road is the goal. Of course, it cannot be executed in one long walk but rather divided into more comfortable stages or legs. My friend Björn's experience with his walk from far south to the far north of Sweden tells me to manage a couple days of walking at a time. As it looks now, my intention is to walk 20 k per day or 10 k in the morning and 10 k in the afternoon, as simple as that. Starting, say, a Thursday walking also Friday, relaxing Saturday and Sunday, and advancing another 20 + 20 k on Monday and Tuesday making 80 k in total within a week including arrival and departure on Wednesdays. Each stage will be open to walking friends, one or two at a time, the exact stretch of each stage to be jointly determined beforehand. My physical condition will determine how many stages to be manageable per year. If three (spring, summer, autumn) it will take at least ten years to cover my plan (2400:3x80=10 years) but perhaps it will be possible to do four per year and/or walking two consecutive weeks once a year - (2400:5x80=6 years)? Any ethic principles? All k must be walked! Or is a ride offered by a local on his/her tractor or in a truck allowed in bad weather? Or a bus to get out of towns a bit? The second test walk will take place in Skåne in April between Malmö and Ystad some 55 k straight and some 75 k through the historical farmland of my father's family near Trelleborg. The first stage on the continent (if no fog to speak with the Brits) will start end of June or early July in Gdynia (> Coat of arms above). Open for discussion.
Packing. What about packing? A minimum of weight is priority no. 1. Food and shelter should be purchased on site. Hardly any extra or any 'spare parts'. Extra clothes (dry) yes. Extra shoes? Mobile phone yes. Laptop or Ipad or neither? Water bottle yes. Open for discussion.

A desk operation

WWII was not won by desk operations but by officers and soldiers operating in the air, on the sea and the beaches and in the fields. Even so, desk operations are crucial to determine the situation and the objectives not to mention the strategies and tactics. Now, I should not draw too much a parallel on my long walk to Greece with WWII but just to emphasise the importance of good planning and preparations. And I think, I'd better choose my route now than at daybreak embarking a ferry in Gdynia harbour some warm day in June or July. So, for planning: i) main route ii) walking model iii) packing iv) physical preparation. Let's start with the main route. Too straight seems to me not of enough interest. Even though it is said that you should rather choose what is attractive than refrain from the not attractive, I would prefer exploring the western Ukraine countryside and hills and still be able to visit the multi-cultural city of Lvov/L'viv/Lemberg after Polish Lublin, both cities of attraction. This means no Slovakia, no Hungary and for sure no Serbia or Macedonia. On the other hand an even more eastern route, say, via Tjernivtsi (Chernowitz) or Moldovian Chisinau may increase the distance far beyond my time line. From L'viv then more southwest through Romanian but Hungarian influenced Arad and Timisoara touching Donau at Turnu-Severin, an exciting focal point of great historical interest. Well, the last stages may remain open.

2400 k - less or more?

How did my idea originate? Walking from Sweden to Greece, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean? Well, there were some core factors: my interest in maps, in the cradle of 'western civilisation' and in the historical secrets of the century long disputed areas of land - of nature and culture - in Eastern Europe closed for decades by the Cold war and the Iron curtain. A simple ruler placed on Gdynia (PL) and Thessaloniki (GR) indicates a mere 1500 k as the bird flies across the continent (Sweden being just the test site for the project). But sure, I will not fly like a bird across the Polish fields. I don't even know what main route I will choose: (A) via Ukraine, and possibly Moldovia, into (eastern) Romania and through Bulgaria or (B) via Slovakia and Hungary into (western) Romania and through Bulgaria. After some computing any of those routes shows a minimum of 2000-2400 k. In my next chapter, I will elaborate a bit on my model for conquering that somehow impressive walking distance - 'a desk operation' i.e.

Test walk no. 1 yesterday Vänersborg to Trollhättan

Finally, after five years of pending, yesterday was the perfect start of my long move to the (warmer and more sunny) Mediterranean. The walk from home across the locks at Brinkebergskulle (lit. Slopingmountainhill) and along the Göta älv moving average 700 kubic metres of water from Lake Vänern per second but this winter probably up to 1 000 kubic metres are let through at Vargön. If my step meter showed correctly the distance yesterday of this very first stage of my 2400 k walk to Greece was 10 k i.e. a very small portion but nevertheless, one has to get going somehow. (The meter stopped at 14 347 steps and probably each of my steps were longere than 2/3 of a meter.) At this time of the year, starting at 2 p.m. it was already dark when I faced the new double track train bridge* at Trollhättan at 4:30 p.m. offering this spooky picture.  *the train bridge is open to ships on the Göta älv/canal when in up-lifted position like the Tower Bridge in London.