Saturday, August 27, 2011

2011 Streak Day 212/365 (July 31): Seaside


2011 Streak Day 212/365 (Sunday July 31):Run - 2.41, Time - 27min 09sec, Weather - The sun came up a fiery orange into a clear sky.

Being forced to run more slowly than normal is great. I really don’t know why I can’t discipline myself to do this alone; instead the pace always creeps back up to normal. The great benefit is that I come back feeling fresh and ready to start the day. Just what is needed before a trip to the sea.
We started by visiting Rochefort, a place we had only driven through before. In the Eighteenth Century it was the base of the French navy. A place where ships could be built, supplied and defended. Now you can see the remains of the infra structure, wander around the impressive, terraced, dry docks and see the Corderie Royale and in one of the docks they are building a replica of one of the great wooden warships, the Hermione. The naval history is quite evocative.
As a boy (about 13 or so) I used to devour the Hornblower novels and so have vague recollections of daring raids up the heavily defended river and around the fortified islands  (I can recall no detail; it was a long time ago). Nevertheless I have a strange, undefined feeling of “Oh so this is what it looked like!”. It is rather satisfying.
The afternoon was spent at the seaside. Obviously this wouldn’t be a good choice if you were looking for solitude and a chance to commune with nature (it is the first weekend of the traditional French holiday when everybody goes to the beach) but that is not what we wanted. For one afternoon we wanted sand, sea and the hot, hot sun, with ice cream kiosks and lots of other people relaxing and enjoying themselves. It was exactly what we found.

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