Bosporus Walk - Part 1
The Malvern Hills to Switzerland

This is the well travelled path near home that usually leads to the Chase Inn but today will head, bit by bit, to Dover, Brussels, Zurich, Luxembourg, Strasbourg, Zurich, Verona, Venice, Ljubliana, Zagreb, Belgrade, Craiova, Targovishte, Burgas and Istanbul.

Colwall Village as we ascend the Malvern Hills with King Edward 1 emerging from Colwall Tunnel at the head of a steam special.

Crossing the Cotswolds we reach the Vale of White Horse and the Uffington White Horse, a 3,000 year old masterpiece.

The historic Ridgeway follows, an amazing routeway.

Goring now as we join the River Thames.

And in Maidenhead Thicket begin to circumnavigate the London area.

Brooklands, near Weybridge. A surprising amount of Concorde was built here.

Then comes the Weald of Kent in this spring view near Kemsing.

As we walk another historic routeway, the Canterbury bound Pilgrims' Way.

And so to Dover.

Where we board a ferry to Calais.

Calais Town Hall, a spectacular building.

A Christmas walk finds us in Audricq.

And by summer we have reached the battlegrounds of the First World War.

The battlefield area straddles the Belgian border. This is Vervik, Flanders.

South of Brussels comes another famous battlefield, Waterloo.

Where the Lion Mound marks this epic battle.

Abbey ruins at Villers-la-Ville, dissolved 1796 following the French Revolution.

And springtime in the Belgian Ardennes by a roadside chateau in the village of Haversin.

Rolling hills and incised rivers. In the complex valley here is the River Ourthe.

Also around here is legendary Belgian Beer.

As our walking group recovers in the brewery pub!

This is Houffalize in another war hit area in the Battle of the Bulge.

Unusually it is a German tank that is plinthed in Houffalize.

American Sherman tanks are much more common as per this example by Wibrin church.

We reach Luxembourg.

More wooded countryside in Luxembourg in this view from Hollenfels Castle, now a youth hostel.

The City of Luxembourg was very heavily fortified and pretty much impregnable in its day.

And Luxembourg Station as we prepare for another walking day.

In which we reach Remersham and the German border, marked here by the Moselle River.

We cross Saarland in early spring.

Reaching the River Saar at Dreisbach.

The Saar is impressive hereabouts, with a spectacular curving bend.

Back in the woods we are pleased it is not the hunting season.

This is Wadern.

And this is Hengstbach, on the border with France .

It is summer now as we head for the citadel stronghold of Bitche.

Bitche's hilltop fortifications are immense.

The timbered villages of Alsace are stunning. This is Issenhausen, our base for a week.

As we reach Strasbourg and the European Parliament.

We like this impressive City.

Petite France, Strasbourg.

Moving south we check the map.

As we join the towpath of the Rhone Rhine canal, full of character and interest.

Colmar now, a wonderful town.

Then perfect walking in the vineyards.

And we must not forget the storks, another aspect of Alsatian culture.

Rouffach now with the Rhine valley beyond.

As we walk the Rhine to the Swiss border.

Basle Town Hall.

Then back to the Rhine as the river begins to narrow.

Covered bridges are found here too and this stunning example, the longest in Europe, crosses the Rhine at Stein.

The Rhine meanders northwards from here so we cut inland.

To reach Baden with its covered bridge over the River Limmat.

And we follow the Limmat to Zurich and the steamers of the Zurichsee.

The Walensee is our next lake.

Wonderful to be walking in Switzerland.

Roadside character by the flume of Flums.

Then comes Heidi's town of Maienfeld. Immaculate in every way.

The Lanquart river is our routeway to the Alps. It is also the route of the road to Engadine.

This is Klosters Youth Hostel which we found brilliant.

We had a room with a view. Over the far ridge is the town of Davos.

And high above Davos, courtesy of the Parsenn funicular, we can look down on our route ahead.