A pair of geology graduates have completed “the world’s longest pub crawl” and toasted the end of their 3,000-mile boozy walk with a beer in Istanbul at “the end of Europe”. Unsure of what to do with their lives after finishing their university studies best mates Harry Bellows, 24, and Elliot Blake, 26, opted to spend five months sinking beers in 12 European countries on their way to Turkey.
They did this with a budget of just £2,000 between them. Deciding everything at the last minute, including where to start their trek and where to go, the dynamic duo survived coming face-to-face with a bear, wild hogs running around their tents and accidentally blundering onto the set of a reality TV show called The Biggest Loser.
Along the way, Harry figured out his career plan – to just keep on travelling and posting on social media full-time – while Elliot is still working things out. Harry said of their epic trip: “I have no idea how many beers we drank altogether, but it was a lot.
"We had beers basically every day. They’re a wonderful way to get some calories, and we also would stop into bars to charge our phones, so it was a good reward after a long day of hiking.”
The pair successfully stuck to their budget, though luckily their booze fund was boosted by an extra $500 (£435) donated by their TikTok followers. To save cash, they spent each night in their two one-man tents after walking roughly 25 miles a day as they meandered from Bloemendaal aan Zee in The Netherlands to Istanbul.
Describing how they ended up on their unlikely mission without doing much planning, Harry said: “Elliot and I wanted to see the world in a different way and we thought the world’s longest pub crawl was the way to do it. We kind of went with the flow.
"I had a loose plan to walk across Europe but we didn’t really know where we were going to start or anything like that. Our original starting point was going to be Spain or Portugal, but it was really really hot, like 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38C) a day, so we decided to start in Amsterdam.
“From there, we had a plan to go to Istanbul. But as we entered every country we changed it up and were able to figure out random trails to follow.”
The trip began on June 15, with the pair spending a week traipsing through The Netherlands. Harry said: “We were able to eat herring from street vendors and literally every person we passed said hello.”
Trudging on to Germany, from June 22 to July 11, the pair were impressed with the views and the beers. “Germany had the best trails of the entire trek.
“The villages are beautiful and preserved from hundreds of years ago. The second best beer was there too,” Harry said.
The best beer, in Harry’s view, was a frozen Pilsner served up in their next country, Czechia, which they visited between July 11 to 23. He said: “My favourite country was Czechia, and a little bit of that was because of the beer, I will be honest.
“But, it was just very Bohemia and just lovely that way. Everyone had their windows open, there were big mountains everywhere, open fields and people were very welcoming.”
In Czechia, they had their first run-in with some animals nearby, with Harry saying: “Some hogs started running around our tents in circles.” Luckily they stayed safe under their canvas, which he said gave them refuge during their mammoth journey.
“We had to hide our tents a lot just so we didn’t disturb anyone or so anyone wouldn’t mess with us. But we never ran into anyone telling us to get out of here or anything so it all worked out.”
The mates visited Austria for the next 16 days where they crossed The Alps, hung out in castles and spotted hundreds of cows. Their next stop was Slovenia where they came face-to-face with a bear.
Harry said: “We were walking into the mountains and we accidentally walked right up to a mother bear protecting her little cubs. That was definitely the most endangered I felt in the entire trip.
“What’s even crazier is that maybe five minutes after that we basically walked onto the set of a reality TV show which was the Croatian version of The Biggest Loser. It was a crazy 20 minutes.”
They spent just under a month in Croatia, island-hopping down the coast, eating seafood and jumping into the water every day. Harry’s girlfriend, Chloe Campo, 24, visited him in Croatia, making it even more memorable.
He said: “My partner who is studying in France, came to visit for a week. So we kind of just paused the trip and let our bodies recover so we could hang out.
"It was definitely pretty hard to be away from everyone for so long but they were very supportive of me, and understood it was a journey of a lifetime.” The trip was not always blissful.
In Bosnia from September 7 to 10, Harry and Elliot got stopped by the border police and had to always be on the lookout for landmines. He explained: “The border police told us we weren’t allowed to go in the direction we wanted to go.
“So they just turned around and made us go all the way back, basically five miles in the other direction, and do a long detour. “The landmines are left over from the war in the 90s, and we had a landmine app that shows the location of all minefields that are known.
“It was a warning to us that, if you step off the road, there is a risk that you will step on a landmine. There was also tape on the side of the road near landmines saying ‘caution'”.
In Montenegro, from September 10 to 15, they visited the Niksicko Brewery and the Academy of Beers, as well as the many canyons. The following five days were spent in Albania, where the pair hiked over the famous Valbona Pass surrounded by mountains.
Kosovo was marked the “friendliest country of the trip and everyone wanted to say hello” said Harry. Then from September 24 to 29, the pair were in North Macedonia.
“We got stopped by the cops four times. I think it was because of the way they were trained, and we just looked like we didn’t belong.
“They would stop us and ask us what we were doing. They would take our passports and do a bunch of checking through of stamps and stuff.
“But it was my second favourite food country because they have peppers everywhere and on everything.” In Bulgaria, from September 29 to October 11, the city of Plovdiv was the highlight “because it is rich in history and culture”.
The pair, who studied together at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, finally made it to Turkey on October 11. Harry said: “Turkey was a highlight from the trip and it was so wonderful to end there because the people were so heartwarming, generous and welcoming.
“We would always be stopped, and they would all buy us tea or pastries and it was just an amazing place to finish. It felt like the perfect place because it's at the end of Europe.”
Explaining how it felt sinking his final beer, an Pilsner, Harry said: “It felt bittersweet. It was such a long journey that I was ready to be done, and it was the last sip of an adventure of a lifetime.
“It feels amazing to have completed the challenge, because I know I’ll never be able to repeat the same thing. I would recommend it to those who are brave, and maybe even fearless, because it is an epic journey.
“But, if you go about it with a smile on your face, and you really want to live each day, then I can definitely recommend it.”
