Baltic Adriatic Run 2011 - Psychogeography

Woke up in the middle of the night, which I rarely do, thinking Baltic/Adriatic.
Last Summer's run from John O'Groats to Lands End had many wonderful psychogeographical aspects. My perception wandering northeast/southwest, North Sea/Atlantic Ocean, Scotland England, roadside/canalside/cattle trail/military road/mountain path, caledonian mythologising, Jacobite incursion/retreat/defeat, suppression of culture and language, redcoated army of occupation, Cheviot borderland, cattle and sheep robbing, boggy borderlands, remote outpost of Roman Empire, mountainous backbone of England, king cotton canals, ancient rivers, southwest pagan/celtic remnant, hedgerows, accents, placenames, conversation scraps, shared jokes, blank stares, skies, trees, roadkill, roadsigns, car horns, tourists, fudge, cheesecake.
Baltica Adriataica is creating space in my head and enacting a symbolic occupation. Baltic Sea, ancient source of amber, magical substance, trapped insects from a million years ago, traded south to the Black Sea and, oh yes, the Adriatic and the Roman Empire. Christianity spreading like a stain, Holy Roman Empire, Martin Luther and bloody reformation, Peace of Augsburg (where did that come from?). Cold north/warm south, traveling from barley and beer to grapes and wine along rivers older than civilisation, bloody wars I know nothing of, bloodier and more recent ones which made the map of modern Europe, an Iron Curtain from the Baltic to the Adriatic, Berlin Wall, Prague Spring, east/west, north/south. Ikons, armies, faiths and flags, a landscape stinking with history. I am overwhelmed. I long for something clean and pure and inhuman. Mountains cold and old, the careless, ragged Carpathian ridge lit by a full moon, white as bleached bone.
I need to get back to sleep.

Baltic Adriatic Run 2011 (BaltAd11)

OK. You heard it here first.
In July of next year I am going to run from the Baltic to the Adriatic. I'll start, maybe, in Kaliningrad, or Gdansk, or, possibly, north Germany, I'm not sure yet, and finish in, probably, Venice. The route is pretty open at the moment. I will, however, make sure the journey covers over a thousand miles.
I'm feeling pretty fit right now. In fact, despite a shaky year (post John O'Groats/Lands End), I am sure I am fitter that I was at the same point in the preparation for that last big run.
I spent a lot of time this summer working on a book length account of the John O'Groats/Lands End run and have completed a first draft. I will continue work on the second draft as I find time.
My priority at the moment is the preparation for BaltAd11. Suggestions for an alternative to 'BaltAd11' as a shortform name for the project would be appreciated.
I am also working on a new solo show, working title 'Run'. Or, what do you think of 'Thousand Mile Man'?
I will be making regular updates to this blog as training and other preparations move forward.