Looking back to an unforgettable adventure Part 1 - summary-

... back at work since today, time was running too fast, especially the last four weeks were speeding like a racing car...

But every second of those last 80 days where pure enjoyment. nothing could stop my great mood, no storm or rain or closed trail. The journey created a mindset of complete happiness and satisfaction.

"for a happy person the sun always shines" 

I found this sign on my hiking path and it is so true...

and not only that the sun is always shining, I have a great silence and stability in me now. I feel balanced and in peace with myself. 

Let´s go back into the mountains together...

This was the journey:  

Each green dot is a track I recorded day by day.  It started a bit South East of Vienna, taking me from there more and more into West and South of Austria. To the second half of my journey I stepped over the borderline into Italy ( Tirol / Südtirol)  and a bit further West I also hiked into Switzerland (Engadin/ Graubünden) for a day or two. Finally I changed directions and hiked North through the Silvretta and Verwall region into the final destination area... Bregenzerwald.

Let´s divide it into some smaller bits and pieces, I crossed following regions:

• Wienerwald & Wiener Berge
• Mürzsteger Alps
• Hochschwab
• Eisenerzer Alps
• Niedere / Wölzer Tauern 
• Dachstein Region
• Tennengebirge
• Pinzgau / Kitzbüheler Alps
• Hohe Tauern / Krimmler Aachtal
• Zillertaler Alps
• Tuxer Hauptkamm
• Stubaier & Ötztaler Alps
• Geigenkamm
• Silvretta & Verwall
• Lechtal & Lechquellgebirge
• Bregenzerwald

Looking back I still only scratched some tiny little parts of each area, and missed another few hundred nice ones too, so more hiking to come for the next 100 years to see it all :-)

Stay tuned for some  blogs for each area in the next days with some more details, input, and pictures...

SOME FACTS and FIGURES :

In total I did about 1100 kilometers with my feet,  climbed or hiked about 68000 meters up and down,  spend 65 days with hiking,  a pure hiking time of 311 hours. 

...and I guess probably the same hours spent just sitting, standing or laying somewhere and enjoying the view, the nature, the silence, basically "life, the universe and everything..."

I reached  about 50 peaks 

6 of them more then 3000 meters high:

• Richterspitze 3052m
• Kraxentrager 2999m  (with me reaching about 2 m, I breathed air above 3000 ;-)
• Luibiskogel 3110m
• Hohe Geige 3394m
• Breite Krone 3079m
• Grenzeckkopf 3047m

Pictures of the peaks in the detailed Blogs, here is one from the highest:

17 days I spend all day long above 1700 m,  six days even above 2000 m

I slept in (fun fact) 42 different alpine huts

The highest night spend was on 2700 m above sea-level in the Europa-Hütte,  another fun fact: you sleep in Italy while you have food in Austria in this hut, it sits right on the border line (might have been the other way round with countries, not sure anymore)

And I spent 8 fantastic nights completely outside, the stars where my roof, more of this next time...

I jumped into at least 30 lakes or creeks to refresh , clean, chill or just freeze...

100% sure is that I will never forget all those moments.   

If you want to be nice to yourself ...   spend time in nature !

More pictures on instagram # #markusontheway 

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And if you like the story,  have a beer less next Saturday and support this donation with some €

LINK : Spendenaktion unterstuetzen (aswnet.de)

Austria from East to West to support Dabane

Hello friends & followers My hike from Vienna to Bregenzer- Forrest made me think a lot about nature, climate change and the impact it has to ourselves and the rest of the world. We are in the very lucky situation to live in a safe environment with all the things we need and much more… and with enough water and food all day long … Millions of people don’t… So I would like to invite you all to join me on this charity to support a project in Simbabwe This is the link to more information:  Wassermanagement und angepasste Landwirtschaft - ASW (aswnet.de)  Dabane Trust water management project Dabane Trust Main Webpage Give some cents per kilometer I hiked (1100km) , or per meter up and down (68.000m) , or what about each high point or peak I made higher then 3000 Meters.  (6 peaks)    ... so maybe 11 € or 6,80€ or just 6€ ...   

If you followed my reports over the last weeks, I hope it’s worth a few Euros or dollars…  

SPECIAL OFFER:

If you donate 42 € or more,  I will be glad to guide you on a trip to one of those +3000 Meter peaks .  You can choose  from a very easy peak to hike (Breite Krone 3079m) to a challenging climb (Hohe Geige 3394m) or any other of the peaks I have made if you want.  Ping me for more details on mp.trekking on Instagram or via email to paulezwei@web.de

I and the people in Simbabwe will really appreciate your support. 

The region „Matabeleland“ in Simbabwe is repeatly hit by droughts that threaten the food security of the inhabitants because of the irregular rainfall. The organisation „Dabane Trust“ tries to avoid the worst and to prevent the starving of the people. They are working on the rural water supply, sustainable soil use and the building of community gardens, while involving the village population. Now they are building a sustainable water supply for six villages which is good for the agriculture, but also for 3000 people, who getting a safe access to clean water. „Dabane Trust“ uses the knowledge of the women, who owned as a central role in the water management the responsibility for the water points. Through the professionalization of the water accesses they became less relevant. The project will connect the knowledge of the women and the technique, because they believe that the key to solve the water problem is the equal participation of women and men. 

In Gwanda for example the women are involved in the search of water sources with supporting GPS devices and helping pumps at the water points which can be used all year long. In Workshops from Dabane it becomes clear that the women are glad their knowledge gains in importance and in the end there is enough water for all of the inhabitants because of a strict distribution of tasks. The work of Dabane also implies measures for sustainable land management, because of erosion as another big challenge for the region.