On the treshold of a dream

rofflaschlucht

How a few sentences in a novel can let you walk some thousand kilometers! Fifteen years ago I read in a book about the Flemish painter Breughel the description of the emotion Pieter experienced when he crossed the Alps and pulls him in a new world  'Southern Europe'. In Italy I came across many years and recognized  how this country feels so different than Western Europe north of the Alps. I suspected that travel through the region with the Alps as gateway between the two areas could provide a very specific experience. What was fully confirmed during a bike ride through the Ardennes in 2003, Jura, Rhone valley, Queyras, Piedmont, Ligure, Tuscany to Umbria. 21 Days the morning on the bike for a ride that ended in the late afternoon, as a film that is happening for me and at no time was bored.
Then the idea grew that it even slower it would be more intense. A hike as a logical consequence. The same way it would not be. After the French side was the Black Forest is a nice alternative. For the crossing of the Alps, I looked at mountain passes away from traffic and snow obstacles. This made me choose the Kunkels, Safen and Splügen passes. In Italy he GEA or Escursione Appenninica Grande, a 400 km long trail along the ridge of the Apennines between Tuscany and Emilia Romagna to the erremo of La Verna. From this place I can continue the paths that Francis used to follow until Rome. A journey more difficult to organize since the 21 cycling days end up by hundred days if you do it by foot. By bike you ride without many problems about 20 km further to find shelter for the night, not so if you walk in the sparsely populated areas I will cross on my route. You do not need that many roads maps to show you the small little roads suitable for cycling, but the small scall maps to carry backpack is another matter. It was quickly clear that I should make the trip twice. The first virtual tour, a year was needed to find maps and to draw me a trail that could lead me to Rome. Unlike de Compostela routes where you can fall back on a network of refuges and guides you have to find almost everything yourself, at least if you are not traveling the via Fracigena that is about building up this network. Now the first virtual journey nears its end can be started the actual hike: the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
The end of my professional job was to read over time, as the turning point for the action to proceed. Given the nature of that career outside the home, this is a bit like coming home. One of the reasons why it was chosen for the direction Rome - Antwerp.

Time to consolidate the plan

It has taken months to go from the original idea to a route plan that’s feasible but still invites me to be changed. For example, following the discovery of a fascinating place not far from the path that has been chosen, a tip from a colleague or yet another late night session 'staring at the map and zooming into Google Earth’. A few days ago I reinvented the route through the Po Plain, I changed the passage in the Alps north of Bergamo and I know I can go on with this kind of updates for years.
Meanwhile, agreements are made with friends who offer to walk with me for some days. Something like that is accepted, meeting friends in the beautiful garden that we call Western Europe, it is something not to miss! But my companions have to organize leave, we need to point out a location where we can meet and the way how my fellows can get back home has to be considered.
All this based on a plan built on the necessary assumptions, sometimes made with maps drawn many years ago and for a number of stages never tested against reality. Moreover, the question arises whether the physical requirement that my dream plan  implies is aligned with the capacities of a non athletic person 58 years old.
But No risk - No fun ... I’ve put it all together: Way-points, hights and valleys, distances one can walk in one day, sleeping facilities, public transport, buffer days, and so on. Eventually I got over something on paper, realistic? I can tell within a few months hopefully. Once concrete agreements with third parties are made ​​I will have to stick to main constraints. Anyhow it will be adopted ... For those who already experienced trekking’s in the mountains will understand what is meant by the statement: Finally it is the mountain who decides.

Click here for day stages Rome - Antwerp 

A home for the night

A question often asked is: "Where do you sleep at night?”  Food and sleep two basic needs that we all need to survive. My standard answer on this question is: "This will be a different story every day, depending on what the offer is." In contrast to the Compostela road, or at least for the part on Spanish soil, there is no extensive network of shelters at day march distance.
Along the via Francigena there is a less developed network of locations to stay overnight which are documented. For the trajectory Cisa Passo del to Piacenza I am very grateful to use it.

Between Rome and Chiusi della Verna its abbeys and hermitages (eremo) are not uncommon. To provide a bed for the night is a tradition that still lives on. When plotting the path I have taken into account youth hostels. They cannot be found everywhere but they provide excellent facilities at a reasonable price and allow you to make contact with companions that are also on their way.

The GEA route and the Alps are scattered refuges and bivouacs. The details of prices availability and location can be found on the CAI website for Italy and the Swiss site Wanderland.
In Germany, the E1 through the black forest (West way) at regular intervals Wanderheime of the Schwarzwaldverein are situated.
In Wallonia the list: Gilberts list handy. This annually updated list gives shelter to a low price, indicating the GR route passing by.

Problem when fixing a location where you plan to spend the night is that they must correspond to the day stages. The length of a day stage depends on the actual distance, total ascent and descent in meters, and also to the efforts to be made of the day (s) previously or subsequently. All this you can only estimate the spot, so you must be prepared to adopt your plan from time to time.
I take a single-person tent with me, so I do not have to worry if there is nothing in the nearby stage when the day comes to its end. This means an extra 3.5 kg in my backpack for the tent, sleeping bag and mat. Alternative to the tent is the knock at a local farmer for a place in the hay, a system that in a previous cycle trip to the Basque country work well. The tent should also help reduce costs, because especially in Italy and Switzerland, if you walk alone you easily pay between 50 and 60 € for a bed and breakfast.

References:

CAI in Italy 

Via Francigena in Italy 

Hiking in Switzerland 

Schwartzwaldverein 

Gilbert's list for Belgium 

The route as been planned at this moment

A journey from Rome to my hometown in progress

Edegem, April 2011.

One year from now I hope to leave Rome for a journey on foot to the north. The idea slumbers for quite a while, no one know where it came from. The shape, the outlines on the map, the fit with the seasons, has been considered. The Why? This will be explained because it is a question that will be raised by many. But it is not the explanation that lies at the origin of this quest. Rather it’s a hard to define impulse that is not to resists. 

With this kind of undertaking it is the road not his starting or end point that is important. Whatever path to follow, begin and end point are already fixed. The Pantheon in Rome, home of all gods, will be my departure point and I hope to arrive at the railroad station in Antwerp, cathedral of all voyagers.

Zoom in on the Pantheon in Rome

Discover the Antwerp central station (Middenstatie)