This summer, we trekked over 500 miles on four different long distance hikes in Europe: the Camino Portugues in Portugal / Spain; the GR53 in France; the Lechweg in Germany / Austria; and the Swiss Alpine Pass Route in Liechtenstein / Switzerland. Even though we have now trekked over 3,000 miles in the past six years, I am always learning new things while hiking. So I wanted to share the twelve things I discovered this summer while on our Trekking the Planet Europe journey.
1. Guide Books and Blog Research are Necessary
Whenever we embark on a new trek, whether it be a day hike or a multiple day adventure, we try to research the trail so that we have no surprises. Being an international trip, we had some challenges in finding English language materials. For three out of the four treks we were able to purchase Kindle guidebooks, which greatly helped with both our planning beforehand and for reference while on the road. But I found that also searching blogs of other hikers was useful. It helped to read accounts of day to day hikes from real people, which served to further align our expectations.
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| Camino Portugues Book | GR53 Book | Swiss Alpine Pass Route Book |
(Click the cover above to learn more about a guidebook)
2. Learning Some of the Language Helps
Before we left on this journey, we divided up the major languages we would be encountering to try to learn some survival words and phrases. I took Spanish and German and Darren took French. Because we were away from touristy areas during much of our hiking, our language preparation did help us while checking into hotels and ordering at restaurants.
While we were by no means fluent, it made us more comfortable to know some words. When all else failed, we could use Google Translate to “converse.” Our hosts seemed to appreciate our efforts as well.
3. Trekking Stages are Just a Guide
European hikes tend to use hours (not including any breaks) for hiking durations, rather than quoting mileage. This took some getting used to, as we weren’t sure how close our actual daily results would be. When planning, I was careful not to schedule a hiking day greater than an eight hour estimate, just in case our performance varied wildly. This meant that some stages (especially on the Swiss Alpine Pass Route) were stretched out over multiple days.
On our first three treks we were able to generally beat the durations listed, so there weren’t any issues with time. The Swiss Alpine Pass Route was another story: because of the steep ascents and descents on many of the days, we varied from the trail estimates. This was most evident on the downhill sections. One estimated eight hour day, with over 5,000 feet of elevation loss, turned into almost 10 hours for us. Once we understood that, we could factor it into our other long downhill days, making sure that we got an early start.
4. Have a Way to Follow the Path
When researching the four treks we planned to take, I got the impression that each trail was pretty well marked. However, because of potential language issues, we needed to have a way to determine that we were on track. We didn’t want to carry paper maps because of the weight, so I made sure we could access the electronic (gpx) files, which contained the route of each of the hikes. And we were glad that we did.
On each of our treks we ended up using the downloaded gpx files on our phones to ensure that we were on track. We spoke to other hikers who missed a turn occasionally and lost time getting back on the trail. The app we used on our phones (OSM) uses no data, so we didn’t have to worry about international charges.
Nevertheless, there were some detours posted where we had to wing it with our limited language skills. We even came across a closed trail on the GR53 with no alternate way posted. Having our phone app helped us determine where another path would be rejoining the actual trail, making us more comfortable in venturing down an alternative route.
5. Load up on Breakfast
When we booked our journey accommodations, we looked for places that offered free breakfast. That meant that almost every night of our trekking stays included a buffet breakfast in the morning. Even though we are not big breakfast eaters, Darren and I made it a point to load up on food, eating as much as we could, before beginning our hiking day.
The breakfasts we had consisted of coffee, bread, meat, cheese, yogurt, juice, and perhaps eggs. Sometimes I felt that I was literally forcing food down my throat as I ate. But there were two important benefits to our approach: first, we had much more energy during the beginning of our hiking day, allowing us to power through the miles and any climbing that we had; and second, we saved money (and weight) by not having to purchase (and carry) as many snacks.
Many places we stayed featured freshly baked bread, along with local meat and cheese from a “neighboring farm.”
Even with all the food we ate, we both ended up losing weight during our trip.
6. The Trails are Steep!
We are fortunate in the United States to have many paths that utilize switchbacks to climb and descend steep trail sections. That is not necessarily the case in other parts of the world. We were well aware of that from our prior trekking experience. However, on each of our four hikes this summer, we encountered trail sections that literally went straight up (or down). For example, because we averaged over 3,000 feet of elevation gain and loss each day on the Swiss Alpine Pass Route, we had many extreme trail sections to hike.
When there were times that the trail included switchbacks, we quietly celebrated it, as walking straight up or down was not enjoyable. I’m not sure we ever got used to it. The only positive thing about the steepness was that it probably shortened our daily mileage. Of the 45 days that we hiked in Europe, we only had a handful of stages that were over 15 miles long.
