Walking from the Pyrenees to Northern England
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I shall be walking from my current home in the French Pyrenees, to the house where I was born, in Blackpool, Lancashire. I plan to take 70 days for the walk and to arrive 70 years, to the day, after I was born. I will be walking an average of 30 kms a day, 6 days a week, for 10 weeks. If anybody wants to follow my planning, preparations, training, and eventually the walk itself (starts on May 15th 2010) my blog address is:www.vicsbigwalk.blogspot.comAny helpful suggestions will be gratefully received.Vic Heaney
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Vic Heaney-143445
1249740890
| The more I read about people doing long distance walks in France, the more I come across references to frequent attacks by dogs. As I shall be walking the full length of France, from almost at the Spanish border to the ferry ports to UK, I don't suppose I shall be immune. So earlier in the week, I was asking in my blog if anybody knew whether pepper spray is legal in France. I am still not sure whether this is the case. I know they are available. I believe it is legal to own one, but it may be illegal to carry one. But that the gendarmerie turn a blind eye to ladies carrying one in their purse for self-defence. What about an old man carrying one in his rucksack? Then came the news from New Zealand about a female jogger being savaged for fifteen minutes by EIGHT pig-hunting dogs. She is luck to be alive. If you haven't seen the story, just Google "Jogger New Zealand" and you will have a vast choice of news reports about it. It seems to have been covered by every newspaper in the world. The news also sharpened my own thoughts. What about tazers? I met an interesting man who had a stall at Mirepoix market the other day. He was selling a wide range of splendidly made marble Buddhas. He had a very interesting life story to tell and I would be keen to hear more of it. However, the relevant bit of our conversation concerned tazers. He had been on a market somewhere and on an adjacent stall someone was selling tazers. Probably not the full monty type as used by the police but, he said, just the sound they emitted was enough to deter a marauder, human or animal. And that's before the ultimate sanction of applying the electricity to the beast. Does anybody know anything about these, whether they are legal in Europe, where they can be acquired? The Buddha man is called Howard Owen and his website is: www.marbleart.fr His stuff is excellent. My blog: http://vicsbigwalk.blogspot.com |
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