Distance today = 53.88 km; Total distance = 16,955.21 km; Location = Salies de Bearn – 43 28.423′ N, 00 55.681′ W; Start time = 0853, Finish time = 1711

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/276631742

The day was one of blue skies in the morning, but they had turned to grey by the afternoon, and with it came some snow. It was only quite light, and without any wind, the flakes were gently fluttering to the ground as I ran.

I ran on roads today that I have some familiarity with. The second half of the day was along the D936 and others – roads that Dave and I had ridden 18 months ago, and he and I, along with Chips and Klitty, had ridden in the reverse direction in 2009. It was a touch strange now running these same roads without my mates. Then again, it was these exact roads that I had to ride, unbeknownst to me, with a 3 litre Coke and a brick in my panniers, courtesy of Klitty’s sense of humour – they weren’t my mates on that occasion.

I reached Salies de Bearn after a long day, with the snow continuing to fall softly. This is our third time here in less than four years. Carmel celebrated her birthday here in 2009, and I will tomorrow. BTW, the region is where Bearnaise sauce comes from – one of my all-time favourite condiments. The town also hosted the start of a stage of the Tour de France a couple of years ago.

So, I’m now dreaming of a white birthday, just like the ones I never knew.

PS We are having trouble with our new phones, as they do not have data facilities at the moment. This means, among other things, that the tracker does not work during the day – only after I finish and link the phone to the Wifi of the hotel. Therefore, it shows the end of day position correctly, but there are no intra-day updates. I hope we can get this fixed soon.