Next year I'll be doing the longest expedition/journey of my life & I thought I'd start a thread on here to show everybody the trials & tribulations of planning & doing a long expedition.
Plus it might get me a little bit of publicity that I'm lacking at the moment.
My plan.
I'll be following the WW1 front lines & battlefields from Asiatic Turkey to the English Channel in Belgium.
My methods of transport will be cycling, walking & climbing. (When I'm walking & climbing I'll be carrying everything on my back, including my bike.)
For most of my journey I'll be hammock camping & bivvying, although I'll have to find a hostel or something every few weeks to recharge my batteries.
I'll be carrying everything that I'll need for my journey & re-stocking my food every 4 to 7 days.
Along the route I'll be leaving 2015 paper poppies as a mark of respect to all, from both sides who died in the war.
I'm hoping to be able to raise some funds & awareness for the Royal British Legion & the German Volksbund, but for people who live outside of the UK or Germany, I'm trying to encourage them to support veterans & war grave charities in their own countries.
As I'll be travelling through 12 different European countries, the knife, tool & weapon regulations are different in every country & they're a total nightmare. Especially as I'll be faced with quite a few "problems" along the route. Both animals & humans.
The possible dangers are.
Roads- I'll be trying to stay away from the main roads as much as I can, but this in itself brings along different problems. (See below.)
Dogs- Dogs are a total nightmare for cyclists & hikers in Eastern Europe & Turkey, especially with the weapons regulations.
In all of the Eastern European countries & Turkey, the sheep herders & farmers breed massive shepherd dogs that are capable of protecting their livestock
from bears & wolves. When they're not being used, they're just left to run free in the villages. They don't like intruders!
There's also a lot of feral dogs in all of these countries.
Wildlife- Large populations of Brown Bears in Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro & Slovenia. There's smaller populations in Greece & Italy.
Wolves. The wolf population in Europe has been left to get out of control in recent years, with populations of wolves in nearly every continental European
Country. Attacks on humans are happening from both bears & wolves despite them not being reported by the media.
Lynx, nothing much to worry about, although I'll still stay clear of these if possible. (I'll be lucky to see one probably!)
Rabies- A big problem in some of the countries & there's been reports of all of the animals above attacking people whilst suffering from rabies. Not good!
Smugglers- Yes, you've heard right. Drugs, people (both forced & economic migrants) & weapons. They use remote mountain passes as most of the problem
borders are open with very few guards. Exactly where I'll be going.
Drugs- Meths labs & pot farms in the remote areas, once again, I'll be going there.
Mountains- Despite being an experienced mountaineer, I'll still have to be very careful. I'll be in the Greek & Macedonian mountains in May, so there'll still be a
fair bit of snow on them. (Depending on what sort of winter they have.) Although I'm hoping for snow as this will keep the bears & the shepherds with
their nasty dogs down low.
Likewise with the Julian Alps in the Slovenian/Italian border region.
I'm hoping that the Italian Dolomites & the Central Eastern Alps above Lake Garda in Italy will be more clear of snow, but once again this will depend
on what next Winter is like?
Because of the uncertain snow conditions, I will be forced to carry an ice axe & crampons, although these will be aluminium as steel will be too heavy.
Lightning. A common thing in the mountains, but something I will have to watch out for mostly in the afternoon. The danger of this, especially whilst
carrying a bike, will probably reduce my time for safe travelling whilst in the mountains & increase my overall journey time. (My wife won't be happy!)
The Italian Dolomites will probably be the biggest challenge on my route. As the front lines passed over these mountains, there is no option but to go
over them. I've worked out that I've probably got at least 12 Via Ferrata's to negotiate. No mean feat when you're carrying everything plus your bike
on your back.
That's it for the dangers! Is it any more than you lot across the pond would face? Probably not, but it's no less & at least you have a better chance of protecting
yourselves.
Knives, tools & weapons.
This is the part where you might be able to help me. Like most people on here, I've got a lot of knives, but I have no intention of ending up in a foreign
jail. I've thought about swords & spears, but ruled them out. A sjambok to use on vicious dogs, no I've had to rule that out too.
So here's what I'll probably carry. (Cold Steel to the rescue.)
A modified Bushman cut down to 5" but still useable as a spear.
A Cold Steel shovel, (it's only a shovel officer!)
I'm thinking of modifying one of their baseball bats to use as a handle & something that I could use to protect myself from dogs.
A locking SAK, as it doesn't look aggressive.
Bear Spray.
It turns out that there's a few countries where it's legal to carry this, but they alternate between the countries where it's illegal & I won't be in those
countries for very long either.
I'll just have to use a horn & keep a clean camp instead, anybody got any other ideas? I thought about some hand held flares, but I'm not sure about their
effectiveness? Bear bangers aren't legal in some countries either!
