Corsica & The Alps
Everyone,
I’ve posted new pictures:
http://eric.trailfaqs.com/photos/europe/
Corsica was really amazing, it’s been the highlight of our trip. The
hiking was challenging, the scenery was beautiful, and the feel was
much more Mediterranean than we’d expected. The only downside was the
lack of quality groceries.
The route we’d planned to take through the Alps was highly
disappointing. We discovered the hard way that long-distance hiking
routes in Europe are designed with overnight stops in mind. This means
that you’re usually climbing uphill out of a town or refuge each
morning and descending to another each evening, which is highly
frustrating when the elevation change is 1000 meters or more and the
trail is on a road, often a paved one. It was also very hot and dry in
the area we were hiking through, and we often had to carry 3 or 4
liters of water to last us the entire day.
So we abandoned that plan after a week and took a train to Chamonix to
hike the Tour du Mont Blanc. The scenery was amazing, as might be
expected, but the crowds were almost more than we could bear. Melissa
got stepped on and kicked by a tour group at one of the major passes,
if that’s any indication.
So we’ve given up all hope of enjoying further hiking in Europe and
have shifted gears. We’ve spent some time in Paris and Brussels, and
we’re now in Amsterdam about to depart on a two-week bicycle tour
around the Netherlands. I did something similar to this in 2000 and
really enjoyed it, so I’m hoping the two of us will find this ride
just as rewarding.
We’ve also decided to move our return flight up to August 18th, and
plan to do some canoeing in the Boundary Waters and/or hike the
Colorado Trail before we stop adventuring. I’ll send out another
update once we’re back in the States.