It’s been 28 days, 4 weeks, since I closed the door of my former apartment in Nijmegen. Time to give you some factual information about the trip.

I have walked 730,6km so far. In 28 days, with two days of no walking at all, that leaves an average of 26km per day. If I keep up this pace, I’ll pass the 1000km in 10 days. With those days of rest not counted, the least I’ve walked on a day so far is 10,5km. That was when I injured my knee on the steep descent to Boppard. The furthest I’ve walked on a day is 35,8km. That was when I left Bingelrade and passed through Aachen. If it’s about 4000km to Istanbul I’m on 1/5th now. I have 10 blisters on my feet now, but only have had two so far which made me limp a bit.

Of the 28 days I’m on my way now, I’ve slept 18 nights in my tent, 7 times I stayed either with people or in a sort of shelter, and I’ve paid for 3 nights by now. On 4 days I had the pleasure to walk with somebody else.

I had really bad rain on 4 days while the hottest day so far was about 37 degrees. My backpack has a weight of about 20-23kg, depending on water and groceries.

I bought sunglasses, maps, a waterproof bag, a book (The longest way, about the guy who walked through China) and underwear in addition to what I already had, and lost the same sunglasses, a part of my fuel stove and a waterproof bag (different from the one I bought).

With my website I’ve reached about 1200 individual people from 34 countries. On average 130 people read my posts, of which 3 leave a comment. An average visit lasts about 3.5 minutes, enough to read a post.

So far the facts, now the estimations:

I’ve lit 15 candles in 13 different churches, saved about 20 beetles from dead by turning them around, tasted 12 different kinds of beer so far, walked in the wrong direction only 3 times and never more than 1km. I’ve had compliments about my German 5 times and killed 100 mosquitoes…

Leaves me to say the following:

People have been asking me where I am at a certain moment, please look at my site. I can name the village I’m near, but most likely you’ve never heard of it. That’s why I put the map on my homepage. It’s quite accurate as I update it around once every two days.

I promised a gearlist on my site. I have it ready, but due to some technical issues I can’t upload it yet. Soon to come!  

I don’t have a fancy camera with me. But if you do wanna see the photos I feel like sharing, please check my Facebook. Find a link on the contactpage.

So far this side of the story. Look forward to more inspirational posts when I’m on my way to the Main again! (Yes, I’m actually having a day off today)

With love,

T.