France

Away from the high mountains, French relief reinvents itself in every region. French trails cross landscapes with no obvious common ground — windswept Breton moors, the limestone causses of the Massif Central, the ridges of the Vosges, Corsican maquis, the blind valleys of the Jura — and it is this very diversity, more than altitude, that defines French trail running.

The Trail des Templiers roams the Grands Causses from Millau, in Aveyron, over limestone relief cut by gorges. The SaintéLyon links Saint-Étienne to Lyon at night, in the middle of winter, in an atmosphere that has become cult over the decades. The Trail du Golfe du Morbihan follows the Breton coast and its peninsulas battered by Atlantic winds. The Corsica Raid crosses the maquis and granite needles of the Isle of Beauty. The blind valleys of the Jura and the ridges of the Vosges complete this tour of France, each with its own relief and climate.

From moor to ridge, every French region gives the Plotrek poster a line of its own.