GR 800

The GR 800 is an exploration of the river Somme, from its source in the village of Fonsomme, to its emptying out into the sea at Saint-Valery-sur-Somme. At over 200 kilometers, it is a route that many decide to bicycle rather than hike, given its mostly very flat and paved terrain.

This journey also serves as an exploration of a part of Picardy, a less-traveled region of France in my mind. By crossing from the Aisne department into the Somme, and continuing all the way to the English Channel, we saw a lot of the countryside which serves as hommage to the name of the region of Picardy, which comes from a reference to the laborers working their farms here.

The hike thus gave us an opportunity to see much of the Somme river, whose water is mainly diverted into several canals: Saint-Quentin Canal, Somme Canal, and also the Canal du Nord, which connects to the North. There is little traffic on the canals, and we actually did a little paddling in some inflatable packrafts which I brought along.

Besides the river, the route also deviates into the countryside on occasion, and we saw much farmland. Though it is not particularly different from much of the farmland we have already seen around the rest of France, it is definitely representative of Picardy.

The jewel of Picardy must be Amiens, and we saw its cathedral and its special areas of the Hortillonages and Saint-Leu. The biggest city on the trip by far, it took a full day to get in and out. Besides Amiens, we also saw the cities of Saint-Quentin, Ham, Péronne, Abbeville, and Saint-Valery-sur-Somme.

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