Trekking The GR5 Trail Benelux and Lorraine

Guidebook to walking the northern section of the GR5 - 1000km starting in Hoek van Holland and passing through the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Lorraine to Schirmeck in France. A long-distance route covering a variety of cultures and landscapes. The full GR5 from the North Sea to the Mediterranean is one of the world's greatest trails.

Carroll Dorgan

Carroll Dorgan was born and educated in the United States. Pushed by the absence of jobs for inexperienced history graduates where he happened to be living in 1975 and pulled by his wanderlust, Carroll pursued a teaching career for a decade in international schools in Iran, Belgium, England and France. He then returned to California to qualify as a lawyer, but soon moved back to Europe to practice international law in the Netherlands and France. In all of those places, he explored nearby hiking trails. While living in Liège, he discovered the GR5, which passes near the city on its way from Hoek van Holland to Nice. Over the years, the GR5 became his favourite trail. Carroll hiked in the Olympics, Cascades, Sierras and Green Mountains in the United States and the Pyrenees and Auvergne in France, but he was always drawn back to the GR5. Upon completing a trek on the GR5 in the Vosges, Jura and Alps in 1989, he dreamt of hiking the entire trail someday. The dream became a plan and then his first adventure after retiring in 2015. Carroll enjoyed that long trek so much – and is so keen to share his enthusiasm for the trail – that he returned to the GR5 to write the guide to the Northern GR5. Carroll lives in France with Mary, his wife and hiking companion.