Day 293 – EU – Belgium [Namur to Tienen]

22/01/21

43km

  From Namur (Belgium) to Tienen (Belgium)

Europe

Leaving Namur full of beans and company from Val and Jeremy all the way to Tienen!

This day in Namur has been very energising and fruitful. Yesterday as I was looking at my itinerary, Christian told me I should look at the “Ravel” path. A green corridor that links Namur to Tienen. For some reason Google Maps didn’t highlight it as a possible route. Strange – but that was my route sorted! Meanwhile Laurence’s mum, Raymonde, had cleaned Bob the Stroller while I was napping. It was bright and shiny like it hadn’t been for a very long time! Christian drove me back to the Cathedral of Namur early morning so I could restart my run where I had stopped yesterday.

I was met there by Val and Jeremy. Two young guys in their 30’s who had read about my arrival in Namur in the papers and wanted to run “some kilometers” with me on my way to Tienen. We started out and were at conversational pace from the get go. Very soon I found out neither of them had ever run more than 30km. They had parked one of their cars at the halfway point today, right between Namur and Tienen.

As we approached the halfway point, I hinted that we were doing quite well and having a good time too. The sky was clearing, it was shiny and warming up. We passed the halfway point and to my delight they kept going. They both told me they had planned to run their first ever marathon in 2020, but their plans had been scrapped due to Covid19. I made it a mission, from this point on, to make sure they were ok and that they would run with me all the way. It became the most important thing for me.

And there we were! Exactly 42.2km later we stopped by the Shell Station at the entry of Tienen and the boys were truly happy that simple as that, they had bagged their first marathon ever! What a joy! We all had a beer to celebrate and I am sure they are having some more tonight back in Namur. The road was perfect, a long green corridor, isolated from traffic, surrounded by fields and forests. I am very glad for Val and Jeremy tonight, and very honoured that they got to run their first marathon ever by my side!

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: