¡Iberia, Iberia!

Since June 2023, I’ve been on a mission to cross the entire Iberian Peninsula on foot, one trek at a time. Many of the routes were completely planned from scratch (although you will inevitably come across a yellow arrow wherever you are in Spain or Portugal). The mission is to create a network of trails across the Iberian Peninsula that connect all the provinces of Spain and districts of Portugal. I avoid roads whenever and wherever I can, choosing to traverse countryside paths and mountain trails, from village to village and town to town.

Here’s what the journey looks like so far:

• Distance: 7,530 km / 4,679 miles

• Elevation gain: 179,566 m

• Days hiked: 307 days

This post will be updated after each new hike is completed. Over time, I’ll add links below to the stories, reflections, and trail updates connected to each route.

📍 Madrid to Segovia
24–27 June 2023
107 km | 2,620 m gain | 4 days

📍 Llançà to Zaragoza
7–24 July 2023
521 km | 8,966 m gain | 37 days

📍 Tàrrega to Avilés
7 August – 29 September 2023
909 km | 20,766 m gain | 46 days

📍 Castellón de la Plana to Fuentes del Ebro
15–24 October 2023
255 km | 4,890 m gain | 9 days

📍 Algeciras to Zafra
13 November – 1 December 2023
437 km | 5,927 m gain | 18 days

📍 Huelva to Andorra
17 January – 23 March 2024
1,670 km | 41,254 m gain | 66 days

📍 Utrera to Alicante
1 May – 7 June 2024
922 km | 22,067 m gain | 36 days

📍 Irún to Lisbon
21 September – 24 November 2024
1,470 km | 39,645 m gain | 50 days

📍 Alicante to Guadalajara
8 June – 2 July 2025
569 km | 10,949 m gain | 16 days

📍 Viana do Castelo to Guadalajara
4 November – 10 December 2025
850 km | 22,482 m gain | 35 days

I hike in the mornings — usually 5 to 7 hours depending on the terrain and distance that day — and arrive at my accommodation around midday. I start work at 1pm CET and continue through to 9pm. Then it’s dinner, a bit of reading if I’m lucky, and ideally bed by 10pm.

I work remotely from my laptop, typically from cafes, rural guesthouses, small-town hotels, or the occasional co-working spot. Truthfully, I often have to take my first calls of the day without showering because the accommodation may not be available until 3pm or even 4pm, only splashing my face with cold water so that I look vaguely presentable from above the shoulders on a Zoom call. But it works.

This structure has made me more efficient, more focused, and more disciplined in my professional life. Hiking has become a kind of operating system, one that clears the mind, anchors the day, and leaves less room for distraction.

Not everyone at work knows I do this. I’ve been cautious about sharing it too widely. But those who do know, they have been quietly invested in the journey, and for that I’m deeply grateful.

I want to be clear, however: this is not a glamorous lifestyle. The pictures and videos I share make it seem easy. It is not. Organising these hikes takes a considerable amount of free time when I am not hiking. Then once the hike begins, I am always tired and sleep deprived due to the exhaustion of the effort. I make an effort to speak to new people every day, but since I am always on the move, I spend much of my time alone. I have been to hospital twice, have scars on my arms and legs from cuts from where I have injured myself, and regularly feel some sort of bodily pain. Despite my best planning efforts, I do sometimes get lost in the wild and on two further occasions (besides the hospital visits) I have seriously considered my life to be in danger, from perilous trails of loose stones along cliff edges and boars whose territory I have entered. I am frequently hungry and at times there are no food services in the little villages I stay in, and therefore, have no lunch or dinner to eat. I have been caught in sudden snow storms, walked days in sodden clothes as rains penetrate through my protective coverings, and ran out of water under the summer sun with the nearest settlements hours away. I have walked on inflamed knees that refuse to bend and toes which have been bent inwards from swollen feet that fit no boot. But at the end of every hike, I honestly manage a smile. I look back at the trail from which I came and tell myself I am not precisely the same person who left earlier that morning, and the next day I keep going.

This lifestyle is not suitable for everyone, and throughout my journeys I often question why I do this to myself. Perhaps if I told you my answer, it would seem inadequate. But I return to the same conclusion each time about my next steps: I would not trade this in for anything and a part of me never wants this mission to finish.