Introducing myself - the long distance walker

Hello Steemians,
I'm Ursula and I'm walking across Europe.
That's my profile in a nutshell.

Yes, I'm really walking. A lot of people I meet along the road hear the word walking and think I mean hitchiking, they have to do a double take when I tell them nope, I'm walking. I really am walking thousands of miles, when I say I've walked here from Kiev, Ukraine I really mean it.

My route began in Kiev and I'm walking from there to Wales, via Bulgaria and Spain, which means I'm travelling in far from a straight line.
I walk every step of it, I never get public transport and if circumstances conspire to get me a lift somewhere I will always return to exactly where my feet left the ground in order to begin again.

I've estimated my total distance at somewhere between 5000 and 5500 miles. I can't be certain until I've finished as I don't plan the exact route in advance. Most weeks, unless I'm following a marked path such as the Via Dinarica in the Balkans, I decide where I'm going to walk using online maps, available paths and satellite imagery.

You can see some very important things in the picture with me - my rucksack and my walking poles. I cut one of the poles from a hazel hedge on the piece of land I used to live on back home in Wales. They're my constant companions, keeping me upright as I walk on unsteady ground, hop across streams or heave myself up mountains.
There's also my rucksack, on my back every day and usually with slightly too much gear in it! I have a friend back home who holds my supply dump and I can regularly receive packages with warmer clothes for winter or replacement kit when things break - which happens a lot.

I met a lovely pair of guys on the road in Bosnia, Matt and Pheng @pushpedal who had cycled all the way there from China. They told me about Steem and I'm interested in exploring the style of this network. I use Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, as well as blogging on my own website and every place feel different to me, they each have their own individual styles of communication.

I'm looking forward to sharing my writing and photography here on Steem. I'll start with the blogs from the beginning of the journey a year ago and bring you right up to date here until I can post the current journey as I make it.
Looking forward to it.

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