HI Bob....are you still planning to walk the Via Egnatia? When do you plan to go? There's a blog by Anita (search Anita blog via Egnatia & it should work) that's very thorough on route & accomodation from Durres to Thessaloniki. I bought the guide Via Egnatia on Foot from the VE Foundation last fall & plan to walk it this fall 2016 with a friend. We had been corresponding with Toon from the foundation with the expectation of more information about the route past Thessaloniki coming this spring. However, the VE Foundation website has recently disappeared.....I can't find any link to it that works. Not sure what the issue is. I have emailed Toon but no info yet. Have you had recent communication with them?
Thanks in advance, Pat
I am hard at work on it. See another thread that I have started: "Start VF del Sud (Rome-Bari) 10 May, then Via Egnatia (Durres-Thessaloniki)" I start in Rome on May 10 and hope to arrive in Durres on June 3.
I have read Anita's blog. It's great for pics of the route and accommodation problems in parts of the route. I won't be taking a tent, so I will have to work harder to get the locals to take me in.
I also listened to the three 30-minute BBC Radio episodes by Bettany Hughes' (there is a link in my other thread). I gives more atmospherics on the route that help to reduce the 'known unknowns' a little.
I just had my VE guide spiral bound so I can fold it flat when open and make it more convenient to use in the field. That cost $A4 t a big office supplies shop, so it was very inexpensive. The holes for the spiral binding cut into some of the maps, but it is not a problem.
Toon told me that they have good data (incl GPX files) for 150+km from Thessaloniki. He will share the data if you help with route reconnaissance. That's fair. The last time I was in touch was a few weeks ago.
I just checked (Sat 17:20 Melbourne time) the VE website and get the msg:
"Error displaying the error page: Application Instantiation Error: Error initialising the session." Hoppefully it is a temporary glitch.
Anyway, have a look at the other thread. I am not particularly worried about the VE, but the Italian walk from Rome to Bari that I will do first is a bit problematic in terms of the lack of good guidebooks. That surprises me, given that the VF del Sud basically follows the Roman
Via Apia, the
Via Triana and later traditional pilgrimage routes. I think it would have been easier to walk this route in Roman times than today, so far as daily stage accommodation is concerned.
Keep in touch re your own plans.
Best regards
Bob M