I wanna believe

Realistically, how long would a trip on foot from Gibraltar (where I live) to Moscow take? According to google maps, just under 914 hours. I can walk up to 12 hours a day with 6 30min stops, which means I can walk 9 hours a day. So it would take just over 100 days of walking for the better part of the day. Up to a year if I stop to do some tourism and rest in a bed in the towns and cities.

I'm a neet and I've money, so why not?

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  1. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Have you done any significant amount of walking training before?

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Yeah, at least 2-3 times a week I spend outdoors, hiking, for the better part of those days.

  2. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    thats about the same length as the pacific crest trail. your trip's about 200km longer. i can't speak to the conditions you'll experience along the way there but ameriburger boomers in their 60's walk that distance all the time. if you plan your route well its very doable.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Sometimes I forget how gigantic the US is

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        yeah just look at what thru hikers in america do there's a million little protips we've come up with over here for making traveling long distances like that more enjoyable. if i had to guess its probably how ultralight got so popular.
        i've done a few thru hikes. instead of telling you the same tips and platitudes you'll find 500 times on forums and reddit i'll say this: geargayging is crucial and exponentially matters more the longer distances you are traveling, but its less about how much money you spend on gear like people think and more about the hours invested thinking about and developing the experience to planning what you do and don't bring. which you won't do perfectly your first time, its unrealistic. make as many things you possible multi purpose. here's a great example that serves as a little microcosm example for the mentality you want: i bring a square of reflectix as my sit pad. its not the greatest thing in the world at being a sit pad, but it gets the job done. but what it does do is serve as my fire billows, extra sleep insulation for my torso, a reflective wrapping to keep 1-2 water bottles at ambient temp in warm seasons, my signaling mirror, my stove's wind screen, and a bunch of other things i'm forgetting. its like 50 grams. the one i brought on my first thru hike was scored and taped so that it could fold -- i had the right idea but i learned from experience not to so that it can make a better wind screen.
        the other thing that is crucial is autistic levels of planning.
        a popular thing to do especially on your first thru hike is to either drive or take a train along the route before you go and bury caches of supplies along the way, so you have a backup plan that isn't bailing on the entire trip in case things go wrong. the other common way to do this is to have a friend at home mail you things to set locations at set times along the way. idk if europe has places that facilitate that or not. 2000 char limit gl anon.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          >a popular thing to do especially on your first thru hike is to either drive or take a train along the route before you go and bury caches of supplies along the way
          That's insane. How come that's popular? Do things tend to really go so wrong? I guess it makes sense in america with those vast uninhabited distances, or eastern europe.

          Thanks for the tips btw

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            peace of mind during the remote stretches. i imagine your path through europe wouldn't have as long of uninhabited distances to deal with and you'll have a lot of chances to stop in towns for supplies. but i'm not european so idk.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          >drive or take a train along the route before you go and bury caches of supplies along the way
          Had me until that. Literally no one does this
          >bury caches
          Holy shit bro, tell me you’ve never used a food cache etc. etc. You don’t bury it. It’s not pirate treasure or drugs. You just hang it from a tree or send it to a shuttle service so they can bring it to you.

          • 2 years ago
            Anonymous

            >You don’t bury it.
            i've only used caches for water where you do want to bury it in upside down wide mouths so its less likely to freeze and burst the containers. you're right i don't really use caches i just know other people do for peace of mind on their thru hikes. its not really a pirate hunt to find buried things now that civilians have accurate gps. but if you do use buryable containers you have to come back to recover them. i know collapsible containers not buried are popular for this reason.

  3. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    oh one thing people might not think to tell you and you might not think about is:
    if you wear trailrunners you will need to replace them with new ones several times along the way and plan for it.
    you could complete the entire trip in a single pair of quality hiking boots. you would need brand new boots at the start of the trip and they will be pretty close to roached by the end of it.
    if i had to guess 80-90% of american thru hikers prefer trailrunners to boots and find it well worth the hassle but i don't know the conditions you will experience along this trip.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      thanks

  4. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    You'll get sick of roadwalking following a vague itinerary. Why don't you do something easy, like a week long trail following something interesting? I feel like you're the kind to do something veru unrealistic starting off and then knowing very well you can't do it and fold without ever getting good. Like saying you will run 10km in one week and then give up after 2 days of struggling with 15 min runs.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Yeah I've thought about that. I think I'll go incrementally adding distance instead of going for an insanely long one in the first try. I need the experience too.

  5. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Instead of straight up just walking nonstop there what I would do is try to chain hikes from one country to the next, like for example start with the camino from sevilla to santiago to france then GR65 then some other hike to germany and so on
    Then you can actually enjoy the day to day instead of it being a slow, mind numbing death march through the middle of nowhere

    Damn now I want to do this

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      Sounds like a plan. Maybe I'll do it like that

  6. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Logistics would be a pain in the ass, but that’s true for every hike that hasn’t been done by thousands of people. Figuring out where you can sleep might be tough, because it’s Europe. I’m not sure what the grocery situation is there, but in the US there are Dollar Generals everywhere. Even large gas stations here will have stuff to get you by for a few days. Also a Google Maps route will take you in the shortest path, which is probably through cities. That messes up the options for sleeping. Plus you don’t know if it’s taking you through a shitty area.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >where to sleep
      that's a good question. Should I carry around a small tent and sleeping bag or just rent a room?
      >google maps
      definitely will plan better than that

  7. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    That's an ambitious hike but nothing amazing was ever done without ambition and a bit of lunacy.

