I had to cancel my GR20 hike (and it sucked)

For months, I had been living up to hiking the GR20 in Corsica, (France), the “toughest trail in Europe”. For weeks, I had been preparing meticulously. Preparing and planning my trip and the different stages of the trail, packing my gear, repacking my gear, reading blogs and books, watching videos, keeping an eye on the weather and issues Instagram users using the hashtag #gr20 had spotted. But despite that – I had to cancel my GR20 hike.

And then I got ill.

So I had to cancel my GR20 hike (and it sucked).

I would leave on a Wednesday and the Thursday before, I had a small gettogether with some colleagues. Somewhere that evening (I was going to my hotel quite early), one of my colleagues had told me I looked very tired. The next day, Friday started ok-ish, but I started to feel worse with the hour – tired, nauseous … overall miserable. It even got so bad that I had to do an extra stop in Antwerp and drink a tea to rest at my favorite hotel near Antwerp Central Station to catch a breath and travel on to Gent. That had never happened to me before.

The Saturday was even worse and the Sunday hardly any better.

I was really getting worried about being able to hike the full GR20, a whopping 160 kilometers, especially with the ambitious schedule that I had set myself.
I had to see a doctor. And I did.

And then the inevitable moment comes that your doctor advises against you going on your holiday. Against flying. Against traveling. So I did the only sensible thing to do and canceled the trip.

I had to cancel my GR20 hike … now what?

I won’t let my preparation be in vain and will certainly be trying another attempt at mastering the GR20 trail somewhere in 2019.

After some weeks, I decided to refocus my efforts on a new challenge. After some back and forth, I decided on taking on part of the 650 kilometer Jordan Trail in Jordan – from Dana to the Red Sea. I’m currently planning and preparing this trip, including my packing list and even a detailed water planning as the trail runs for larger parts through the desert without any water supplies.