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4 September 2026 - Ambérieu-en-Bugey

These past two nights I have slept in lovely little one bedroom apartment on the outskirts of town after arriving yesterday afternoon by train. And I am in full vacation mode. I have bags full of books to read in my backpack and already finished one. My plan is to hike for the next 3 weeks to finish the Chemin Saint-Jacques in France, but today I ran the Ronde des Grangeons here in Ambérieu. It was a 17K trail run very similar to what I ran two weekends ago. A fun race through the beautiful forests here and very nice not to come in last or near last as I have in the past few races. Although I think that's more of a reflection on the field in Switzerland vs. France rather than anything I've done. But being back in France all the suttle details of this country put me in vacation mode. Ambérieu has a cathedral, a war monument, boulangeries, a Carrefour, small streets, excellent cuisine, and that general feeling of relaxed disorganization. Last night I had delicious escargot and bœuf tartare along with a local redwine. For lunch today I had peche du jour at place with solid beer too. I have about 525 kilometers of hiking on the Via Gebennensis and Via Podiensis to complete my goal. At 25 kilometers a day, my usual average, that's 21 days. Which is exactly how much time I have to complete this hike, so let's hope things average out to that plan.