Running in France
This is great countryside for running in - especially at this time of year, when the weather’s not too hot (like The Big Yin, my skin isn’t white - it’s more of a pale blue . . . ). 
If I’m here in the summer, when the temperature’s often in the mid 30’s centigrade, even I take water with me. In fact, after thinking about RegiVizz’s problems with dehydration, I’m thinking of getting me a Camelbak for the summer.
ANYWAY . . . the running yesterday was great - a short amble around the vinyards between Gabian and Roujan. The only thing that worried me was my in-laws’ parting words,
“Keep a look out for sangliers while you’re out”
Sangliers are wild boar. As the part of my run took me through some ideal sanglier country, through the woods up behind the Castle Abbey of Cassan, I soon started to hear things in the undergrowth. The problem was, that I had no idea what to do if an angry sanglier were to step into the road in front of me.
Fight? Um . . . probably not - they can be fairly handy with their tusks and body weight. Flight? No good either - these vicious b@$tards can really motor along when violence is in their tiny minds.
After a couple of miles, I’d come up with the ideal solution . . . run screaming at the boar, waving my arms in the air. In the confusion, I might buy myself enough time to climb a tree / get out of range.
Of course, none of this was necessary, as I never saw any sangliers. Still - it doesn’t hurt to be paranoid. At least I now have a plan for if I meet one today.
I’ll be sure and bookmark this post. You never know when a dreaded sanglier will attack and I want to be prepared. By the way, do we have any sangliers in the Pacific Northwest?
Probably not. You might have bears though, and I have some excellent advice for those too - how to tell the difference between a brown bear and a grizzly.
When attacked by a brown bear, if you climb a tree to escape, it’ll climb up after you, rip your head off, and eat you.
If you climb a tree to escape a grizzly, it’ll pull the tree down, beat you to death with it, and then eat you.
