For more information on anything to do with this site, contact Ian Bambury at    trek2008@roughian.com

A Sponsored Walk From Turkey To Spain

4 Thousand Kilometres - 6 Million Steps - 6 Months

A Walk Across Europe

This site details the plans for Ian Bambury's 4000km walk across Europe in 2008. It's not a commercial tour, anyone can join in, and we'll not take any money off you. We are doing it for charity, but you don't have to if you don't want to.

The route for the walk across Europe is: Turkey - Bulgaria - Romania (including Transylvania) - Hungary - Austria - Germany - France - Spain

You can contact Ian Bambury at trek2008@roughian.com

The main reason for walking across Europe it is for the kudos of being able to say you walked across Europe. Don't look at it as 4000km in one go, look at it as getting fit by going for a walk most days for six months.

There are pages here on the walk itself - how we intend to walk across Europe, the route we are expecting to take and pictures from previous long-distance walks.

A Gentle Stroll From Turkey To Spain

Go North, Turn Left, Stop At The Sea

Turkey
(300km - 12 days)
We leave Istanbul and head inland north-west towards Irdine. It's all pretty flat (compared to what comes later), but since we start at sea level, it's gently uphill into and through the forested Yarimadasi National Park. In the Catalca area - a mixture of farmland and forest - we cross the Ergene river and then on to Irdine which is full of mosques and was the capital of the Ottoman Empire. From here we are only a day's walk from the Bulgarian border.

Bulgaria
(500km - 20 days)
As you can see from the map, there's not much in the way of ascents or descents for the next 10 days or so, and we miss the worst (or best) of the Balkan Mountains. Going to the east of Sophia, we don't take the easiest route, but it doesn't seem worth detouring to go through Sophia. So drop down again to Orjahovo to cross the river Dunav and the border into Romania.

Romania
(500km - 20 days)
We head pretty much north (NNE by N (ish)) for 5 days or so and then we are climbing into the Transylvanian Alps, keeping an eye out for 'stryges' (vampires) and 'balauri' (dragons) as we follow the Jiu valley and the river (nothing too steep, then) deep into Transylvania. And out the other side, back down this part of the Carpathian Mountains and break for the border with Hungary just north of Arad.

Hungary
(400km - 16 days)
We are back on the flat in Hungary, relatively speaking, anyway, the maps don't show anything worth mentioning. We aren't following rivers any more, though, crossing a few in fact, and of course, their valleys. Szolnok is the first big place we pass through. It was declared a city way back in the mists of 1990, had a population of 76,331 in 2005, and the famous Czech sculptor Arpád Racko was somehow born there in 1930 and not, as you might have thought, in Czechoslovakia.

We then move on to Budapest, a city made up of two cities, Buda and Opest, one each side of the Danube. Or so I thought. Since writing that, I've been told that I'm wrong. So I am very happy to pass on what a kind person called Maja, who lives in Budapest as told me: It is only Buda and Pest not Opest, or if I want to be very precise it is the 3 cities were merged into one in 1873: Pest, Buda and Obuda (=Old Buda). Maja also tells me: There is Hungarian "camino". The Hungarian section's name is Way of Pearls (from Budapest, Hungary to Mariazell, Austria). Actually it has just recently been organized, the signs have been painted and there are places to stay for the night. You might be interested in this, though it does not really follow the Danube River. Budapest has a night-life nearly as good as Prague. During the day it's a pleasant city with open squares, little wooden underground trains, tree lined avenues and wood-panelled coffee houses where matrons swap gossip at a leisurely pace and old men chat up young waitresses and are happy to get a smile. It's how I imagine Paris would be if the Parisiennes had culture and manners and time and cared about other people and were gentle and polite and charming.

The Danube has wended it's way from Vienna and we follow it back there. 230km, and all of it uphill. But not very steep, about 400 metres in 10 days. Later on, if we go that way, O Cebreiro is 800m in about 8km.

Austria
(400km - 16 days)
I went to Austria once. It rained. It's lovely, even in the rain, even though we couldn't go down the mines in Salzburg to get out of the rain because they were flooded. We went for a walk and saw a black and yellow salamandar in a valley that used to be polluted with singing nuns.

I was in Austria another time and it was 45 degrees in the shade and there wasn't any shade, and I spent 3 hours on very black, very hot tarmac trying to hitch out, and the varnish peeled off my guitar.

