The Six Seas Trail : hike through Europe from the Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea – tips & GPS tracks

Atlantic Ocean – Mediterranean Sea – Tyrrhenian Sea – Ionian Sea – Adriatic Sea – Black Sea. The way, useful information, daily stages, GPS tracks of my “Six Seas trail” from the Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea. 2530km, 91,500 meters of elevation gain from Gaztelugatxe in the Basque Country to Cape Emine in Bulgaria, hiking through the northern part of the Iberian Cordillera, Sardinia west to east, southern Italy from the Amalfi Coast to Cape Santa Maria di Leuca (the tip of the heel of the Italian boot), and the Balkans from the Albanian port of Durrës to the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria.

The Six Seas Trail

For details of each section, the GPS track, elevation profiles, and useful information (accommodation, water, supplies, etc.), see the following pages:

All photos and where I am

By clicking on the image below:

My equipment

Since 2017 and the Appalachian Trail, I have almost the same equipment. For the reasons for my main choices, see the introduction page of Italy.

The daily story (in French)

See the page Les Six mers

The Six Seas : introduction

​”Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero“, these famous words by Horace couldn’t be more appropriate for my 2026 long distance hike. “Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in tomorrow,” or to put it more literally, “without being credulous about the future.” Time flies. For how many more years will I be able to set off on these long-distance hikes? My physical problems of 2025 brought me back to reality: the body ages, and since I do not know what the future holds, I must cherish the present moment. Carpe diem.
​Horace’s words are all the more fitting as my 2026 way passes through Venosa, the poet’s birthplace.
​Hiking through the Stara Planina (the Balkan Range) in Bulgaria, the last major massif in Southern Europe I have yet to traverse. Walking the “heel” of the Italian boot, an itinerary I prepared in 2022 when I was uncertain about completing my project in the Caucasus and Turkey. Witnessing the total solar eclipse on August 12th in northern Spain. Covering the fifteen missing kilometers in Albania to complete a full walking route from Istanbul to Lisbon. Reaching the summits of Moncayo (2,314 m) and Musala (2,925 m), the highest points of the Iberian System and the Balkan Peninsula respectively. And finally, walking continuously in a single year from the Black Sea to the Atlantic.
​Every September, when my long-distance hike is behind me and it is time to think of the next, an idea begins to germinate. I usually build a way around a specific mountain range or geographical area. But to continue my explorations of Southern Europe, where should I go in 2026? I had nothing but a laundry list of ideas. Could I unite them into a coherent whole? Yes, with my “Six Seas trail”. Will it be sexy? I’ll see.
​Hiking through Europe from East to West in one go, traversing various mountain ranges, is uncommon. Doing it in a single year from spring to autumn is rare. In 1992-1993, including a winter stretch, the Englishman Nicholas Crane did it from Cape Finisterre in Spain to Istanbul (Clear Waters Rising). In 2018, two French hikers, Nil and Marie, crossed Europe from the southern tip of Portugal to Istanbul over two years. In 2019, Bruno Leroyer walked from the Black Sea in Romania to Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of the European continent near Lisbon. That same year, Canadian Dylan Ivens created and hiked a route from Cape Emine in Bulgaria to Cape Finisterre (Trans-European Alpine Route: TEAR). A Slovak couple, Matúš Lašan and Anna Liszewska, followed his path in 2022—to my knowledge, she is the only woman to have done so. That same year, Antoine Debontride crossed Europe from Crete to the Atlantic (partly following my tracks in the Balkans and the Alps). Samuel Knosp (L’aventure à 2 pas) and Goulven Le Goff (Fou d’Europe) have also walked across the continent over several years. This “Fou d’Europe” (Crazy about Europe) plans to hike through the continent, West to East, Portugal to Cape Emine, in 2026, from spring to autumn. Others, unknown or anonymous, have surely done it too. Hiking through Europe is more a matter for enduring enthusiasts than social media regulars.
​I have walked from Istanbul to Lisbon almost entirely via two different ways : once through the Carpathians, similar to Nicholas Crane’s version, and another through the Dinaric Alps, like the TEAR. I have the way in my head, but I fear I may no longer have it in my legs. Walking 6,600 kilometers from spring to autumn is demanding. You need to maintain an intense pace: 220 days, 7 months of walking, averaging 30 kilometers daily without rest days. On such a mountainous route, you must also take into account the weather. Over such a long period, bad weather or remaining snow can slow the pace or even force to renounce.
​Nevertheless, I plan to hike through Europe from West to East this year, from the Atlantic to the Black Sea but cheating a bit. I will gather the “missing links” of my long distance hikes across the south of the continent by foot, but also by boat.
​The first part, from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, connects Gaztelugatxe in the Basque Country to Peñíscola in the Valencia region, passing through a part of the Iberian System I don’t know and its highest point, Moncayo. I plan to start in early spring in the Basque Country. It is close enough to my home town that I can wait for a favorable weather window. I will save the high-altitude section for the summer to coincide with the total solar eclipse. My spring hike will then continue further east in Aragon to Peñíscola on the Mediterranean coast.
​A first boat crossing will take me from Barcelona to Alghero, a Sardinian city but with Catalan culture. There, I will walk from West to East as far as the Maddalena archipelago.
​After another crossing, I will start on the Amalfi Coast to walk from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Ionian Sea, at the very tip of the heel of the Italian boot. Aside from the mountainous terrain of Campania at the start, I will then be in Puglia, traversing plateaus and plains. In theory, there are no major difficulties, save for those typical of Southern Italy: vanished trails, fences, and perhaps long, monotonous stretches of asphalt.
​The final boat journey of my “Six Seas Trail” will take me across the Adriatic to Durrës in Albania. Since antiquity, this has been one of the gateways to the Balkans. My goal is to “finish the job” by completing those missing 15 kilometers that wildfires prevented me to do it in 2025. However, I will walk a bit more in Albania, with a nearly complete hike through the country from West to East.
​I will not walk again the section through North Macedonia that I covered in 2025. Instead, I plan to cross the country by bus and resume walking in the Rila massif in Bulgaria. The way passes over Musala Peak (2,925 m) to reach the Stara Planina (the Balkans). The end is fairly straightforward and linear: following the ridgeline to the Black Sea via the popular Kom-Emine trail.
​I plan to reach Cape Emine early July but I won’t have finished. I will return to France, and then in August, I will complete the highest part of the Iberian System during the solar eclipse.
​If I complete this “Six Seas Trail”, I will have hiked through every major mountain range in Southern Europe since 2012. I will have walked continuously from Istanbul to Lisbon; I will have climbed summits like Olympus and the highest points of the Iberian Peninsula, the Balkans, and the Pyrenees. I will have crossed the major Mediterranean islands and walked through every country in the south of the continent. I will be enriched by all the encounters along the way and will have learned immensely about the history and culture of the regions I’ve traversed.
​From the Atlantic to the Black Sea, this long march will allow me to weave together my previous journeys, those of 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023 et 2025, especially in the three peninsulas that have been my playground for the last 15 years: Iberia, Italy, and the Balkans. It is, ultimately, a synthesis of all those long distance hikes. Will it be the conclusion? I don’t know. I am walking again in 2026, and: “Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.”

Description, GPS tracks, tips – 27 000 miles in 15 years