That's it for the moment, but I'll keep updating this thread with my preparations & hopefully along my journey.
http://www.trailofpoppies.co.uk/
Plus it might get me a little bit of publicity that I'm lacking at the moment.
My plan.
I'll be following the WW1 front lines & battlefields from Asiatic Turkey to the English Channel in Belgium.
My methods of transport will be cycling, walking & climbing. (When I'm walking & climbing I'll be carrying everything on my back, including my bike.)
For most of my journey I'll be hammock camping & bivvying, although I'll have to find a hostel or something every few weeks to recharge my batteries.
I'll be carrying everything that I'll need for my journey & re-stocking my food every 4 to 7 days.
Along the route I'll be leaving 2015 paper poppies as a mark of respect to all, from both sides who died in the war.
I'm hoping to be able to raise some funds & awareness for the Royal British Legion & the German Volksbund, but for people who live outside of the UK or Germany, I'm trying to encourage them to support veterans & war grave charities in their own countries.
As I'll be travelling through 12 different European countries, the knife, tool & weapon regulations are different in every country & they're a total nightmare. Especially as I'll be faced with quite a few "problems" along the route. Both animals & humans.
The possible dangers are.
Roads- I'll be trying to stay away from the main roads as much as I can, but this in itself brings along different problems. (See below.)
Dogs- Dogs are a total nightmare for cyclists & hikers in Eastern Europe & Turkey, especially with the weapons regulations.
In all of the Eastern European countries & Turkey, the sheep herders & farmers breed massive shepherd dogs that are capable of protecting their livestock
from bears & wolves. When they're not being used, they're just left to run free in the villages. They don't like intruders!
There's also a lot of feral dogs in all of these countries.
Wildlife- Large populations of Brown Bears in Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro & Slovenia. There's smaller populations in Greece & Italy.
Wolves. The wolf population in Europe has been left to get out of control in recent years, with populations of wolves in nearly every continental European
Country. Attacks on humans are happening from both bears & wolves despite them not being reported by the media.
Lynx, nothing much to worry about, although I'll still stay clear of these if possible. (I'll be lucky to see one probably!)
Rabies- A big problem in some of the countries & there's been reports of all of the animals above attacking people whilst suffering from rabies. Not good!
Smugglers- Yes, you've heard right. Drugs, people (both forced & economic migrants) & weapons. They use remote mountain passes as most of the problem
borders are open with very few guards. Exactly where I'll be going.
Drugs- Meths labs & pot farms in the remote areas, once again, I'll be going there.
Mountains- Despite being an experienced mountaineer, I'll still have to be very careful. I'll be in the Greek & Macedonian mountains in May, so there'll still be a
fair bit of snow on them. (Depending on what sort of winter they have.) Although I'm hoping for snow as this will keep the bears & the shepherds with
their nasty dogs down low.
Likewise with the Julian Alps in the Slovenian/Italian border region.
I'm hoping that the Italian Dolomites & the Central Eastern Alps above Lake Garda in Italy will be more clear of snow, but once again this will depend
on what next Winter is like?
Because of the uncertain snow conditions, I will be forced to carry an ice axe & crampons, although these will be aluminium as steel will be too heavy.
Lightning. A common thing in the mountains, but something I will have to watch out for mostly in the afternoon. The danger of this, especially whilst
carrying a bike, will probably reduce my time for safe travelling whilst in the mountains & increase my overall journey time. (My wife won't be happy!)
The Italian Dolomites will probably be the biggest challenge on my route. As the front lines passed over these mountains, there is no option but to go
over them. I've worked out that I've probably got at least 12 Via Ferrata's to negotiate. No mean feat when you're carrying everything plus your bike
on your back.
That's it for the dangers! Is it any more than you lot across the pond would face? Probably not, but it's no less & at least you have a better chance of protecting
yourselves.
Knives, tools & weapons.
This is the part where you might be able to help me. Like most people on here, I've got a lot of knives, but I have no intention of ending up in a foreign
jail. I've thought about swords & spears, but ruled them out. A sjambok to use on vicious dogs, no I've had to rule that out too.
So here's what I'll probably carry. (Cold Steel to the rescue.)
A modified Bushman cut down to 5" but still useable as a spear.
A Cold Steel shovel, (it's only a shovel officer!)
I'm thinking of modifying one of their baseball bats to use as a handle & something that I could use to protect myself from dogs.
A locking SAK, as it doesn't look aggressive.
Bear Spray.
It turns out that there's a few countries where it's legal to carry this, but they alternate between the countries where it's illegal & I won't be in those
countries for very long either.
I'll just have to use a horn & keep a clean camp instead, anybody got any other ideas? I thought about some hand held flares, but I'm not sure about their
effectiveness? Bear bangers aren't legal in some countries either!
That's it for the moment, but I'll keep updating this thread with my preparations & hopefully along my journey.
http://www.trailofpoppies.co.uk/
