May 15: Day 18, Agde-Nimes
I was indeed the only person in the hotel last night. They set out breakfast, with the usual selection cut down to one person. Two yogurts, so I'd have a choice - but I wonder if the one I didn't choose would go in the bin or back in the fridge ...
I think I ate just about everything so if there were supposed to be choices, I ate them both. Croissant, bread roll, packet scone thing, all gone. I guess I need the calories!
First stop was the local supermarket, in search of isotonic drinks. This is a Spar and once again there was nothing; either people in France don’t drink isotonic drinks or I’m looking in the wrong place. I picked up four Lucozades, half a toxic red like a disinfectant, and the others the bright blue of window cleaner. I can feel my teeth eroding whenever I drink one.
The way out of town was the first time I've shared a road with French drivers when there isn't a separate cycle lane. I was practically in the gutter, and cars would squeeze past, getting closer than I'm happy with. So I switched to pedestrian mode and used the pavement; it's slower but I like my personal space.
In comparison the Spanish and Portugese drivers were much more considerate, they'd queue up behind me if there wasn't space to pass and I'd politely pull over to let them through. I guess things don't happen like that in France.
Most of the day was spent on cycle lanes though, happily! There were only a few places today where I needed to ride alongside traffic.
From left to right: A diorama commemorating boat-jousting. Holiday houses on a very thin island. Cycle bridge. Drawbridge delays.
The route was continuing up the coast. It went up a surprisingly narrow strip of land (again!) with beach on one side and rows of tiny holiday houses on the other. I'm going inland tomorrow, so one of the sea photos I take today will be the last one.
I passed through Sete, a seaside town; I cycled past fishing boats. Got held up by a movable bridge like a drawbridge; it had gone up to let some yachts through.
From left to right: More Sete. Cycling puzzle: can you get to the causeway using only cyclepaths and pedestrian crossings? Flamingos!
After that the path went back out to the sea, where I took some last panoramas, and then turned inland. More cyclepaths, and pretty reliable too: in other places there can be pavements up or down, or they change sides or disappear for a distance: but these connected nicely.
Last view of the Mediterranean.
Things got a bit hairy midafternoon. The route went on a state road briefly, two lanes each way. It was through a cloverleaf-style junction, where I needed to exit on the far side. My experience this morning made this quite unappealing ... but there was a bit of space off the shoulder, which I used. There were two glide-offs I needed to navigate: if the traffic is light I'll just sail on through these with a bit of arm indication. But it was so heavy I pulled over and waited for a gap to cross. The final instruction was to take the fourth exit of the roundabout: I went the other way so it was a single crossing. Happily the exit road was nearly deserted! And it shortly turned into a new, purpose-built cyclepath running alongside a canal.
From left to right: field of flowers. Cycle bridge with a sun shade. Some of the gutters in the path are dangerously big.
And after that was a rail trail. So the afternoon was as good as could be wished for. The headwind was still making itself difficult, but it seemed to lessen as the afternoon went on. Or maybe I speed up when I get closer to the destination?
The final approach to Nimes was also on a state road. This had a nice big space for cycles, and I don't know if it was a downhill, or no headwind, or adrenaline, but I cranked it up to the highest gear and whipped along at the best speed and got back to side roads and cycle paths in short order.
Nimes itself was narrow roads with too many cars and even a brief traffic jam, but I got to the hotel with no drama - except that I had to circle most of the way around it to find the entrance: these are the perils of navigating using lat/long instead of street addresses!
So it's likely that I saw the last of the Mediterranean today. I won't see ocean again until the North Sea, from Germany or Denmark, in a few weeks time.
Nearly at the end of the week! Two more short days and then it’s a rest day. I’m looking forward to that.
What I’m listening to: “Glass”, by Hania Rani: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpjM0Ztv84o
Another classically trained pianist, heading off into other fields! This is more techno than piano; here’s a video showing the production live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFRdoYfZYUY
