About this website

My name is Sven Lewerentz and I have created this website. The European Long Distance Path 1 has accompanied me for most of my life. I spent my first stages comfortably sitting in a pram, later on a small bicycle with training wheels, which my mother was ‘allowed’ to push on the sandy tank tracks of the german Nordheide. Then, further south, the first kilometres on foot. My mum hiked from Flensburg in northern Germany to Lugano in Switzerland over the course of many years, while I was only involved sporadically from the Sauerland onwards. But my interest in hiking and the E1 was awakened.

Stages I had walked together with her from Lake Lucerne to the Gotthard were probably a decisive factor in my love of the mountains. Unfortunately, these are quite far away from Hamburg, the german city where I live. But even here I come across the E1 almost every day, for example the beautiful stretch in Altona along the Elbe. And I've often wondered what it would be like to follow the white ‘X’ all the way to the Alps in one stretch.

In the summer of 2014, I fulfilled a big dream and spent almost three months hiking along the European long-distance hiking trail E1 and the GTA (Grande Traversata delle Alpi). I started in Detmold in Germany, from there I travelled along the E1 to the Gotthard and Airolo. I then continued from the Nufenen Pass on the GTA to Rimella.

In terms of hiking, I'll be travelling north on the E1 and south on the GTA in smaller stages over the next few years - at least that's the plan.

During my hike in 2014, I came up with the idea for this website: an online hiking guide for the E1 and possibly later also the GTA, which is always up to date because it is not maintained by a single person, but by a community of long-distance hikers. Quite apart from that, I could never create and maintain the content on my own. Also, my strength lies less in writing stage descriptions than in creating websites. Because that's my job.

The following reasons were decisive for me:

When planning my hike, I could no longer fall back on the ‘standard work’ on the E1 by Arthur Krause, as it is no longer available (according to Kompass-Verlag, there will be a new edition ‘at some point’...) and the information available on the internet was often spread over many websites and blogs and of very different quality or topicality.

I was also surprised to meet very few long-distance hikers on the E1. On the route into the Alps, I only had two (!) conscious encounters with E1 hikers. Some innkeepers didn't even realise that the trail ran right past them.

I had the feeling that the E1 could do with a bit of lobbying, at least outside the areas where it runs on well-advertised regional hiking trails. After all, hiking on the E1 is a uniquely good way to get to know Germany and its European neighbours. And not in the fastest way from A to B, but - as far as possible - guided through beautiful and varied landscapes.

I was particularly interested in GPS tracks and information about accommodation when preparing for a long hike. For the latter, I was always looking for simple, affordable and personally managed hostels, rather than a ‘luxury wellness oasis’.

And so, with this website, I want to create a source of information that offers what I want when planning a hike. And perhaps also make one or two people aware of the E1 and curious about it. I would be particularly pleased if I could find a few people who would like to share their experiences and information about the E1. Be it stage descriptions, texts about places of interest, tips for accommodation or other things.

I think it would be great if, in the long term, an up-to-date and lovingly maintained hiking guide for the E1 and perhaps other long-distance routes could be created. You can find out how you can help on this page, for example.