oh boy, my first really big town!!! I'm in Rouen! Rouen is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region with a population of 540,000. On my way in I pass the port with ships loading grain from all the fields I've been running through.
Rouen is located on the River Seine and is know for it's Notre Dame cathedral. Spectacular.
I'm running along the D927 and it's getting built up as I approach Rouen, still a day or so away. My knees are sore so it's a short run today, just a 5 km. First I pass through Le Houlme and then Notre-Dame-de-Bondeville with a large eglise (church). I'm not sure where Notre-Dame-de-Bondeville ends and Maromme begins however I finish somewhere in between them.
distance today: 5 km
Through Les Cambes across patchwork countryside to Malaunay. Malaunay is a small "commune". This word has puzzled me since I began this project so I decided to look it up. A commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or cities in the USA or Gemeinden in Germany. French communes have a status somewhere in between that of English districts and civil parishes. A French commune can be a city of 2 million inhabitants as in Paris; a town of 10,000 people - or just a 10 person hamlet. Not only am I getting in shape, I'm learning something! That deserves a celebratory verre du vin. Or a pastry...
distance today: 6 km
straight south today, through the village of Valmartin past the lovely Chapelle Saint George de Valmartin. i continue on through another village of Le Boulay. I'm still amazed at how many of these small villages there are. how can you get bored when in a mere 6 km you go through 2 villages?
distance today: 6 km