Walkers: how hot is too hot for you?
 

Any European trip walkers here? Has anyone been on a self guided or group walking experience?

On an all day walk, with several breaks, and with (at the most) 5-7 miles a day, and (at most) ascent of 1,600.....how hot is too hot?

This is with a day pack pretty filled up.

I'm curious to hear from you. Thank you in advance.
- Cymbeline

I consider 10-12° with 25% humidity and a breeze to be pretty much ideal. Shade or a light overcast helps, too. Long walks can generate tremendous amounts of heat, and I always dress cooler than the prevailing weather might suggest, to allow for the extra heat.

Thanks for your opinion, Anthony. That has me thinking. The destination I'm thinking about is around 22 at the time of year I can go.

My girlfriend and I have taken three 10 mile walks this summer. We stop as much as we like. The temperature was something like 75. It was lovely! Yes, a little sticky under the backpack but I'll take that any day over rain. Now that's just my opinion and I know you asked for different people's opinions.

Also to add, wear a sunhat and apply sunscreen every two hours if you choose the sunny trip.

I'm not sure anyone else can answer that question. Every person is different. I walk 10-12 miles a day frequently when in Europe (cities, hikes in mountains, etc) and often the temp is far warmer than 22C and I have no problem. But that's me. Certainly you must know yourself. How hot at home makes you uncomfortable?

We were in Seville a year ago last May and it was 39. That's hot.

Visited a museum we had no interest in visiting. Sat outside in the shade (it was comfortable in the shade) having a drink. Phsyched ourselves for 5 minutes before crossing an uncovered bridge to get to a pottery store.

The evenings were very nice.

I'd take too hot and sunny over cold and rainy any day.

As with the other posters I walk several miles a day while in Europe. For me the perfect weather is 55-60 degrees, no rain.

My DH wonders why I can walk 10 or so miles a day in 2" heels and can't make it around the neighborhood in the morning wearing trainers! It all depends on the scenery!

Thanks for all your replies. I just wanted to see other people's MOs regarding walking for two weeks. I am just sickened about this coming hurricane and I don't know why I am even thinking about travel now. Thanks again.

doesn't it depend on where you live and the temps you're used to?

Personally, I think humidity is far more of a killer than heat.

I wouldn't be comfortable at much over 20- 25 degrees (how do you do that little circle thing, again). When I did tha Samaria, with all the other good little tourists, we set off at 7am, to be finished by late lunchtime. You'd bake, else.

There was one lassie walking with us, who had done everything right- except she forgot sun lotion for the backs of her legs. You could have fried eggs on them by the time she got to the bottom. It must have been 30- but NOT humid- by the time we got down.

We did the mountain, Gingilos the following week. Similar temps, but a breeze so no probs.

If you look at a map, you'll see that Europe is about as long as America is wide and about as thin as America is short. Most of Europe is a great deal further north and a lot nearer the sea than the US, so temperatures in Europe often vary much more from place to place than in the lower 48.

I don't understand the climatology of this, but a 1600 foot change in altitude in a lot of Europe can change the climate dramatically (from pleasant mid-Spring on a walk in southern Spain this May to only slightly above freezing). A near-identical walk a few weeks ago in California, but with a 3,500 altitude change, produced no change in heat that I could discern.

Outside winter, Western Europe is normally a great deal cooler than the US. Visitors don't always realise that, since they congregate in cities which create their own microclimates, air conditioning is much rarer, a HUGE proportion of European buildings were built to retain heat during the Little Ice Age and European crowds tend to be bigger and denser. But it's usually a lot cooler in the open countryside

I'm about as intolerant of heat as it's possible to be (Is there anywhere in the US outside Washington state that has bearable summers?). But, apart from inland in the extreme south in July/August, I've never encountered European rural weather too hot to manage a 5-7 mile walk.

Prolonged midsummer treks through cities, OTOH, are generally best avoided. Even as far north as London.

It will only depend on your baseline and tolerance. We walked part of the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain and the weather did crazy things in late May. Some days it was very cool and the other days it was quite warm. The interesting thing was that my "quite warm" was unbearable for some of the people that were walking with us. (We live in Puerto Rico so hot and humid is normal for us).

Again the altitude depends on your baseline and your response to change. A 1600 ascent in a daytrip starting alrady high in Switzerland is not the same as walking in the Picos de Europa in Spain.