It is by living up in the medieval town that I am released from this addiction of being an inveterate lazybones. The triggers? The unique cliffs of Bonifacio! This irresistible need to have this panorama only to oneself! The solution: to get up early to contemplate this jewel of nature, modeled over millennia by the wind and the sea.

What is this Morning Miracle?

I have simply become a follower of the Morning Miracle. To get up early in the morning and take full advantage of the day. A way of life which is sometimes necessary for a young mother who works, cooks, deals with the invoices, prepares breakfast and the laundry. 5.30 a.m. is the ideal time to start the day for an organised mother always on top form! But this may prove contradictory, even totally unthinkable when you are on holiday which normally rhymes with lazy mornings!

I am not a perfect mother, I never get up on time: pressing the SNOOZE button of the alarm clock has always been my lifesaving and unwavering gesture in the mornings.

The trigger: idyllic surroundings : the medieval town of Bonifacio

In the morning, at daybreak, the view on the limestone cliffs is available to you, only to you. You do not take out your mobile to boost your Instagram account, with the stress that maybe a tourist with his large backpack breaks the perfect harmony of your photo. No, you look, you contemplate and you enjoy. The town is yours!

The second effect of a Morning Miracle in Bonifacio

How not to resist the urge to run in Bonifacio? Not far from the Citadel is one of the most majestic places for the running girl that I am: Campu Romanilu. The effect is immediate, after the Saint Roch chapel, during the first climb, after the first strides, one feels a little like Rocky! Yes, Rocky Balboa in this famous scene where he ends his morning jog, with the rage to overcome, climbing the stairs of the Art Museum in Philadelphia! Stallone with Philadelphia behind him, you with a thousand year-old Citadel. There is nothing more extraordinary to motivate!

Running advice!

From the Saint-Roch chapel, various running circuits are possible, 1/2 hour loop to the former slaughterhouse or a 1h30 loop if you are tempted by a footing to the Pertusatu lighthouse. Each year, this Campu Romanilu circuit is the initiative for a trail competition in October. Athletes, make a note!

As far as I am concerned, I will always choose the loop up to the lighthouse, with some stops however (Instagram of course!!!), and even, if the last moments are difficult, I am boosted by the reward: a delicious coffee on the port. I sometimes take 10 minutes for a dip on the Sutta Rocca beach at the end of the circuit.

The well deserved coffee.

Then, I savour the triumphant descent of Montée Rastello, with a 1h30 jog in my thighs. A few groups of tourists are already there, ready to meander through the Citadel. I order my coffee whilst awaiting the arrival of Antoine the fisherman, without forgetting to buy croissants for the rest of the family that is still asleep …

I will leave you now as my second day is ahead of me!