the Route
Circumnavigation of the globe can mean many things, of course, there is no official ‘route’ around the world. My route briefly outlined below is designed to, quite simply be my journey. It visits places I want to run through and experience and it also offers a range of challenges, which is important!
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My route often isn’t the straightest or quickest easterly route. It often involves challenges that could be avoided. There is a desire for remoteness and wilderness and a diversity of environment so the route crosses mountain ranges, forest and desert. Climate and weather –and hence running conditions - will vary due to geographic location, time of year and altitude.
The intended route around the world is described below but this may change and develop as I go (especially Asia!) but it gives an idea.
The route is very high-level at this point. I develop a more detailed, exact turn-by-turn route for the next stage (few hundred miles) as I go, as further than that is just too far in the future to waste much time thinking about in detail.
0 Prologue London to Dover, UK
This is essentially an 'extra' to them main continenetal crossing to ensure that I can start and finish at home. I will run down the UK to London to finish my circumnavigation.
I started from Greenwich, London (pretty much on a whim) on a random Thursday (26th May 2022) and ran four days down to Dover. The initial intention was to get a ferry to Calais but due to a cancelled booking amid the chaos at Dover (good start!), I got the train back to London before the Eurostar to Paris. After a couple of days in Paris I got the train to Calsis to start the first continent proper....
1 Europe Calais, France to Baku, Azerbaijan
To cross mainland Europe I started at Calais on the 3rd June 2022. I'm running generally south east to Istanbul before heading east to Baku, on teh Caspian Sea. There are many interpretations of what constitutes the "east coast" of the European continent and the World runners Association define a few options. The Caspian is one. Istanbul (the Bosphorus strait) is also one so I could in theory complete Europe there if my route across Asia does not pan out (see below...)
I will run in [at least] 16 countries along the way and cross the Alps. Major ports of call along the way will be Lille, The Ardennes, Luxembourg City, Strasbourg, the Black Forest, Zurich, Vaduz, Innsbruck, the Tux Alps, the Dolomites, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Nis, Sofia, Edirne, Istanbul and Baku.
France | Belgium | Luxembourg | Germany | Switzerland | Liechtenstein | Austria | Italy | Slovenia | Croatia | Bosnia | Serbia | Bugaria | Turkey | Georgia | Azerbaijan
2 Asia ? to Singapore
I'm putting this down as a placeholder as it may change - Asia is going to involve quite a lot of visas and land border crossings which may prove difficult and due to the sheer distance, it is unlikely I can afford it. My likely plan as it stands is to run from the west coast of India through to Singapore.
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3 Australia Perth to Sydney, Australia
Pretty straightforward this one....run from Perth on the west coast, run east, stop at Sydney when my feet hit the ocean! The main problem will be the timing, if it is winter then I'll be ok but if it's the height of summer the Nullabor dessert is practically impossible to cross without significant assistance (to bring food and water!). The timing depends on to what extent and route I do across Asia so I don't really know yet! I'll likely do a bit of running in New Zealand too, this will be in addition to the main continental crossing (Australia), so won't be a "full" country crossing. The trip to NZ will satisfy the antipodal points rule of my circumnavigation.
4 North America San Francisco, USA to St John's, Canada
Also, a reasonably simple route, at least through USA where I'm thinking I will start in San Francisco heading quite directly east over the Rockies and to the east coast. My intention is to head north through New England and into Canada and head through New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland to St John's, though if money is tight I may have to finish on the east coast of USA (probably New York).
0 Finale
To finish I will fly back to the UK and run down to London to finish excatly where I started at Greenwich. I may do a little detour and run across Ireland first if possible.
Notes on Proposed Routes:
These are plans not my actual track! My actual run and GPS track may not match these exactly due to the way the software plans the route (I may take slightly different roads/paths etc) and when I have to deviate for shops, accommodation etc but these will always be fairly minor.
Sometimes I use cycling or hiking functions on the app to plot the route and that's why some of them are labelled 'bike touring'. This is due to how the route planner within the app uses the different activities to plot a route. For instance, if hiking is selected it will revert to footpaths where possible, and on bike touring mode it will revert to cycle paths or other roads suitable for bikes - this option is often the most suitable for my purposes as I aim to stick to roads for the most part, though I obviously won't be cycling!