GR® 75 : les Portes de Paris

History

The GR® 75, resolutely Olympic in its identity, travels between the former sports areas of the 1900 and 1924 Games and certain complexes which will be used for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. It surrounds the capital near the Boulevards of the Marshals and passes through 9 arrondissements, allowing to cross 75 green spaces. An extraordinary sports, leisure and culture ground less than 5 kilometers from the Eiffel Tower! [1]

Nutrition

For this effort I wanted to try out, how well it works going completely natural. It has been a big fuss the last years in the sport industry that you MUST drink these electrolytes and eat these energy bars and these sport gels etc. My plan for this run:

• boiled chickpeas and a carrot, mixed in the blender and spread on a tortilla with some sel de Guérande.
• good old plain water
• a backup banana :)

Fast forwarding to the result, the wraps worked pretty well! Smooth energy distribution throughout the run and most importantly, without the sweet after taste of the bars/ gels that after a few you simply can’t take it any more.

Run

For the start of the loop I’ve picked La Villette as it’s convenient with the metro station right on the path.

Weather wise, the temperature was around 10°C and a bit cloudy, which made perfect conditions for running.

The route is passing through so many parcs and green spaces, it’s truly amazing! So many different styles of architecture, so much history, blending smoothly with nature.

Although I couldn’t say that the markings were sufficient to navigate this GR® (comparing to others that I’ve been like the 3, 10, 30) it was definitely a pleasure to chase these sharp turns, that took you off the road to visit a parc or a big cat gate :D

From my experience it’s a must to have a gps for navigation, oe a map maybe if you are old school.

It was not planned, but for sure very good timing to pass from the Asian corner close to lunch time, so many pleasant smells!

The area around the 14th was very interesting. I really liked the style of the buildings there, had something very warm. Maybe it’s also because of the cloudy weather, who knows :)

Fun fact: the GR® 75 is also called GR® 2024, because is was created as part of the plan to support Paris’ candidacy for the 2024 Olympic Games.

One thing a bit annoying about this route, are the traffic lights! So many! There are some parts that you have to stop all the time!

But ok.. As you can see below, the view’s worth it :)

The park below, the Bois de Boulogne was for sure one of the highlights of the route. It’s the second largest parc in Paris, that covers an area of 845 hectares, which is about two and a half times the area of Central Park in New York!

It has beautiful lakes and gardens, and very well maintained running/ cycling paths. It’s definitely a place to visit again and better explore.

Strava

Below you can find the activity and .gpx. If you are interested in doing it and need more info, I would be very happy to answer any questions!

External links: ¹