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The hexa prefix at first made me think that the trail went around the entirety of mainland France, commonly known as l'Hexagone [0]. However, from what I see, i

The hexa prefix at first made me think that the trail went around the entirety of mainland France, commonly known as l'Hexagone [0]. However, from what I see, it "only" goes along 3 of the 6 sides [1] (not that it makes it any less impressive!). [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'Hexagone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L'Hexagone [1] https://en.hexatrek.com/hiking-trail/hexatrek/the-great-french-trail https://en.hexatrek.com/hiking-trail/hexatrek/the-great-fren...

richk449 4y ago
> not that it makes it any less impressive! Covering three sides is exactly the same amount of impressive as covering six sides? I can imagine the impressiveness isn’t linear with sides, so it doesn’t have to half as impressive, but I would expect some dependence. Maybe it saturates? So covering three sides is peak impressiveness, and any more sides has no effect? Although your language leaves open the possibility that covering three sides is more impressive than covering six sides. Not sure why that would be, but maybe three sides is the optimum?
- messe 4y ago
  Your joke went on too long. If you'd just said "Well, I'd call that about half as impressive." and left it at that, I doubt you'd be getting downvoted to hell.
- layer8 4y ago
  Impression is about depth, not length.
Someone 4y ago
I never understood that expression. When I look at a the outline of France, I see a pentagon, with the Pyrenees and the Côte d’Azur forming a single side. Yes, that’s a side made up of a mountain range and a coast, but to my eye, it fits way better than the hexagon of https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexagone_(France) https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexagone_(France). You can fix that around about any somewhat country whose outline isn’t very elongated such as Germany, Iceland or Poland. And I’m not the only one. https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pourlascience.fr%2Fsd%2Fmathematiques%2Fpeut-on-vraiment-appeler-la-france-l-hexagone-16640.php#federation=archive.wikiwix.com&tab=url https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=https%3A%2F... argues a square or a pentagon are better fits for regular polygons. I would mare the pentagon slightly irregular to get an even better fit.
- blahedo 4y ago
  If you directly connect Biarritz to Monaco you do get a pentagon and a reasonably good fit to the actual border; but the angle between the border and the coast at Perpignan is so tight (well under 90° at higher zoom levels but close to a right angle even at a glance) that it feels like it ought to be a point of the surrounding polygon. (Treating the Pyrenees as a separate "side" from the Med coast also means that each side is either land or sea, not both.)
bbx 4y ago
In this case, “hexa” (meaning “6”) is the number of stages of this trail. A bit arbitrary though but I guess it hints at the fact that it’s a French trail, France being referred to as “l’Hexagone” like you said, even when talking about only part of it.

richk449 4y ago

> not that it makes it any less impressive! Covering three sides is exactly the same amount of impressive as covering six sides? I can imagine the impressiveness isn’t linear with sides, so it doesn’t have to half as impressive, but I would expect some dependence. Maybe it saturates? So covering three sides is peak impressiveness, and any more sides has no effect? Although your language leaves open the possibility that covering three sides is more impressive than covering six sides. Not sure why that would be, but maybe three sides is the optimum?

messe 4y ago
Your joke went on too long. If you'd just said "Well, I'd call that about half as impressive." and left it at that, I doubt you'd be getting downvoted to hell.
layer8 4y ago
Impression is about depth, not length.

Someone 4y ago

I never understood that expression. When I look at a the outline of France, I see a pentagon, with the Pyrenees and the Côte d’Azur forming a single side. Yes, that’s a side made up of a mountain range and a coast, but to my eye, it fits way better than the hexagon of https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexagone_(France) https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexagone_(France). You can fix that around about any somewhat country whose outline isn’t very elongated such as Germany, Iceland or Poland. And I’m not the only one. https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pourlascience.fr%2Fsd%2Fmathematiques%2Fpeut-on-vraiment-appeler-la-france-l-hexagone-16640.php#federation=archive.wikiwix.com&tab=url https://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=https%3A%2F... argues a square or a pentagon are better fits for regular polygons. I would mare the pentagon slightly irregular to get an even better fit.

blahedo 4y ago
If you directly connect Biarritz to Monaco you do get a pentagon and a reasonably good fit to the actual border; but the angle between the border and the coast at Perpignan is so tight (well under 90° at higher zoom levels but close to a right angle even at a glance) that it feels like it ought to be a point of the surrounding polygon. (Treating the Pyrenees as a separate "side" from the Med coast also means that each side is either land or sea, not both.)

bbx 4y ago

In this case, “hexa” (meaning “6”) is the number of stages of this trail. A bit arbitrary though but I guess it hints at the fact that it’s a French trail, France being referred to as “l’Hexagone” like you said, even when talking about only part of it.