Next Adventure: The European Peace Walk 2015

In a few weeks I will embark on another walking adventure and I couldn’t be more terrified excited!

I’ll be walking the European Peace Walk (EPW), a walk that transits six Central European countries that were heavily affected by both World Wars: Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia and Italy.  I’ve never been to any of these countries!

Walking along the borders of countries means I’ll be crossing a border over 25 times in the  24-day, 560 kilometer (347 mile) walk. Inspired by the Camino de Santiago, the trail is in it’s second year and while technically it’s organized, because it’s new, there will certainly be kinks, thus making it a true adventure.

Although the guide book is still being written, emails have begun to trickle in with specific instructions.  Here is a snippet of one which caused the words “oh shit” to escape from my lips as I imagined my solo self actually following them.

1.5 kms later the bike path passes the Cunovo exit point. You keep going straight 300 ms until you see an old army house. This is Hungary! You must turn right and cross over the canal 50 ms away. Over the canal, you turn left, on asphalt, for 200 ms and there is a right turn into the woods.  Go through the woods and then fields for 3 kms and you are in Adam’s horse farm.

I wonder if I will really ever make it to Adam’s horse farm in Hungary!  It seems surreal to imagine it, especially as I sit in this easy chair in Mariposa, California.  Ah well, it’s not like I ever really know what I’m getting into.  My folly on the Camino de Santiago in Spain, the Jeju Olle Trail in South Korea and mountain treks in Nepal have made that abundantly clear.

With a maximum of 20 people allowed to register for each of the thirty days the trail is open, a maximum of 600 people will have the opportunity to experience this walk in 2015.  I am thrilled to be one of them.  Stay tuned for much more information about the European Peace Walk as I prepare for the adventure.  I plan to document my journey as I did on the Camino de Santiago for the benefit of the armchair traveler and the future walker.  It’s not clear how accessible wifi will be, so the journey may be documented in real time or after it’s completed but my goal is to share it.

I am accepting (with great appreciation) donations for the expenses involved in this journey.  In exchange for any donation,  I will write the name of any person or experience with which you would like to make peace on a ribbon banner which I will carry the whole way.  It will be a walking prayer and you can be a part of it.  Alternatively, for a $50 donation, I will mention you as my sponsor for a particular day of the walk.  I thank you for any support.

More to come my friends.  Time to dust off my walking shoes!

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Many thanks!