So this is what we’re doing: Hiking E8, one of the European Great Long Distance trails, from Dursey head, Ireland to Istanbul, Turkey.
On https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E8_European_long_distance_path we found the plan of the trail that is continuous from Ireland to Istanbul. On the official website you can find information on what parts of the trail are officially mapped and marked. https://www.era-ewv-ferp.org/e-paths/e8/
While we hope that we can follow the full trail through Poland and Ukraine, the political situation forced us to make a plan B. In Kosice, Slowakia we will decide whether we will continue on E8 or if we make a detour via E3 through Hungary to connect again to E8 in Romania.
We will be hiking an estimate of 20-30 km a day, and will take a zeroday (rest day) about every 250 km. We devided the trail in sections between zerodays (information under map)
Sections:
| van | naar | km's | elev + | elev - | Zeroday in: | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dursey Head | Fermoy (IR) | 270 | 6560 | 6540 | Fermoy/ Cork |
| 2 | Fermoy (IR) | Tinahely (IR) | 243 | 4630 | 4570 | Tinahely |
| 3 | Tinahely (IR) | Dublin/Liverpool (IR) | 113 | 3070 | 3160 | Dublin |
| 4 | Dublin/Liverpool (IR) | Worsbrough (UK) | 114 | 1130 | 1090 | Worsbrough |
| 5 | Worsbrough (UK) | Hull/ Rotterdam (NL) | 150 | 240 | 290 | Hull/ Schiedam |
| 6 | Hull/ HvH (NL) | Kleve (D) | 266 | 680 | 660 | Kleve |
| 7 | Kleve (D) | Aachen (Korneliünster) (D) | 251 | 1510 | 1270 | Kornelimünster |
| 8 | Aachen (Korneliünster) (D) | Koblenz (D) | 209 | 3840 | 4040 | Koblenz |
| 9 | Koblenz (D) | Michelstadt (D) | 273 | 5690 | 5540 | Michelstadt |
| 10 | Michelstadt (D) | Crailsheim (D) | 239 | 4490 | 4280 | Crailsheim |
| 11 | Crailsheim (D) | Regensburg (D) | 259 | 4560 | 4620 | Regensburg |
| 12 | Regensburg (D) | Oberkappel (D) | 226 | 5380 | 5230 | Oberkappel |
| 13 | Oberkappel (D) | Waidhofen an der Thaya (Ö) | 236 | 5100 | 5100 | Waidhofen an der Thaya |
| 14 | Waidhofen an der Thaya (Ö) | Wenen (Ö) | 219 | 3020 | 3370 | Wenen |
| 15 | Wenen (Ö) | Trencin (SK) | 283 | 6500 | 6450 | Trencin |
| 16 | Trencin (SK) | Certovica pas (SK) | 218 | 9270 | 8280 | Certovica pas |
| 17 | Certovica pas (SK) | Sautoraljaujhely (H) | 242 | 6600 | 7710 | Sautoraljaujhely (route leaves E8 at Kosice) |
| 18 | Sautoraljaujhely (H) | Baia Mare (R) | 276 | 1420 | 1340 | Baia Mare |
| 19 | Baia Mare (R) | Vatra Dornei (R) | 209 | 7830 | 7260 | Vatra Dornei (route connects to E8 again) |
| 20 | Vatra Dornei (R) | Pasul Ghimesz (R) | 226 | 9280 | 8930 | Miercurea Ciuc |
| 21 | Pasul Ghimesz (R) | Timisu de Jos (R) | 299 | 10660 | 11100 | Brasov |
| 22 | Timisu de Jos (R) | DJ105G weg naar Sadu (R) | 202 | 12220 | 12390 | Sadu/ Cisnadie/ Sibiu |
| 23 | DJ105G weg naar Sadu (R) | Baile Herculane (R) | 262 | 10480 | 10870 | Baile Herculane |
| 24 | Baile Herculane (R) | Negotin (Ser) | 195 | 3710 | 3810 | Negotin |
| 25 | Negotin (Ser) | Knazjevac (Ser) | 255 | 6890 | 6710 | Knazjevac |
| 26 | Knazjevac (Ser) | Sofia (BG) | 230 | 5980 | 5660 | Sofia |
| 27 | Sofia (BG) | Studenets ski resort (BG) | 300 | 8220 | 7100 | Studenets ski resort |
| 28 | Studenets ski resort (BG) | Edirne (T) | 250 | 4340 | 5920 | Edirne |
| 29 | Edirne (T) | Istanbul (T) | 304 | 4460 | 4510 | Istanbul |
| total | 6819 | 157760 | 157800 |
When the situation in Ukraine is safe to hike, we will change the route from section 17 and 18 to the schedule below. This will add about 500 km to our journey.
| 17 | Certovica pas, km 503(SK) | Bardejov (SK) | 255 | 2490 | 2460 | Bardejov |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | Bardejov (SK) | Velykyi Bereznyi (UKR) | 336 | 11610 | 11690 | Velykyi Bereznyi |
| 19 | Velykyi Bereznyi (UKR) | Ust Chorna (UKR) | 255 | 11300 | 10280 | Ust Chorna |
| 20 | Ust Chorna (UKR) | E8 bij Cavnic (R) | 224 | 8910 | 9090 | Sighetu Marmatiei, |
| totaal | 1070 | 34310 | 33520 |
Schedule day by day:
There is no way we can plan roughly 300 days of hiking ahead. Nor do we want to. But since we can imagine you are curious as to where we will be at a certain time, we made a rough schedule of our hike. The schedule will be updated as we progress.
| Town | total distance | date |
|---|---|---|
| Fermoy/ Cork | 270 | 17/03/2026 |
| Dublin | 626 | 02/04/2026 |
| Hull/ Schiedam | 890 | 13/04/2026 |
| Aachen/ Kornelimünster | 1407 | 06/05/2026 |
| Michelstadt | 1889 | 28/05/2026 |
| Regensburg | 2387 | 20/06/2026 |
| Waidhofen an der Thaya | 2849 | 12/07/2026 |
| Wenen | 3068 | 23/07/2026 |
| Certovica pas | 3569 | 16/08/2026 |
| Sautoraljaujhely | 3811 | 27/08/2026 |
| Baia Mare | 4087 | 07/09/2026 |
| Vatra Dornei | 4296 | 18/09/2026 |
| Brasov | 4821 | 13/10/2026 |
| Sadu/ Cisnadie/ Sibiu | 5023 | 24/10/2026 |
| Negotin | 5480 | 16/11/2026 |
| Sofia | 5965 | 08/12/2026 |
| Studenets ski resort | 6265 | 19/12/2026 |
| Edirne | 6515 | 30/12/2026 |
| Istanbul | 6819 | 10/01/2027 |