In researching the GR20 I kept on stumbling across quotes such as “The Toughest Trail In Europe” and ‘The Hardest Trek in Europe” but everyone seems to want to be the hardest and the toughest at the moment so I chose to take these quotes with a pinch of salt. I shouldn’t have the GR20 is brutal!
The trail runs from the North West of Corsica to the South East over 190km with over 13,000m of climbing. Most people take on the mighty trail in 14 days but I managed to trick a bunch of hardy souls to try and attempt it in 5 days, easy!
The plan was simple. We were going to cover the GR20 in 5 days. We broke up each day by the stages set out in Paddy Dillon’s GR20 Cicerone Guide. We would do 3 stages each day except for day 5 where we would do 4 (shhh don’t tell anyone). This gave us something to aim for, mainly a cold can of coke at the end of each stage, as we ambled along the trail.
We were hoping to run most of the trail but it turns out that most it wasn’t runnable with rocks, boulders and ladders the whole way. To be honest it was a slog and a really tough route but amazingly beautiful with the view of the ocean from the ridge line we were on. The refuges were basic but had all you needed after a long day on the trail, a bed and food!
What kit do you need for Fast-packing?
This is what I took: Trail Shoes (Saucony Peregrine), Bag (Osprey Tempest 20L), Flip Flops, Travel Towel, 2 × 750ml water Bottles, 1 × 2L Platypus, Toiletries (shampoo, shower gel, toothpaste, toothbrush, brush, mosquito repellant, sun block, lip balm, deodorant), First Aid Kit, portable charger, phone and watch charger, plug adaptor, watch, ear plugs, eye mask, buff, gloves, sleeping bag liner, running shorts, running top, sports bra, shorts, t-shirt, leggings, long sleeve top, waterproof jacket, purse, passport, underwear, socks, head torch, 10 x energy bars (BattleOats), Electrolyte Tabs (Nuun), Walking poles (Leki).
