The Belgian Travellers

Tonight is my last night at home before end May... What I am thinking about is my family, my friends, my colleagues, my neighbours,... that I won't be able to hug soon. It feels weird. I will miss them. In Belgium, the country is so small that we see each other very often, so we're not really used to stay away for such a long period. In a few hours, I will remove my computer from my desk. This way, Manon, who will stay here during our travel, will have some place for her own computer. Because I don't want to think too much tonight (I want to be able to sleep !), I decided to spend some time writing about something I promised a few month ago : the content of my backpack. The total weight will be less than what's written in the total, because we are 2 and many thinks can be used by both of us. If I divide by 2 the weight of the common material, I obtain around 8,5 kg. To that, we'll have to add the food and the water. We hope we'll be able to hike wi...

  Time flies...   In January, we informed our employers or clients that we were leaving in a few months. The same month, we booked our plane tickets. We then concentrated on the practical aspects of our travel : buying the material (thank you Seeonee ), studying the maps (thanks to the great Te Araroa trust website ), making new orthopedic soles (thank you CBAO ), finding someone that would take care of our flat, asking for a 6-months visa for New Zealand (and getting it), finishing our phone/Internet/television contract, as well as our mobile phone postpaid deal, communicating about our project in the medias ( radio and newspapers ) and... training in the moutains . And here we are now, ready to leave in a few days. We'll first travel in the indian Himalayas, from end September till October. End of October, we will say goodbye to India and fly to Auckland, in New Zealand. It will be the start of the longest hike of our lives... Yesterda...

Testing our new tent MSR Hubba Hubba NX   Training in Belledonne We're back ! We spent an amazing time in France on GR 738 , where we hiked in breathtaking places during 8 days.  High peaks, lakes, clouds, thunderstorms, sun, chamois, ibex,... this high elevation path gave us everything we would have dreamed of. Despite the fact that I had experienced some back pain early July, we  decided to give a try to this new trail and carry 4 to 5 days of food and the full material for the bivouacs. Marie-Laure was kind enough to carry a little more, and we ended up with 11 to 13 kilograms each of us.   Travelling clouds What did we carry in our backpack? - A tent for 2 - Our sleeping bags - Our small sleeping pads (120cm long only) - A sleeping bag sheet - A 1 liter pot for cooking - 2 mugs (1 for each) - A stove - 2 spoons - A lighter - Sandals for the evening - A rain jacke - A jumper for the cold evenings and a thin layer to add just in case...

A question that we're regularly asked is about what we'll bring with us. And that's a good question, indeed. We decided that we want to carry a backpack that would be as light as possible. We aim at carrying less than 9 kg each (without water and food). To achieve this, we need reliable, light, adapted hiking gear. On Tuesday, we went to our sponsor's shop ( Seeonee - have a look at sponsor page if you want to know more about them) and we spent nearly 5 hours there. Augustin, one of the shop owners, helped us in a friendly and efficient way. He explained us the technical differences between the different products and assisted in selecting the most adapted gear. We'll test it in the next few weeks before coming back for the remaining stuff needed (some had to be ordered). So, what did we choose ? For the shoes, Marie-Laure decided to go for a pair of Aku Slope GTX while I choosed the Millet Friction . I usually use shoes that protect my ankles, but taking ...

What to do when you have 4 free days and want to train in Belgium ? Hiking in the Ardens is definitely a great option. So... that's what we did. Marie-Laure went with a group, not only for hiking, also for studying the fauna and the flora. This way, if we're attacked by a weird insect, she'll be able to tell its name! Ok, I'm joking. New Zealand's fauna and flora are definitely completely different from what we can see in Belgium. Oh, by the way, in Belgium, we don't have many snakes, but we have many slowworms. They look a little the same, but slowworms are much much slower. While Marie-Laure was studying, I decided to start the mental training. The two friends that were supposed to go hiking with me were sick. So I decided to go alone. And because the weather was so good, I decided to lighten my backpack by taking no tent and no sleeping pad. It was my first time sleeping alone in the nature without tent. And it was great. However, I must be honest ...

Just imagine... hiking 3000 km across New Zealand, in the wilderness, having to rely only on our abilities in order to find our way and make it from Cape Reinga to Bluff. That's our project between November 2017 and April 2018 : we'll hike the Te Araroa Trail. Before the departure, we still need to prepare a lot : decide the material we'll bring with us, study thoroughly the maps and descriptions of the trail (thank you Te Araroa Trust for the great website ) and... to train. We'll do it mostly in Belgium, in France and then in Ladakh, before our departure to Auckland.  If you want to keep updated and its preparation, stay tuned !