jan 30 - i smell the sea!

i continued southbound along the Route de Boulogne today through the village of Camiers. gentle rolling hills and a spectacular view of the sea to the west (ouest en francais!)

i have no idea how anybody can boat around here when you have tides like this, miss your tide and you're stuck for another 12 hours. judging by the number of kite surfers, sailboats and beach sand sailors (think go-cart with a windsurfer sail) it always blows on this coast.

yet more reminders of the past.

distance today: 6.7 km

distance to date: 66.2 km

jan 28 - salt!

more fields and hay bales today and a very distinct tang of salt in the air. as i came to the end of the run (which was short and very fast!) i found the source of salt. this is the famous and expensive normandy salt!

i expected that the salt pans would be right on the ocean but you can see that i'm so close. now i must find some frites to sprinkle that salt on. and wash it down with i think vin blanc ce soir.

distance today: 5 km

distance to date: 59.5 km

jan 26

i left St-Etienne and continued south passing by the Tombes de guerre du Commonwealth, the St-Etienne-au-Mont Communal Cemetery. As I'm heading toward Dieppe I am assuming that I'll be passing many more of these. So sad.

it was a day of passing through fields and forests, hamlets and towns are off this road. i must ask what they're growing in all these fields. there was a distinct lack of cafes today which i missed, i feel in need of a restorative cafe au lait.

distance today: 6 km

distance to date: 54.5 km

jan 24 - Napoleon!

i began the run along the canal in Boulogne sur Mer on the Boulevard d'Alembert. as the town ended there was a long industrial section with a huge train yard, carrying all the goods from the port i suppose. after another round about i passed through the hamlet of Kirche with a fantastic church and then into the town of Saint Leonard, with this as a highlight:

The castle of Pond-de-Briques was the headquarters of Napoleon during the Camp Boulogne from 1803-1805. Cool!

Here I veered off the D940 onto the Rue de la Gare through the town of Saint-Etienne-au-Mont. The town is small and soon I was on the Rue Edmond Madare which is also the D940.

distance today: 6 km

distance todate: 48.5 km

jan 21 Boulogne sur Mer!

i left the charming town of Wimereux and headed south along the D940. I'm so close to the sea, the salt air is very invigorating. at about 4.5 km into the run i approached Boulogne sur Mer. From the approach I can see the entrance to the port, i was interested to notice the windfarms all around. And the tides continue to blow me away, sailing here would be challenging, boy, you would really have to pay attention to the navigation, just look at the red marker, there's no water anywhere near it!

the town appears to revolve around the port. i'd like to visit during the Fete de la Mer, and i suspect the food is amazing. i must check out the oysters (les huitres).

of course i was totally sidetracked looking at all the boats in the harbour. lots of sailboats, maybe one day i'll put my Sailorgirl hat on and be docked here?

keep dreaming Sailorgirl, the world is your huitre.

distance today: 6 km

distance to date: 42.5 km

jan 19 Nord-Pas de Calais Wimereux

i left the village of Ambleteuse and continued along the D940 Rue Nationale. There was a lovely bridge (pont) and then I'm back along the coast. The tides here are fantastic, look how much sand is exposed when the tide is out. Wow!


The road today was nice and windy. I've finished up in Wimereux, the classic seaside town. This promenade faces west, the sunsets will be spectacular, and so are the storms. Note to self, do not visit Wimereux in winter.

This town is bound to have fantastic cafes. Since it's post run, un verre du vin is in order. Rouge I think.

Distance today: 6 km

Distance to date: 36.5 km

jan 17 2010

you know one of the things i love about france? the scale of the countryside. in just a short 5 km run, 35 minutes (i told you i'm not fast) i run through 2 villages, see the ocean and then check out the farms. it's amazing how much there is packed into such a small area. today i ran through 2 villages, Audresselles la Mer and Ambleteuse. In both places I detoured off the main road (D940 Rue Nationale) and checked out the town. There are some mighty cute little cafes in Audresselles la Mer. There's nothing I like better than spending an afternoon with a beverage and a notebook in a small cafe, just watching the world go by.

Distance today: 5 km

Distance to date: 30.5 km

jan 15 2010

2 villages today, Tardinghen and Audinghen. 2 villages within 5 km means there's lots to see. and check out this awesome lifeboat outside this bar!

distance today: 5.5 km

distance to date: 25.5 km

jan 13 2010

another town today - Wissant. distance today: 5 km

distance in total: 20 km

jan 9 2010

although i can smell the sea i can't see it. however there's lovely hay bales along the way.

distance today: 5 km

distance to date: 15 km

Jan 6 2010

oohhh, a town!

continuing along the D940 through the town of Sangatte.

distance today: 5 km

distance to date: 10 km

jan 4

January 4 2010 - distance 5 km.

Begin in Calais. Take the digue Gaston Berth and then turn southwest onto the D940. Lovely route along the coast.

the goal, the route

i shall run from north to south. i had been thinking i'd run the coast but i must go through paris. the starting point is calais and i think i'll aim for either marseilles or toulons. the total distance depends on which roads i take. did i mention this won't be fast? i'm currently logging about 5 km/day, 3 times a week.

the machine

seriously, who can get motivated by that? i've noticed that most other people use a towel to cover up the dashboard during their run. because staring at the seconds going by is BORING.

Motivation

With the dawn of a new decade comes the declaring of new intentions, the swearing of new resolutions and the shouting out of new mindsets. Whatever. The fact that my little project began with the new decade is purely coincidental. My project begins now because the weather has turned nasty and I refuse to be outdoors more than I have to.

You see, I recently came to a conclusion. I am too young to be this out of shape. I realized this quite some months ago and looked at my running shoes. They looked back, all sad and neglected. We haven't been on speaking terms in a long long time. I slipped them on and hit the street. It was not a pretty sight. I was right back to square one, the walk one minute run one minute, the absolute square one of the Running Room's Learn to Run program. That my friends was a humbling morning. After 3 months I improved to the point of actually running not staggering - not fast but no longer being overtaken by the seniors from the home down the road. And I felt better, I had more energy. Just as I was hitting my stride Mother Nature hit me on the head as she does every December - winter. Of course I should have expected that, I do live in Canada. My running shoes cried as I slipped them back into the closet knowing this meant they would gather dust until May when my motivation is usually gone again. But not this year.

This year I am running across France.

In my quest to shape up I have joined a gym and plan on using the treadmill several times a week until the weather is nice enough to run outside. Then I plan on continuing to run, nothing major, just short little bits on a regular basis. To keep my tiny little brain actively involved in this mindless hamster wheel of a treadmill I have decided to track myself in a more interesting route. France.

France, land of cheese, Julia Child, wine, vineyards, villages, chateaux and coastlines. Not too large, not too small. I could fly there, rent a car and drive the distance in a matter of weeks. That's not the point. I could spend my savings and spend the next 2 years actually running the country but that's not the point either. I'm just looking for a diversion while I shape up. Thanks to technology (Google earth) I can live my happy life here in Canada and still run across France.

I am not a fast runner, I am not a distance runner. This will take some time.