july 24

I'm in love with this countryside. Don't you just want to sit on a red blanket and have a picnic right here?

Distance today: 5 km

Distance to date: 306 km

July 20

Running beside the Seine through more bois (woods). Through a small village, Saint Adrien and finishing in Gouy. A major milestone today, I've run 300 km!!!

Distance today: 6 km

Distance to date: 301 km

july 12

Rouen. Absolutely gorgeous. The River Seine makes a loop and the town wraps around it. This is old old France and I could wander around staring at buildings for weeks. However Paris calls. I am falling behind on this project. Life has been getting in the way and I'm not running as much as I'd like to. Too much work in July which leaves little time for fun. So I shall put Rouen on my list of places to return to and head off.

Distance today: 6 km

Distance to date: 295 km

july 5

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.

distance today: 6 km

distance to date: 289 km

june 28

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

distance to date: 283 km

june 22

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

distance to date: 278 km

june 18

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

distance to date: 272 km