7. Adjustable Poles are Invaluable
Trekking poles have been part of our hiking equipment for many years. But I don’t think we have relied on them as much as on this latest journey. On the Camino Portugues we only used poles one day out of the 12 that we hiked. But we definitely needed them on the other three treks. They were especially crucial on the steep ascents and descents.
One change I made on this trip was to adjust my pole length, depending on the trail conditions. Generally. I have my poles adjusted to 115 centimeters (cm). I found if I lengthened them just a little bit, to 120 cm, I could move a little faster on a downhill section. Adjusting them further still, to 125 cm, on the really steep descents made me feel more stable in picking my way down the trail. Since I am slower on the straight downhill sections, any speed improvement helped.
8. Good Footwear Traction is Important
Prior to hiking 1,800 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail in 2016, we wore hiking boots. For that trek we moved to trail running shoes and have worn them ever since. Our Trekking the Planet Europe journey this summer was no different. However, we switched from Solomon to Hoka shoes this year and have been pleased with the results.
One benefit of the Hoka shoes is that they have Vibram soles, which we found to grip extremely well on rocky and muddy trails. With all the hiking we did this summer, we had very few slips and neither one of us fell, which really sold us on the value of the shoes.
9. Weather Can Change Very Quickly
Since we live in California, we are not used to quick changes in the weather. I tried to read up on weather conditions before leaving, especially on our mountain treks in Austria and Switzerland. But we were still surprised on how fast the weather could take a turn for the worse. In a matter of just a few minutes we could see sunny skies change to dark clouds before rain (or even hail!) came our way.
While we generally had dry weather, we encountered rainy conditions at some time during all four of our treks. We also had to get off the trail and wait out thunder (and lightning) on three different occasions. Each time it was stressful for us, and we tried to error on the side of caution. This led us to make a difficult decision to skip ahead a stage and forego nine miles of our hike across Switzerland.
In each case of rainy weather hiking, our rain jackets and pants came in handy. While wearing them, I was actually comfortable continuing to hike in the somewhat miserable conditions.
10. Going Light is Beneficial
After our experience trekking the PCT with backpack weight as high as 50 pounds (when fully loaded up with food and water), we vowed to hike with lighter packs going forward. Our goal on this journey was to have a base weight (before food and water) of about 15 pounds, along with backpacks that worked in town as well as on the trail. The lighter weight made a huge difference in our speed and stamina on each of our four treks.
Contributing to our reduced weight was the fact that we did not have to carry a stove, tent, sleeping bag, or tent. And we did have to make some hard decisions about the amount of clothing we could bring for such a long trip. But based on our experiences this summer, we will try to carry our lighter approach over to future full backpacking trips to keep our weight as low as possible there as well.
11. Grocery Stores are Not Just for Lunch
While trekking we generally ate picnic lunches. We found that carrying food gave us flexibility on when and where to take a break.
This meant that we went grocery shopping almost every day, as we didn’t want to carry more food than we needed.
In general, we found stores in almost every town where we spent the night. We even ventured to a farmers market here and there. And the store prices were good, saving us money overall. Generally, we ate bread, meat, cheese, fruit, and some vegetables, also allowing us to better control our diet.
One discovery we made on this trip was the usefulness of buying dinner at the grocery store as well. This arose from the high restaurant prices in Austria and Switzerland, and our desire to “take it easy” at night by having a quiet dinner on the balcony of our room. In some cases, we even lucked out by finding food that was 50% off. Coupled with a bottle of local wine, we had the perfect meal!
We still had our share of great dinners at restaurants and were able to sample the regional food in Portugal, Spain, France, Austria, and Switzerland. But, because we didn’t eat out every night, those times we went to a restaurant became more of a special occasion for us.
12. Rest Days are Crucial
When we hiked PCT in 2016, we only took eight rest days in 4 1/2 months. This time we wanted to enjoy ourselves and ensure that we didn’t overdue things, so we chose to take rest days about every 80 miles. Since two of our treks (GR53 and Lechweg) were less than 80 miles, we completed the six days on each without a break.
On the Camino Portugues, we scheduled our rest day right after we crossed into Spain, after completing six days and 79 miles. We were pretty beat up by then, after hiking on cobblestones, getting a few blisters, and tiring of the heat and humidity. When we began our final six day section of hiking in Spain, we were amazed how refreshed we felt after the day off.
During the Swiss Alpine Pass Route we took two rest days: one after the first 77 miles (over six days) and the second after about 90 miles (over 10 shorter days). Again, having the time off contributed positively to our overall trekking stamina. I would definitely carry this discovery over to future treks that we take.
On our rest days we also had time to explore places we might not have seen otherwise. We happened to be taking a rest day in Kandersteg, Switzerland, during their Alphorn Days. A group literally performed (in the rain) right outside of our hotel. Take a look below.
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