    Walking wise it shouldn't be too troublesome, if you don't mind walking on main roads you should find pretty straightforward routes, but having trucks, buses and cars speeding by you isn't fun, the noise isn't fun and the smell isn't fun either so if you want your journey to be at least a bit comfortable you'll want to choose lesser traveled roads, which will mean more time and distance, perhaps leading to places with not many infrastructure to buy supplies.

    Although sleeping shouldn't be a big problem most of the way since you can throw a bivvy or tent pretty much everywhere you have to remember you'll be crossing major metro areas where you can walk 50km and see nothing but concrete jungle and crushing there might be unpleasant or straight up dangerous depending on the location.

    Your gear should be very optimized for your journey and it will be long enough for seasons to change so your gear has to change too, September in Gibraltar is easy days, January in Latvia might mean death if unprepared (which at that point in your journey you would already be more than prepared).
    You can go lightweight or go heavy and carry a cart with you for your stuff. It's up to you to decide.

    Language will not be a problem all across western EU, upon entering the east it might be a bit more challenging but nothing israelitegle translator can't fix.

    Then you have your health and fitness, legs will get stronger as you go but feet will suffer walking all day on hard surfaces, if your nutrition isn't on point you might consider using supplements and vitamins to keep your engine working well. Doing a blood panel and fixing that annoying tooth before starting isn't a bad idea.
    The rest of technicalities you can ask anons specifically or look around the web.

    1/2

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      2/2
      >NEET
      I know you're probably just daydreaming and entertaining yourself with the thought of embarking in such journey, I've been there many times before, but honestly I would love for you to do it, brother. You'll be miserable through times, you'll maybe cry and wish you had not started but you'll also grow so much every km you walk, every step outside of your comfort zone will be nothing but growth. At worst you waste 6 months of your life or get hit by a car, still preferable than fade away to the neet life.

      t. Former neet that left everything behind and moved to work on a farm abroad.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      You can't even walk by motorways in some countries. It's just a line on the map, something "in theory". Guy needs to edit it to follow provincial roads at least. This thread is a waste of time because they'll never do it anyways.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        There are alternative main roads that aren't highways where you can walk but cars can still drive past you at 90kmh, or even faster if they brake the speed limit. It sucks riding and walking there.

        • 2 years ago
          Anonymous

          It's not just that, it gets boring quickly.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        There are alternative main roads that aren't highways where you can walk but cars can still drive past you at 90kmh, or even faster if they brake the speed limit. It sucks riding and walking there.

        There are very transited dirt roads like "el camino de santiago" here in Spain, which are several pilgrimage routes traditionally used by monks that lead to the holy city of "santiago de compostela". You can travel most of Spain by dirt road like that. I'm willing to bet there are roads like that in every western european country.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      I do keto so I'm suited for endurance, no problem. Usually I eat just once a day, except on weekends when I eat 2-3 times to make up for the calorie loss during the week. I already take multivitamin and vitamin D, though I'm guessing the latter wont be necesary if I'm out all day long.
      Last time I hiked I went on and on for 6 hours without rest, just to test my limits. Feet were fricking sore by the end though.

      2/2
      >NEET
      I know you're probably just daydreaming and entertaining yourself with the thought of embarking in such journey, I've been there many times before, but honestly I would love for you to do it, brother. You'll be miserable through times, you'll maybe cry and wish you had not started but you'll also grow so much every km you walk, every step outside of your comfort zone will be nothing but growth. At worst you waste 6 months of your life or get hit by a car, still preferable than fade away to the neet life.

      t. Former neet that left everything behind and moved to work on a farm abroad.

      I will try when the time comes, thanks for the tips.

  8. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    The path to Moscow is along the M-9 road. There's not a lot of interesting stuff along the road.
    Consider an alternative route to St. Petersburg through Pskov and/or Veliky Novgorod.
    If you really want to visit Moscow do as Napoleon did and go through Smolensk.

    Also, you'll HAVE to learn how Cyrillic letters are pronounced. Knowing that 'КAФE' just means 'CAFE' or a sign 'Дopoгoбyж' reads like 'Dorogobuzh' will save you a lot of time and effort.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      >If you really want to visit Moscow do as Napoleon did and go through Smolensk.
      That tickles my historical autism, yes please
      >Also, you'll HAVE to learn how Cyrillic letters are pronounced.
      Yeah, I'm thinking to learn at least basic level of french, german and russian, to make the journey enjoyable interacting with people. This is gonna take a lot of planning and study, but it's exciting

  9. 2 years ago
    Anonymous

    Might I recommend a better rout.
    South of France > North of France
    Northern Italy is really nice, wouldn't wanna miss that over more of France
    Austria is a beautiful, although I can understand why you wouldn't wanna miss Germany.

    • 2 years ago
      Anonymous

      I was thinking on making a training route before the big one to moscow by walking along the coast from Gibraltar to Venice, then go back and take a cruise ship from Genoa to Gibraltar or Malaga or whatever.

      • 2 years ago
        Anonymous

        Are you rich?

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