Ben Weeks, Journalist and Gear Editor at Trail Magazine, recently took on KE's GR20 - The Complete Route. Renowned as Europe's toughest long distance trekking trail, this epic journey covers a staggering 180km, starting from the stunning Calenzana on the northern coast and culminating in Conca in the southeast. With an incredible 12,000m of ascent and descent, this trek promises a thrilling challenge.

Avid trekker and adventurer, Ben, was eager to conquer this legendary trail and he did just that! Now he's sharing his invaluable tips and unforgettable highlights from an extraordinary two weeks in Corsica.

Ok, first some context. I'm a travel and mountain journalist and a qualified Mountain Leader and Climbing Wall Instructor. I have trekked all over the UK, including some of the toughest routes in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. I've also trekked in many incredible locations abroad, including the Alps, the Picos de Europa, the Dolomites, Triglav in Slovenia, Kilimanjaro, the Inca Trail and more. I'm also something of a mountaineer, winter climbing regularly in Scotland and having bagged several Alpine peaks, including the Matterhorn last year. To be clear: this isn't some form of boast, but rather to give you an idea of where my background lays when I say the following: this is one of the most spectacular treks I've ever walked and also one of the toughest.

Before I get onto the details, I need to speak about our guide Paulin. I have been lucky enough to travel and work with many guides, but none have been as superb at their job as Paulin. He was extremely professional, highly knowledgeable and very patient with our group but more than that he was overflowing with passion for Corsica. It felt like being shown the mountains by a good friend who was happy to share all that he knew and spread his love of the landscape. I hope to travel to Corsica again and see more of the mountains and when I do, I shall be hoping to reconnect with Paulin. He really is a special guy, a credit to the local agent and KE Adventure and a true ambassador to Corsica.

So, onto the nitty-gritty...

The mountains of Corsica are simply stunning and I wasn't prepared for just how much they and the surrounding landscape would vary throughout the trek. It's a near constant assault on the senses, with the ever-changing colours of the rock, transitioning from grey to red and glowing in the sunrise and sunsets, highlighted by the vast swathes of greenery from the forests and matched by the herbal scents of the maquis, accompanied by the calls of birds, deer and wild pigs and the echoing ring of unseen cowbells high in the mountains. And that's just on the main GR20 route. When you factor in the regular off-path detours to find hidden swim spots and viewpoints that without Paulin I'd never have known were there, the experience was elevated to another level altogether; it often felt that the mountains were there just for us. Another benefit of having Paulin was learning of the heritage and natural history of the various places we passed through. Paulin has previously been a botanist and a goatherd and was a wealth of incredibly useful information, including where to find the best Corsican cheese at the mountain bergeries! Be warned - it can be strong!

Even with a fairly decent trekking CV, I found this tough. The thing to be aware of is that it's not just one thing that makes it tough, but the combination of multiple challenges. The trek is 13 days long. Just getting up and walking for 13 days, often with limited sleep and early starts, is draining - by the end of the fortnight I was exhausted. Then there's the distance. This isn't 13 days of short walks. Yes, a few days come in at under 10km, but most are more and at least a couple were well over 20km. This shouldn't come as a surprise - 180km in 13 days - but it is something to remember, particularly when you take the ascents into account. With around 12,000m of total ascent during the trek (many days are up and down and up and down and up and down and...you get the picture) that's nearly 1,000m of ascent per day. In truth, some days are more and some are less, but if you imagine walking up and down a Scottish Munro every day for 13 days in a row, then you're starting to get the picture. However there's still more to factor in: the technicality. There are several days that involve exposure to some big drops and scrambling over difficult terrain. Some of these sections are protected by chains, but many aren't. If you're to get the best out of these days you need to be comfortable on this sort of terrain, including slabs which can be notoriously slippery when wet. Oh and you'll be doing all this with a sizeable pack on your back.

