Tag: hiking
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Wild camping in Estonia
Estonia is fabulous at wild camping. The RMK app (with an English option) is the national resource for telling you where all the best facilitated wild camping spots are and what is there. Often there are composting toilets and fire places, complete with firewood. All for free. Some are accessible by track, others you have…
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City stress travelling with a dog
Cities just aren’t so fun with a dog, let alone for a dog. Many of the pleasures that may have been enhanced by a human companion are not shared with my dog, from beautiful architecture to restaurant cuisine. I’ve actually avoided stopping in some big cities Interrailing with my dog. Railway Dog and I avoided…
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Train times in the Baltic States – distinguishing fact from fiction – and a dog’s perspective on alternative transport
Trains in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia seem rather left off international rail apps, or even worse, have their trains listed incorrectly. Whether it’s Rail Europe, Rail Planner (Interrail/ Eurail) or Google maps, they are either empty or unreliable. Lithuania, which does have trains listed on Rail Planner, doesn’t have many of those trains in reality,…
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Cheating at bird watching – a beginner’s tale
I’m new, this week, to birding. Railway Dog and I were hiking with some lovely people from Germany and their dogs in Nida, Lithuania, a few mornings ago. I’ve downloaded the apps one of them recommended: Birdnet and BirdLasser, and in the process found Merlin. Merlin seems to combine the two, with both identification and…
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What to pack for 3 months Interrailing
This morning in Riga, Latvia, I surprisingly had a weighing scales where I was staying. So I could weigh my pack. It is down to 15kg if I’m wearing my boots and jacket and only carrying 1 litre of water and a light meal for us. Apart from food and drink, much weight is camping…
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Klaipeda and Nida, the sandy West coast of Lithuania
We arrived in Klaipeda close to midnight, thanks to the only train options there from Siauliai (or Vilnius or anywhere) being very early or very late. On the plus side, I didn’t get hassled for not having a reservation, there were no dog issues, and my Interrail pass went down okay. After a bit of…
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Romania with my cousin, and a hire car
Romania is different to the rest of Europe, particularly in the South and Bucharest. Sighisoara is stunning, and the Torda Gorge gorgeous. We got rained out of Piatra Crailui National Park, so I will have to go back there someday. There’s a concerningly extensive infestation of Japanese knotweed in many places, I hope they can…
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Drop scones and pancakes
Easy travel food, especially as you will often find flour and sometimes oil left behind by previous guests in a hostel or apartment kitchen with a hob. Even better if there is cinnamon and/or ginger. You can even take them on a hike to eat cold (ginger/fruit ones work especially well for this). Mix (the…
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Bratislava to Budapest with a happy doggy hike stop-off on the way
We took an early train to Budapest so we could get out in the incised meanders of the River Danube on the way there, for a hilly hike. The international train between the Slovakian and Hungarian capitals fortunately stopped at the little station of Nagymaros-Visigrad. The viewing tower at the top is said to have…
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Slovenia to Austria for a hike
Getting a taxi for an early train from Maribor sure was pleasant, with Baspie dog getting a few extra zzz in on my ankle. The second time on a train to Vienna but again getting off sooner, this time in Graz. Use the on platform machines to buy dog tickets (with or without human tickets)…