What to Read Before Walking the GR5
For two and half months I read everything I could find about the GR5. I like to know what I’m getting myself into and this was my first long distance walking adventure, so I did my homework.
Here are the books and guidebooks I read.
Walking Europe From Top to Bottom by Susanna Margolis and Ginger Harmon (published 1986)
This is a Sierra Club Travel Guide. It was published in 1986. It is not in print any longer, but I found a used copy on Amazon. The trail has changed over the years, but the best part of this book is that the authors divide the route into eleven sections, and they have a map and a table of each stage and how long the stage is in kilometers and hours of each section. I found this so helpful that I took a photo of each map and table and kept them in my phone for reference as we walked and left the heavy book at home.
A Walk to the Water by Daniel Graham (published 2015)
This is a memoir about walking the E2 (GR5) (It’s called the GR5 when it is on the continent.) In 2013 the author and his brother walked from their home (front doorstep) in Bristol, England along the E2 until they got to the English Channel where they took a ferry to The Netherlands and began the GR5. They ‘wild camped’ most of the way and were on a tight budget.
A Long Walk South By Sean Rothery (published 2014)
A 65-year-old Irishman walks the GR5 after retiring as an architect. He reflects on life and earlier travels mountain climbing in the Alps.
Mountain Lines by Jonathan Arlan (published 2017)
Mountain Lines is a memoir about walking the Alps part of the GR5 or as it is sometimes called the Grand Travers. Arlan was a twenty-nine-year-old amateur hiker, but he persisted. The memoir is well written and fun to read. I read this book once before we walked, and I read it again on my kindle as we walked in the Alps.
Cover of the book, Mountain Lines by Jonathan Arlan
Guidebooks
There are three guidebooks published by Cicerone that cover the whole GR5.
The first covers the Northern part, from Hoek van Holland to the beginning of the Voges (The Neatherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Lorraine, France). This one was not published when we walked. But I did read Carroll Dorgan’s blog and I emailed with him to gather more info. He was very helpful. Now you can read it all in this guidebook.
Cover of the Guidebook, The GR5 Trail Benelux and Lorraine, by Carroll Dorgan
The middle one covers the Voges and the Jura. It takes about a month to walk the Voges and the Jura. If you only have a short time to walk and you want to walk in a relatively unknown part of France, I suggest the Jura or the Voges.
Cover of the guidebook, The GR5 Trail Vosges and Jura by Les and Elizabeth Smith
Finally, the guidebook below covers the Alps which can be walked in about five or six weeks. Another name for this is the Grand Travers.
Cover of the Guidebook, The GR5 Trail by Paddy Dillon
All the guidebooks are organized roughly the same way. Table of Contents, Mountain Safety, Map Key, Overview Map, Schematic route profile, Route Summary Table, Introduction, History of the Region, When to Go, Flower, animals and birds, How Hard is It? How Long Will It Take? Accommodations, Planning your walk, What to Take, Finding Your Way, and Using This Guide.
The majority of the guidebook is divided into “Stages”. Each day is a stage. Each stage is four to six pages long and itself is divided into parts: the overview, the map, the altitude profile, photos, and short description of the town/village at the end of the stage.
Check them all out at Cicerone. And if you have an questions don’t hesitate to reach out by email. I’m happy to help.
We had the guidebooks in e-book format on our phones.
And now you can read my memoir about the GR5
Available where ever you buy books, in ebook, audiobook and paperback.
Happy reading and walking!