We've established that you'll be trekking for 13 days covering an average of around 14km distance and nearly 1,000m of ascent every day while negotiating tricky terrain with a heavy pack on your back - how on earth do you prepare? The truth is you can't. At least, not for all of it in one go but what you can do is build up your training separately. Get used to walking uphill. Grow comfortable on steep scrambling terrain. Get used to carrying a heavy pack (it has a notable effect on your balance). Most importantly, be as fit as you possibly can. If getting to the hills every week is tricky (I hear you - I live in Norfolk) then take out a gym membership and thrash your cardio. Sign up to spin classes. Make use of cross trainers or stair machines. Make time to make the effort. It'll all be worth it once you're in Corsica. And for two very important reasons. Firstly, as a minimum, you need to make sure you're capable of completing the trek. If you're not, the guide will tell you so and you will be asked to leave. This may sound harsh, particularly as you've paid your money to be there, but if it's not safe to continue, or not fair on the group, you will be required to drop out. And this latter point brings us on to the next reason your fitness needs to be tip top. You'll be walking as part of a group and any group is limited by its slowest members. While you certainly won't be left behind if you're physically capable of completing the trek, you don't want to be the reason the group as a whole gets caught in a late afternoon thunderstorm, or misses sunrise at a spectacular viewpoint, or misses out on a spectacular high-level mountain route to take a shorter and easier low-level bypass, all because you can't keep up with the pace.

The KE kit list is good. Read it and pay attention to the details. All of them. Don't debate them based on previous experience - I did and was missing a few useful bits I had to pick up in a supermarket in Calvi. You might think you can get away with a smaller pack, but 40-45 litres is what you need. You'll be carrying all your day-hiking gear, plus your sleeping bag and overnight kit, plus some communal items like food. One member of our group tried to get away with a 30-litre pack (because it would fit in EasyJet's carry-on frame) and ended up with stuff clipped to and hanging off his pack like a human game of Buckaroo - not ideal for technical scrambling. You might not usually take a Tupperware box for lunch, but the takeaway lunches the refuges provide are usually rice, pasta, or lentil salads and they don't travel too well in a dry bag. Both a sleeping mat and waterproof trousers are, at the time of writing, listed as optional on the kit list. I'd suggest they're essential. The self-inflating sleeping mats provided in the refuge campsites are ok, but although many tents are on raised sleeping platforms, some are pitched straight onto the ground which is cold and rocky. Even when in prime condition (which by the end of the season they're definitely not) the thin sleeping mats provided barely hide the lumps and don't keep out much cold, so take your own mat to add to the pile. And while you might get away with wearing shorts for the entire trek, the Corsican thunderstorms can be big and wet - even if you don't mind your knees getting wet, a pair of waterproof trousers will keep the water out of your shoes. Be sure to also take a set of camping cutlery (don't assume you'll be given a knife to spread the jam on your breakfast bread at the refuges) and a set of earplugs (dorm rooms are a snore-fest).

I'll get straight to the point: approach shoes, or mid-ankled version, or light and flexible boots are the only way to go. The weight of stiff leather hiking boots will be a huge handicap over 180km, but more to the point they simply won't perform as well. For delicate scrambling moves - especially when smearing on slabs - the precision and flexibility of lightweight shoes or boots simply cannot be beaten. A couple of things need to be considered. The GR20 trail is not the first time to try walking in shoes if you've always walked in boots. My advice would be to get a pair of shoes (or lightweight boots) well in advance and do all your training in those. Finally, if you've got a tried and tested pair of boots that have served you well all their life and you're thinking they may have one good trip left in them, the GR20 is not the trek to see out their retirement. The Corsican mountains gobble up boots and if your footwear is not in excellent condition there’s every chance it will simply fall apart. Really, I saw it: a boot shedding its sole halfway up a scramble.

The best GR20 souvenirs (badges, patches, t-shirts, fridge magnets etc) I saw were in the shop at the Haut Asco hotel. This is only three days in so it’s easy to assume that there will be more opportunities later on, but there were none as comprehensive as this. And as it’s the overnight accommodation where you have access to your luggage, there’s nothing stopping you buying as much as you want and sticking it in your transfer bags!

If you've bothered to read all the above, thank you - I hope it was useful. If you've skipped to the end for a summary, then this is it;

The GR20 is beautiful and tough in equal measure. But prepare properly, have the right kit and go into it with your eyes open and it might just be one of the best things you'll ever do.

If you think you’re up for this epic challenge, check out our article “GR20: Are You Tough Enough?” and find out if you truly are!