Circling Europe, by water – and exploring the most remote areas, visiting man and nature in all their external environments, that is Daniel’s latest project.

Daniel loves stories, especially those that, for all their embellishment, have a real background. The travelogues of the Argonauts, for example: Those Greek heroes who, around 1’200 BC, set out from the Peloponnese with the legendary ship Argo to explore new habitats or at least interesting trade connections in the remote regions of the Black Sea. These stories inspired Daniel to look far beyond the garden fence at a young age. Just like the Norwegian explorers of the late 19th century and young 20th century: Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen had Daniel making plans for nights on end until, at the age of 17, he actually stood on cross-country skis on Greenland and made his own tracks there.

The time is ripe for Daniel, to become – as a resident of a landlocked country! – to venture out into the wide open sea himself, in order to broaden his horizons in a completely different way: Circumnavigating Europe in an inflatable boat. And to land where he smells something interesting (or where he is being driven).

You can be part of this journey – here you can check where Daniel and the ArgoFram are at the moment; and you can ask questions, give tips, or arrange interesting places and exciting people for Daniel to visit.

The people around 1’200 B.C. had the idea that Europe was surrounded by water, just like Africa (Libya) and Asia. Africa and Asia were known in outline, and people were keenly interested to learn more about these border regions. So they put it to the test, built boats and set off!

Many questions had to be answered: What about the assumed water connection from the Black Sea to the ‘ocean’? Did the ‘ocean’ refer to today’s Caspian Sea or the Baltic Sea, or even both? After all, trade was already being conducted with the peoples who settled there, for example by obtaining raw materials for metal processing. – Or did the ‘ocean’ even refer to today’s Arctic Ocean? After all, the climate was much milder back then, with the tree line at 2,400 m, for example, and the sea level along the coastlines was much higher… So where are the borders, what is to discover there – and what lies beyond?

The fact that people back then had a lot of confidence in themselves and set off quite unconcernedly is hard to understand nowadays, when ‘safety’ is the top priority. But it’s also clear that those who set out on a journey could almost only win – this seems familiar somehow… The hunger for discovery at that time had a system: The exploratory expedition of the Argonauts, for example, a bunch of a few dozen heroes and one heroine, Atalante, who had a leader in Jason but didn’t need a leader themselves, can be confidently compared to an Apollo moon landing mission: The best in material and technique of that time was united with the best men and women and sent off. The mission was a success in more ways than one – it took place over three thousand years ago, and we are still talking about it today.

Some of the Argonauts returned to their own circles, rowing/sailing to other southern areas to the African north coast (‘Libya’) or far west in the Mediterranean, even out of the Mediterranean into the ocean to the south, and north – travel reports/tellings and archaeological finds suggest that the descendants of the Argonauts made incredible voyages of discovery ‘around Europe’. Obviously it was lucrative, or at least considerable resources were allocated to it.

Better and better ships were built, knowledge of botany, geology, and other communities/people was acquired, travel reports were evaluated, maps drawn; investments were made in people and materials:  Knowledge has always been a substantial ‘raw material’, and creating urban communities (polis) and commercial centres has been a strategy for growth and survival alike. The population grew, and so did the confidence to shape the future with energy. Departure!

One of these descendants of the Argonauts was Odysseus (son of Laertes, and maternal grandson of Autolykos). This Odysseus travelled the Mediterranean before the campaign to Troy, looking for allies from Ithaca, for example in Cyprus. And so it went back and forth in the Mediterranean… After the capture of Troy, Odysseus travelled south (Africa) and was – according to the legend – then turned westwards. In mythology, these 10 years of travel were described as a thoroughly pleasurable odyssey – did Odysseus, cunning as he is said to have been, combine the useful with the beautiful and pleasurable without hesitation? Or were Odysseus’ journeys really a ‘drift into the unknown’, as Homer put it? Who knows; perhaps Odysseus really did reach the border of the afterlife? – His curiosity will have driven him, and he has grown with the challenges. Once again: Where are the real limits, and what lies behind them?

In more recent times, adventure researchers like Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen have further clarified the world view with seemingly daring but well thought-out travels; they have explored the northern and southern polar seas and their water streams as well as land masses, and not stingy with their own physical effort: they have personally set out to explore personally what lies virtually around the corner of the house in Norway, but also in the completely opposite direction.

That was outstanding, and still commands great reverence today! And it was inspiring to go and see for yourself, although you don’t have to be a hero or an adventurer to do so today. Because Daniel is neither one nor the other – he doesn’t expect to discover anything new. He just wants to go and see (and tell about) what the European world looks like at its edges.

It seems odd that someone who lives comfortably in the centre of a continent and moves around on land as much as possible should now choose water as a connecting element – but is it really odd that a Swiss, a landlocked person, should leave the safe haven to get to know what he is not familiar with?

It is curiosity, interest. – Daniel assumes that those who live on the edge have completely different stories to tell than ‘natives’, also in the figurative sense. And that everything, including nature, is perceived differently when you come from the water every day. It’s all about the change of perspective!

We plan ‘fair-weather trips’ with the simplest of means, with an inflatable boat, light, agile, yet stable on the water, gliding smoothly – with enough propulsion to master even tricky passages. And since in the meantime, for almost 100 years, canals have been connecting the White Sea in the north with the Black Sea in the south of the continent, it is indeed possible to sail completely by water around Europe!

It is irrelevant whether or how many ships or persons have ever succeeded in such a complete circumnavigation. Daniel resp. his ArgoFram will hardly be the first – will they?.. Yes, there is a special attraction in the air to consciously circumnavigate your own continent in the same boat. A project with a clear beginning and an equally clear end. That’s why the written and pictorial recordings; that’s why this blog here.

The route is to lead from Basel to Rotterdam, then in the North Sea to Denmark and across to Norway and along the Lofoten Islands to the North Cape, before passing through the Barents Sea into Russian territory, then around the Kola Peninsula into the White Sea, to enter the canal system at Belomorsk to St. Petersburg and in the Baltic Sea to Tallinn. It continues ‘back’ into the canal system to the east, to the Volga, and with it in a wide arc to the south, to reach the Black Sea via another canal to the Don. Through the Bosporus into the Mediterranean, around Crete, the Peloponnese, Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica to Marseille, and from there around the Iberian Peninsula, around England/Ireland, until Daniel finally finds his way back to Basel – this complete circumnavigation and exploration takes about 450 to 500 days.

Daniel plans to divide this route into three parts: First wintering in Tallinn (revision of the ArgoFram), second wintering near Marseille, and then in the third part around Western Europe and back to Basel. With many encounters and even more surprises in between!

That will be exciting. Especially because apart from the approximate route nothing has been planned, but every day (and every weather) has to be taken anew and the best of it has to be made.

You can be part of it – the logbook shows soberly what happened and what is happening all the time, on the map you can see the itinerary; you can check live where Daniel and the ArgoFram are right now. And the daily blogs tell the story.

Join this journey! – You can be a part of it; write Daniel, ask him what you are wondering about, what else he should look for. Or introduce him to interesting places or exciting people you know or have heard of: Become part of this story!