It's a relatively unspoilt countryside and the mountainsides aren't quite as manicured as they are in Switzerland. We should be there in about May when the spring flowers are out and the meadows look like they should be used for butter adverts. The climbs are exhilarating, the mountain air is fresh when you get to the pass, and there's always a cafe.

In Vienna we leave the Danube and head off to Salzburg, 300km and 12 days away.

Germany
(500km - 20 days)
The German section runs from just after Salzburg to just before Mulhouse in France. It's 524km and the route has been adapted to pass through Kisslegg and then to go and see Bodensee, the largest body of water on the route. The last few days give us a choice between a quiet route, and talking a 4km bridge to follow a way which passes through a lot more towns and villages. Either way, we cross the border into Mulhouse.

France
(1000km - 40 days)
France is the largest country in Western Europe, and we spend more time here than in any other. We skirt around the Alps and clip the north west of the Massif Central before crossing the plain over to the Pyrenees and St Jean Pied de Port, one of the main collecting points for pilgrims on the way to Santiago.

Spain
(900km - 36 days)
I've walked across this bit of Spain before. It's mountainous, then hilly, extremely flat through the middle and then it's back into the mountains before dropping down to Santiago de Compostela. From there it's a three-day walk to the coast, then up to the lighthouse to watch the sun set.

You Know You Want To...

You got here, and you can't get to this page by chance. Search engines can't find it, but you did, so you clicked to see this page. If you have any questions, the email address is at the bottom of the page, I'd love to hear from you.

How Fit Do You Have To Be?
My theory is that you get fit on the way. Anyone who is ultra-fit and raring to go had better be warned that we'll be setting off at a slow pace. I will, anyway.

Anyone from anywhere with any disability, of any nationality, gender, background, orientation...you get the picture. The only rule is that you are (ultimately) responsible for yourselves as an individual or as a unit (for example someone who is blind and a helper).

How Old Do You Have To Be?
I've seen ten-year-olds on the Camino in Spain, I've seen eighty-year-olds, too. It's not about age. You have to believe that if you have done 25km ten times in the last two weeks, that you could do it for just one more day. And then you have to believe it the next day too. You don't have to believe you can do 4000km. Not if you don't think about it.

When Exactly Is It?
Provided the weather is OK, then we leave early February and aim to finish before the end of September at the latest.

How Many In The Group?
I've only just set this site up and I'm just typing in the initial content for this page. So since no-one has seen this yet, no-one has replied. I'll keep the page up to date.

What About Costs? Flights etc?
Entirely up to you. I'm not a tour operator, I'm just someone going for a walk and wondering if anyone else would like to come along. You are responsible for everything. But...of course, we'll try to get everyone organised (how ever many 'everyone' is. If there's a need, we'll hang around in Istanbul while the group collects.

The route is flexible and open to change as we go along but there's no reason why we all have to go the same way, or why we couldn't meet up later. Everyone is their own boss.

Do I have To Get Sponsored?
No. But it seems a shame not to take the opportunity to do some good since it will cost you no more than a bit of time, and you will be using up plenty of that, planning for the trip anyway.

Find Out More
Just drop me a line. No obligation, but think of the bragging rights 'Well, when I walked across Europe...'

David Beckham For 19 Minutes Or...

...two product testers, a photographer and a journalist for six months.
We are asking companies to help us with equipment and with financial support, but we don't expect, or even want, to get it for free. While we walk, we expect to be working for you.

In the next couple of sections, I've listed the services and benefits we might be able to give you in return for your financial support and/or help with the equipment we need. If there are other things we can do on the way, we will of course consider them as well.

What's In It For You?

We'll Supply You With Photographs
I will be taking loads of photos and some of them must turn out right occasionally. I've had photos published in the press. If you help support us, we'll let you have exclusive use of a number of these. It will have to depend on the level of sponsorship who gets first choice. If you are supplying equipment and/or have a logo you want us to use, we'll take pictures with those in the foreground for some of the more spectacular shots.

The financial benefit derived from this would depend on the use, but typically this would be between 100 and 200 GBP per photo per use in printed material. If a certain subject or aspect of the trip is required, we will try our best to accommodate this. All the photos on this site are mine.

We'll Do Your Product Testing
Any equipment supplied to us will obviously be used in real conditions over 4000 kilometres and 180 consecutive days and nights, through eight countries, on mountains, in river valleys, through the high sierras, and across the Spanish meseta.

