During the summer of 2017, I spent six weeks hiking and wild camping my way across lots of different mountain ranges throughout the Balkans and Eastern Europe.

Countries I visited included Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro and Croatia. I carried minimal equipment. Without food and water, my bag weighed just over 5kg’s, including a tent and cooking kit.

In between each walk, I enjoyed some hitchhiking, sightseeing, and other budget travel opportunities whilst resting and resupplying in towns.

I spent the first few weeks of my journey crossing the main portion of the Carpathian Mountains in Romania, from west to east. I then travelled to Sofia in Bulgaria and hiked the E4 trail over the Rila and Pirin mountains into northern Greece. After that, I crossed the Sar Mountains from Macedonia into Kosovo.

My final hike took me through the Accursed Mountains of Albania and down into Montenegro, where I finally stopped walking to enjoy some of the lovely beaches on the Adriatic Coast, before eventually flying home from Dubrovnik in Croatia.

This video shows the first hike of my journey, across the Retezat and Tulisa Mountains in Romania, as well as my visits to Cluj Napoca and Petrosani.

Everything was hastily filmed on a smartphone with a very shaky hand and a regretful ignorance of any kind of camera technique or directorial vision!

A big thank you goes out to all of those who helped me in the planning of my trip by answering my endless questions about route information and bears, etc. You know who you are!

This video features the songs 'Bask' and 'Clade' by Edamame: http://www.edamamebeats.com/

Find out more about my adventures by following me on Instagram:
  / richhartfield