France, then Scotland
I've been very lucky in the last couple of weeks; a short break to stay at my sister's house in northern France, followed by a conference in Edinburgh. Of course, whenever I go somewhere new I see it as an excellent opportunity to squeeze in as many runs as I can. I generally subscribe to the view that a change is as good as a rest and so France and Edinburgh in the space of two weeks seemed ideal. This was my first visit to my sister's place in Frohen-sur-Authie; a small village in the Somme region. I'd eagerly plotted a couple of runs, including an 18-miler, only to be told by my brother-in-law (who is a keen cyclist) that the routes I had plotted were either very hilly or on busy roads. With Steve's input, I went back to the drawing board and re-plotted a decent long route which included a long stint on the disused La Gare railway route from Bernatre to Auxi-le-Chateau; this would be my 'long Tuesday' run. You are now entering... On arrival in Fr...