Pictures

 Click to see the album

During the trip I have spent quite some time taking pictures. Walking on the track this was an excellent way to give myself some rest. Looking at the pictures once I got home was a bit disappointing as reality or better the experience I have of the reality is that much more exciting that the photographs. But anyway going thru the pictures allows me to look back and remember the good times on had. For those who will travel this road, it will give an idea of what is coming. But what they will see will even be better.

Status AMAR sponsor initiative: Almost arrived!

102 Euro cent per Kilometer.

Total sponsor amount received is 2245 Euro. 45 Euro on top of the initial objective!


2413 kilometer have been walked this is also above the estimated 2200 km.

Thanks a lot for all the people who sponsored, it has kept me going!


More info on AMAR and how to sponsor.

Minister Magnette on a recent visit to the project in Rio

Some statiscs

After some fix and repair actions on the data from my GPS it is possible to provide some statics on my trip.

For six days I had no altitude figures due to the problems with the GPS  unit, for these days I used an estimate. The distance is traveled by foot, but here and there, I made some local walks, and these are included.

• Number of days walked: 93
• Number of days not walked: 7
  
• Kilometers walked: 2.413
• Average distance walked per day: 25,9
• Hours walked (excl rests): 591 or 6h24min average per day
  Average walking speed: 4,1 km/h
• Hours on the way: 922 or 9h54min average per day
• Total vertical meters ascent: 65.103 meters
• Average ascent gradiënt: 5,4% 

 

6 July to 20 July, Homeward bound

After Trier it's just a few kilometers to cross the border with Luxembourg in Rallingen. At this point a join the GR5 that follows the German-Luxembourg Felsenweg. Here I am passing through a very special piece of nature. The first day I stop at Echternach. For the last month I will enjoy the company of family and friends bringing me step by step closer to home. The GR in Luxembourg continues as a wonderful path through villages as Diekirch, Beaufort and Witz. The walking  roads in Luxembourg are well marked, which makes it easy walking. We cross the Belgian border on a small road near Houfalize. From there we will follow the river Ourthe in the Ardennes before we cross the Meuse in Huy. We reach the Flanders region in Hoegaarden, the location where my forefathers lived in the 17^th and 18^th century before they came to Antwerp. It’s fun to walk the same roads between Hoegaarden and Leuven as they did some 200 years ago.  Before arriving in Antwerp I have my last stop in Nijlen where a son of me lives. My wife, some of my children and my grandchildren are joining as well, and it is here that I can see for the first time my 3 new born grandchildren. The greatest wonder I encountered on my journey. 

Arriving in Antwerp is a like the last stage in the Tour the France, feeling light and relaxed through the well-known streets now that the battle is over with all the memories of a most remarkable journey.

In the Central Station, the Antwerp Cathedral of the traveller, my family, some journalists and the mayor of Edegem are awaiting me and offer a beer of Edegem that has been introduced while I was away. After a most enjoyable reception in the station hall we take the city bus home to conclude this part of the story.

2 - 4 July At Trier, crossroad of Roman roads

Yesterday, I arrived at Trier, the Roman Capital of the Nord with his impressive Porta Nigra. My wife is joining me for a city trip of a day and a half, before a start with the last section Luxembourg and Belgium. During the last 2 weeks I will have some company from my Sons an a Friends. Some 1800 km have been gone, and some 400 are still ahead.
Good news from the AMAR front, we passed the 2000 Euro, some 10 more sponsors and we reached the objective of 1 Euro for each kilometer. I´m curious who will reach first his objective the sponsors or I arriving in Antwerp.
During the last days I had to deal with some rain, which doesn´t bother me a lot, it is like it is. But what was more annoying was the fact that my GPS didn´t function correct anymore. As my road map was on the GPS and I used it to inform me about current height, the map and direction to go, I had a problem! So I had to fall back on a bike and trail map that I did bought at the youth hostel and in a tourist office, with the help of my manual compass. But this showed me the Saar - Hundsruck - Steig trail, a very nice trail that goes from Nonnweiler to Trier, through the land of Celts, Germans and the Roman history.

16 Jun - 1 July Germany and France

After crossing the Rhein, the Alps are over but not the climbing. The first day it was up again from 310m to over 1000 meters, with an etappe of over 40km on a hot day, I was nearly out on my first day in the Black-Forest. But I keep a good memory of the view of the Alps, like a wall of Mountains. After this first day a made some shorter days to recover from the Swiss adventure. It took me six more days, with the help of my brother in law and his daughter to walk through the black forest till I reached Bhül where I crossed the Rhein again. This part of Germany was new to me, but every day changing terrain and with splendid panoramas on the Voges and the Black-Forest range. Before getting back to Germany in Saarland I had a few days in the Northern Voges with their typical villages and Red stone rock formations and castles, here I was again alone in the Forest opposed to the Black Forest where a lot of people are travelling with or without backpack. Now I have a few more days before I arrive in Trier, where I will spent a day with my wife Chris, before the last phase Luxembourgh and Belgium can take off. Hoping to arrive in Antwerp on 20 July.

Hasemann hutte in the Black Forest