In 2021 Timothy Chattell (MSc History of International Relations 2022) decided to go on the trip of a lifetime and walk from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. He recently shared with us his thoughts on this walking trip through Turkey.
"The story behind this trip started when I first arrived at LSE. My hometown was a small rural Hampshire village, and I had little travel experience before living in London. Meeting people from all over the world who could switch between languages with ease inspired me to see more of the world and acquire a second language myself. This thirst to travel was paired with a COVID-19 lockdown-born desire to get outdoors and do something seriously physical, so the idea behind the trip was born.
I had an interest in Turkey that had been born from a school trip to the Gallipoli battlefields, and from my studies at university. With its straddling of East and West, I felt Turkey would be a fascinating place to immerse myself in. I decided to look at the country on Google Maps to begin working out my route and determine what I could achieve in a day of walking, with all my kit on my back. I plotted a path through the country that took me from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, staying within the easting of thirty degrees.
I have so many great memories from the trip. For instance, the hospitality, friendship and warmth so often shown to me, the incredible scenery in some of the more remote parts of the journey, and the times I ended up adopting a stray dog for the day. I fully share Rory Stewart’s assertion in his book, The Places in Between, that walking is the most human-scaled way of experiencing a journey. There is no skipping the hard, difficult, or unpleasant aspects. You see and experience every inch at the most intimate level possible, pleasant or otherwise. That leaves you, at least in my mind, with the most holistic, ‘real’ version of the journey.
I learned so many things about myself on this trip. I’m very comfortable being an introvert; I’m somewhat better at languages than I imagined being; I get blisters on the tops of my feet rather than on those areas that actually bear significant weight; I cannot stand breaking camp; I find that moving forward, even when it is painful, is the best way to ward off feelings of self-doubt, anxiety or panic; I am never, ever going to be a morning person.
If you are considering a backpacking trip, do it! Take the time to plan for contingencies and emergencies, though you do have to accept there is some risk of injury, getting lost or something else going wrong. The plan will never be perfect, and often the most insightful and exciting moments come from the unplanned, the spontaneous or the accidental. Also, keep a diary: even if you’re just left with a skeletal outline of your trip, memories you didn’t commit to paper will come to you as you read back over your recollections."
Timothy has written a book about his journey through Turkey called 30 Degrees East. He will be donating royalties from sales to the earthquake relief in Turkey, in co-ordination with the LSE Turkish Society.
March 2023