GR20 – Day 4. To Beregeries de Vallone.

Hey all,

Spoke to another English guy at dinner last night – he said he had been preparing for this walk for 6 months, that it was the hardest in Europe, had even gone to the trouble of sourcing super-lightweight reading glasses. I was like – hmm – so the laptop was a smart move... He then confirmed what I had already guessed, which was that I had become a bit of a gossip point amongst this group of people for my total lack of preparation and the insanity of all my gear. The nutjob Australian backpacker trying to do the GR20 with a laptop, three changes of street clothes, a huge novel, a coffee percolator, God knows what else. I think I have gone from freak status to grudging respect because I have lasted this long. Anyway, he later told me that one of the guys he was going to do this walk with had died of a heart attack on a ridge in Wales when they were training for it. Is a once in a life-time adventure for a lot of people I have met – and possibly a once in a life-time mistake for some Australian idiot who looks at the map, thinks: well, 15 days – how hard a walk can that be, really?

“Walk,” as you will see from some of the photos, is a bit of misnomer...

Anyway – had a blast of a day, as it turns out – it was terrifying in places, but fun, and the rest day, decent boots, and walking stick things really made a huge difference. Was an intense morning, hanging of chains clambering down, then back up, this huge gully type thing. But fun – was with the Irish/English bloke and the English bloke I just mentioned – good company – glad I stuck it out. Only thing worrying me is the big toe on my left foot – half of it is in agony, the other half has had no feeling at all for a couple of days – might be some nerve damage. Problem was that the GP's I had on were a bit too big, and I did not have the walking sticks, and my pack was heavy, so every down hill section was teeth gritting torture as my left foot, which I favour because of the stuffed right knee, smashed into the front of the boot. Given that the last three hours of the last two stages were all steep downhill, it has been difficult – yesterday was the sheerest 800 metre drop on the entire route. So that still hurts a lot, although the new boots and the sticks meant that I don't think it got any worse today at any rate. Could keep up with the other two on the clambering up and clambering down sections, but when it got to a down section that you could mostly do on two feet I told them to go ahead – took my time, used the stick things and tried to not hurt my feet too much. And a few minutes ago, in the process of fixing up the hammock (I slung it between trees that were more flexible than they looked) I dropped a huge rock on the other big toe, which is now bleeding. Fortunately tomorrow is pretty easy...

The day off really helped too – my leg muscles had a chance to catch up and not just get smashed again – you don't work out the same muscle groups two days in a row, and given that I spent three on them I probably should have taken a day off earlier. The two guys I walked with today are planning to do a 12 hour day tomorrow, double stages – they have a plane to catch – I at least have the luxury of doing nothing for a couple of days if I need to let my feet recover a bit, let the blisters subside – but at least I think my knees will last the distance now with the boots and poles. Amazing how quickly and how well you get to know people on this walk – it is such a drama at times and you are all in it together.

Basically, though, today was fantastic – the first day where the whole thing has not been an epic exercise in mental endurance for me. We got up early because there was supposed to be rain at midday, and we wanted to get the dangerous bit done before then – how more people don't die doing this is a mystery to me – there are so many places where if you slip it is basically game-over. Got to the refuge, then walked past it to this privately run place, had a dip in the stream, dinner of wild-boar on this amazing deck looking over mountains.

I might do the first stage with the guys tomorrow – they are going to swing by at 6:15, see if I am keen – or I might sleep in and just take my time later in the day, after bandaging up my feet as best I can. But looking forward to the rest of it now – unlike most of the people I am not on a schedule – so if I need to take a day or two out to let my feet recover then I can.

Photos: 1. What these nutters call hiking – Irish dude is centre of shot. 2. What these nutters call hiking – the two guys I spent most of today with. 3. Not to labour the point, but: hiking... that is me against the sky. 4. Same two guys again. 5. Another of the track. 6. Another. 7. This bird is not moving – it was hanging there in the the wind like that for ages, just above our heads. 8. Me, digesting wild boar. And wearing thongs, joy. PS - thanks to Irish for giving me a copy of photo 3, and also taking the last one!

Cheers, B.