Although customer feedback is valuable, we would be prepared to log usage, record problems, photograph and otherwise detail wear and tear, detail annoyances and any problems, and identify possible improvements.

We'll Write Copy For You
Just say how many words, give me a couple of examples of where it's going so I can pick up on the house style, and I'll knock you out an article or two. I've had articles published in the press and in-house magazines.

We'll Help With Your Product Placement And Brand Awareness
It doesn't hurt to let people know that your company isn't too big to be human. Showing that you support ventures like this which aim to raise money for a good cause might be a good way for you to show that your company's heart is in the right place. Customers like to feel that a little bit of the money they spend with you is going to a good cause. It gives them a warm feeling of doing good, and your company could be the one to make them feel like that.

We'll Give Your Employees A Reason To Live
OK, maybe not, but you'll be able to stick a map on the wall or something in your in-house magazine, tell your customers, suppliers, and anyone else you can think of. We'll keep you informed of where we are and send you updates of how it is going whenever we can.

We'll Promote Your Name
If you sponsor us or supply equipment, we will mention your company at every opportunity. Obviously, the more support we receive from a company, the higher in the pecking order your company will be when it comes to a mention. We expect and will push for media coverage as we pass through the eight countries. I don't know how many people have crossed Europe on foot, but of you type "cross-Europe walk" into Google you don't get any matches, and I only know of one person who has done it.

We'll Use Your Logo
We will use your logo on our web site, wear it on clothing and nail it on equipment wherever possible.

We'll Link To Your Site
Clickthroughs can cost 50p a go and up, but if you pay us, we will do it for free. You know what I mean. We will put a page on our web site detailing the specifications of the equipment you provide us, linking all of them to the relevant pages on your site. For nothing. If you support us financially we will be complete and utter tarts and tell everyone exactly how wonderful everything you do is.

And Finally...
... it will stop your opposition getting the benefits since we are not going to accept conflicting sponsors.

What We Need From You

Rucksacks
Two. They should weigh nothing, have an infinite number of waterproof pockets, all of which are easily available, and be as tough as old boots while still being unbelievably comfortable.

Tents
Two light-weight, two-skin, one-person, one-pole, three-season tents with enough porch space to contain a rucksack and a pair of boots.

Sleeping Bags
Two light-weight, breathable, waterproof, one-person, three-season mummy-style sleeping bags with a two-way zip.

Stove
Not required - I use the Tuna-tin design. It weighs less than a spoon and runs on meths. I can make one in under a minute, there are no moving parts and you can clean the jets with a Swiss Army Knife's tinopener.

GPS
Not essential - I can read maps, I can read a compass, I can find the pole star, and I know that moss grows on the north side of trees (because moss like shade). But I'd like to track distances and the actual route accurately, and it's always good for an emergency.

Handheld Computer
Not essential - but almost. I can live without the Internet, but I need to be able to record everything that happens on the trip, and back up the digital photographs I take. Preferably this personal computer will be something that can display a web page like this. This page only needs only a browser, the page doesn't have to be on a server. If that means nothing to you, don't worry, it just means that you probably have a life.

Wet-Weather Gear
Two Goretex shell jackets and trousers, and a windproof shell jacket and trousers each are about all the special clothing required.

Boots
Enough pairs to get us both over the 4000-ish km distance. Depending on make and style between 1 and 4 pairs each.

Socks
Long-distance anti-blister double-layer socks are an absolute god-send.

Flights
Outward flights to Istanbul, and return flights from Santiago.

Accommodation And Food
Funds to cover accommodation and food. Estimated over 200 days, the very outside time limit expected. Walking 3 days out of 4, and finding accommodation half the time, camping the other half

Summary Of Costs

Item	Qty		Each		Factor			Line Total
Accommodation	100 nights	@	£20	x	2	people	=	£4000
Food	150 days shopping	@	£5	x	2	people	=	£1500
	50 days cafes	@	£15	x	2	people	=	£1500
Rucksacks	1 each	@	£100	x	2	people	=	£200
Sleeping Bags	1 each	@	£100	x	2	people	=	£200
Tents	1 each	@	£200	x	2	people	=	£400
GPS	1	@	£200				=	£200
Palmtop	1	@	£500				=	£500
Goretex Jacket	1 each	@	£150	x	2	people	=	£300
Windproof Jacket	1 each	@	£20	x	2	people	=	£40
Waterproof Trousers	1 pair each	@	£20	x	2	people	=	£40
Boots	3 pairs each	@	£80	x	2	people	=	£480
Socks	5 pairs each	@	£15	x	2	people	=	£150
Flight To Istanbul	1 each	@	£120	x	2	people	=	£240
Flight From Santiago	1 each	@	£80	x	2	people	=	£160
Total								£10,010

Overall...
To put that in context, the whole trip (two people) will cost considerably less than a quarter page advert in the Sunday Times travel section, and about the same as two computer programmers for two weeks.

