and/or hostels are counted on for food and lodging, so packs can be light.
Note that these hikers do not make any advance reservations; they have
no idea when they will be in a particular town.
One of the routes of the Grande Rondonee, the GR5, starts at the Hook
of Holland, right on the North Sea, and goes all the way to Nice in southern
France. The total distance is about 1300 miles, and hikers of all ages,
with real dedication, do the entire route in about three months. To do
the distance in this time frame, you have to be willing and able to travel
about 15 miles each day, but this pace allows for many layovers to enjoy
a particular town, or area. Most entire-route hikers start in early May,
and count on finishing in late July, just before many Europeans take their
vacations and start filling up the hotels along the way. Restaurants, hotels
and/or hostels are counted on for food and lodging, so packs can be light.
Note that these hikers do not make any advance reservations; they have
no idea when they will be in a particular town.
We of the over 60 set could handle the pack weight just fine; it would be below the "Easy-Carry-Load" defined in Chapter 6 above. However, the daily grind of 15 miles is a little too much. What is better for Elderhikers is to hike just a segment of the trail, say in a two week period, and cut the daily hike distance to an easier 6 to 10 miles. One would pick just the segments of most interest, (it would take about 10 years to complete the entire route at this pace). We personally feel that doing two or three segments will be enough for us. We will see the parts that are of most interest to us, and then go hiking somewhere else.
The GR5 goes through Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France on its
way south. Luxembourg is a tiny country, and we discovered that we could
hike just about the entire length of their segment in a two week stint.
We contacted the Luxembourg Tourist Office in the USA, and received several
really good guide books. One book covered the trail in detail, and another
listed the cities, giving the number of hotels, and in some cases, their
names, along the route. We had all the information we needed. Laying out
the trip with the help of our travel agent, we arranged to fly to Paris,
immediately take a train to Luxembourg City, and, with a reservation, crash
into a hotel there, close to the railroad station. The next day we would
take the train to Vianden at the North end of the country, and stay in
a hotel for two nights there, again with an advance reservation. On the
layover day in Vianden, we could do some sightseeing, stretch our legs,
and continue getting over jet-lag. Then we would start hiking. (continued)