The loopy problem of two buddies who crossed France in a straight line | EUROtoday

On Apr 11, 2025

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DU Pic de Coma Negra, within the Pyrenees, to Bray-Dunes, essentially the most northern commune in France, on foot or by bicycle, in a straight line. It is the marginally loopy wager that Fleury Roux and Pierre Martinez launched.

Rules? Connect, in path, mountain bike and gravel, the southernmost level of continental France at its northern finish, remaining in an imaginary hall 5 km broad, supplied solely with paper playing cards and a compass. In 11 days, Fleury Roux and Pierre Martinez, two younger adventurers, took up the problem.

Friends from the varsity, the place they shared the identical sports activities part in Saint-Étienne, Fleury and Pierre are former members of the French orienteering crew. The style for effort, the compass navigation and the demanding terrain are a part of their DNA. Today aged 27 and 28 years outdated, they imagined “Azimut Nord”, a sports activities crossing of France: 1,334 kilometers, 23,400 meters of elevation achieve, 19 departments and seven areas, with out ever getting out of their “corridor”. A 100 % non -motorized journey.

“Crossing your country, discovering it in its diversity of landscapes and in all its length, it really spoke to us,” says Fleury.

A easy thought, an formidable problem

Fleury and Pierre have recognized one another for fifteen years. Companions of orientation part at highschool, then teammates within the French crew, they’re linked by a strong friendship, cast within the effort. The thought of Azimut Nord emerged a couple of years in the past, when Fleury observed, by learning a map of France, that it was potential to attract a straight line between the southern level of the continental territory and its northern finish. The key: a barely loopy journey, each playful and bold, which amuses them as a lot because it intrigues these to whom they speak about it.

“It is a personal project which, ultimately, makes sense for many people,” says Pierre. A easy thought, virtually infantile: draw a straight line and stick with it. But a formidably demanding dedication.

Their frequent thread: this well-known straight line, held in an imaginary hall 5 kilometers broad. A constraint as rigorous as it’s stimulating. Neither engine nor GPS: two totally assumed selections, in accordance with their convictions and their observe of orienteering, the place the cardboard and the compass are the one benchmarks. “The rules we had set out was important to us,” insists Fleury.

100 paper playing cards, 0 gps, 1 canoe

They put ahead in the one leg energy: 5 days of path, two in mountain biking, 4 in Gravel. Each day required to orient your self by hand, to attract the route, to measure the distances, to determine the street to comply with. An intense bodily effort, coupled with an actual psychological problem. “The Loire was flooded: current and a lot of wind, impossible to swim … We managed to find a canoe,” says Pierre.

Despite exhaustion and obstacles, motivation has by no means actually left them. The undertaking bore them. Everything was going so effectively that they didn’t, they are saying, by no means wanted to attract on their final reservations to maneuver ahead. They loved the expertise, the landscapes, and particularly the straightforward pleasure to be collectively on the street.

Difficult occasions? They are now not counted. The aches, the wind from the entrance, the snow from the primary go, the fences to climb, the paths erased by time, the serial punctures … Fleury and Pierre have conceded. But in such a crossing, there are additionally the moments of grace: a good friend who joins them for a couple of kilometers, one night time dry after the downpour, a bakery that appeared on the proper time like a mirage. And above all, this uncommon feeling to maneuver in direction of a CAP, an azimut, an goal that’s each easy and demanding – a line drawn by hand, that it was crucial in any respect prices to comply with till the tip.

Rediscover France in any other case

Behind efficiency, it’s also an ecological and financial message that Fleury and Pierre didn’t count on to put on. Without an engine, with out airplane ticket, Azimut Nord is a manner of touring in whole autonomy, economical and ecological.

Sleeping with the locals, improvising the steps daily, transporting their meals prematurely …, all of this was a part of the problem. With, in fact, its share of unexpected occasions: forgetting bicycle glasses, a crossing of the improvised Loire in canoeing, and even lodging discovered due to the spontaneous generosity of a neighborhood elected official.

In the tip, their journey is as a lot a sporting feat for example of solidarity and resourceful. And for many who dream of getting began in flip, the message is easy. “The vital factor is that the undertaking comes from self, that it motivates you. And then, you need to go … at worst, you fail, “says Fleury with a smile.

To uncover

The kangaroo of the day

Answer

But past the issue, such an journey can be a manner of rediscovering your personal nation. To cross the snow -capped passes, to cross forgotten villages, thick forests, cultivated plains – and, on the finish of the street, to result in a northern seaside. A France in all its range, which Fleury and Pierre have savored at every stage.

According to authorities figures, 22 million French folks declare that you just observe biking throughout their holidays. So why not be impressed by them, and (re) uncover the territory in a different way: to the energy of the legs, surrounded by nature, removed from motors and screens?

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