Sponsor Or Donate

You can sponsor me to complete the walk, or by the kilometre. Please send pledges by email to the address found at the bottom of every page.

You can donate money at any bank in the UK - details below

Bank Details

Thank You

This bank account is exclusively for this walk. You can donate at any bank in the UK with these details. You can also transfer funds on-line. All donors will be sent full details of all transactions on the account at any time on request. Alternatively, you can send a cheque made out to one of the charities (email for postal details).

Please check with the charities first if you have any concerns at all.

Before the walk goes ahead, half the money collected will be donated to the charities. When the walk is complete, the remaining balance will be transferred along with any donations which are dependent on the walk finishing, or sponsorship on a per-kilometre basis.

This is the text-only page. For the main site, click the logo below

Money donated will first be used to make the walk possible. Spending in this area will be detailed and made available to anyone who donates. Equipment made available to us will be returned if requested. If you supply us with socks, for example, you might not want to bother, but if you supply us with boots you might like to be able to see what six months of real wear and tear does to them.

All money over and above that will be donated to the two charities in a proportion yet to be decided. The reason it hasn't been finalised is that depending on the funds available, it may be adjusted to make the complete funding of a project possible, so people can point to, for example, a well, and say "That is what I gave money to". It will be roughly 50-50 though.

If you would like to specify that your donation goes entirely to one of the charities and not the other, or specifically not to support the logistics of the walk, then please email me with details of where, when and the amount of the donation and I will ensure this happens. Alternatively, email me for an address and send me a cheque made out to the charity itself. Or just give the money to the charity, but then it won't be counted as being a result of this walk.

Join The Information Super Highway - And Half Your Money Goes To Charity

Instead of getting a contract with a company and all the money I earn going to me, for the year before the walk, I'll write your web site for you and get it up and running with nothing more to pay for 2 years

And I'll put half the money earned that way towards supporting the walk. It means more money for the charities. It means your new web site can say it is directly helping people all over the world, just by being there.

What Do You Get?

• A domain name (www.something.co.uk) included - in your name, you control it, you keep it.
• Or transfer a UK or US domain for free.
• Two years hosting with unlimited bandwidth (i.e. I'll get a company to keep it running, and unlike some places, there is no limit to how many people can go there per month, or how many pictures they can look, how many files they can download - no restrictions except it has to be legal, and no explicit content).
• Unlimited space for your site, pictures etc.
• There will be no adverts on your site from anywhere or anyone. It's just your site, but you can put ads on yourself and keep the money they earn if you want.
• Unlimited email addresses (anything@something.co.uk)
• Email forwarding to other accounts
• Access email anywhere in the world at any time
• Database support is available (e.g. you can have a message board, visitors book, anything that requires that you save things)
• Your web site designed to your style requirements (layout, colours, buttons, borders etc - the 'feel' of the site)
• Up to 10 pages set out for you if you supply the photos and any special artwork. Otherwise you are stuck with whatever I come up with until you get around to changing it.
• Your pages optimised for search engines
• An 'enquiries' page which emails you the details
• A visitors/comments book which emails the comments to you (if you want it to)
• A very simple admin page which lets you turn these email alerts on and off. You can even have SMS messages sent to your phone, but they will cost you 15p each.
• An estimated time to completion in 10 days from receipt of your deposit
• Training and instruction how to maintain it for yourself
• Email support for ever (well, you'll know who I am).
• Automatic web site backup
• 5 hours of my time in reserve to go and sort your site out if you get in a real mess
• The knowledge that you are helping people all over the world

Yeah, But What Will It Cost!

So, you get a complete, working web site up and running for two years with all of the above for

approx. €520 (EUR) or $695 (USD)

50 quid goes to buy your www name and host your site, 150 to the charity walk and the other 150 GBP so I can eat. Email me if you're interested.

What Happens Once It Is Done?

After it is done, you become responsible for it. It's not as scary as it sounds and I'll be here to help if you get stuck. Obviously, while I'm walking, I can't guarantee a lightning fast response, but I'll be logging in every few days and your site will have been up and running for a while before that.

Once your site is handed over to you will probably want to change the wording in some places. This is really easy. There is only one file for all the text on your web site (exactly the same as for this web site) so all you have to do, is find the text you don't like and change it. That's it. It really couldn't be easier. I'll show you how to do it beforehand if you like, just so you know everything will be OK.

In the same way, if you want to change a picture, you find where the old name is in the file and change it to the new name. If you want a whole new page, that is easy, too. You just copy an existing page, then change this new page to how you want it - just the wording, and the picture names

If You Link To This Site, We Will Link To Yours

Tell us that you have a link to this site, and we will link back to yours (provided the content is acceptable). The code to add the logo is below. It opens this site in a new window when you click, and it looks like this:

 

<div
 style = "
 border : 1px solid #66F;
 font-family : Arial;
 width : 135px;
 font-size : 11px;
 text-align : center;
 font-weight : bold;
 ">
 <a
 style = "
 color : #FFF;
 background : #99F;
 text-decoration : none;
 "
 href = "http://www.trek08.roughian.com/"
 target = "_blank">
<span
 style = "
 font-size : 16px;
 ">
 TREK '08
</span>

<img
 style = "
 border : 0;
 "
 title = "Trek '08 - Istanbul to Finisterre - 4500km Charity Walk"
 src = "http://www.trek08.roughian.com/img/logo.gif" />
 Istanbul-Finisterre
 <br />
 4500km Charity Walk
</a>
</div>

Sense

Sense is a charity set up to help people who are both deaf and blind and their carers. To quote from their web site ... they "also work with people with single sensory impairments and a wide range of other difficulties - including physical disabilities, learning disabilities, and challenging behaviour.

Web Site	www.sense.org.uk

Sense works with a wide age range, from babies who have just been diagnosed to older people. We also offer training and other services related to deafblindness". The Sense website is full of facts, but it doesn't really get across the touchy-feely side of the organisation. That's a shame because it's a lot of what the charity is about. It's not that easy to navigate, but all the information is there if you persevere and it's nicely laid out.

My take on this charity is from a few years back when I volunteered with Sense to help look after deaf-blind children, giving them a holiday, and giving the parents a break. It was so much fun that I went back and did it again the next year. It must have been a lot of fun because it certainly was hard work, but the organisation and support was there quietly but firmly in the background.

I've had dealings with a number of charities (I used to work for the Council For Voluntary Services) and there are many deserving causes out there. I feel it says something about Sense that after all these years, I still remember those times fondly, and so they have made it to the top of the list.

Sense isn't a really big charity, but it's getting bigger. It's still small enough to be personal, even though is now has around 1500 employees. You need to be involved to really get the feel for what they do. I got a hint when I volunteered a few days to them. You can see a few of the pictures here. Blokes hugged and girls cried when it came to an end and we had to split up.

Greece

Bulgaria

Spain

Frequently Asked Questions

 
 
 
 
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The email address is at the bottom of the page
 
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Company	Email	Action	Date	Result	Status
Action Water	(private)	Date for new web site	02 Feb	02 Feb - Site delayed	Held
Cancer Research	(private)	Clarification of women-only policy in run for life	23 Jan	-	Active
Cancer Research	(private)	Initial Contact	15 Jan	23 Jan - See next	Superceded
Action Water	(private)	New Web Site Check	16 Jan	-	Active
Sense	(private)	Initial Contact	15 Jan	16 Jan - Interested	Keep Informed
Action Water	(private)	Initial Contact	15 Jan	16 Jan - Interested	Keep Informed
Contours	email	-	-	-	Preparing
Walking World	email	-	-	-	Preparing
Mountain Bug	email	-	-	-	Preparing
Thomson Holidays	email	-	-	-	Preparing
Upland Escapes	email	-	-	-	Preparing
Crag Hoppers	email	-	-	-	Preparing
Mountain Warehouse	email	-	-	-	Preparing
Catalonia Walks	email	-	-	-	Preparing
Adventure Company	email	-	-	-	Preparing
Langdale	email	-	-	-	Preparing
Dream Homes	email	-	-	-	Preparing
Super Travel	email	-	-	-	Preparing
Bath & West Country Walks	email	-	-	-	Preparing
The Sherpa Van Project	email	-	-	-	Preparing
Nokia (Europe)	email	-	-	-	Preparing
mail2web	email	-	-	-	Preparing
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