Vaucluse Dreamer

We woke up early this morning, feeling refreshed and well rested after our day off in Pézenas. In fact we woke up so early, that we were pushing the fully laden bikes out of the apartment at 7.30am, getting a few funny looks from people, just coming out to walk their dogs.

We had decided to get an early start, as once again the weather forecast was predicting thunderstorms for about 3pm in Aigues-Mortes, where we are staying tonight. We don’t mind getting wet, but the thought of being caught out in one of the heavy thunderstorms, is a totally different thing. After narrowly avoiding the dramatic one that hit Carcassonne, a few days ago, and watching another hit Pézenas at tea-time, last night, we decided we needed to do what we could to be safely in the little walled town, before today’s struck.

We pushed the bikes through the empty, cobbled streets of Pézenas, making our way onto the road to cross the river, before heading away from the town towards the motorway junction. To be honest, a busy road at 7.45am is never the best place to be, and generally we avoid it at all costs. However, when there’s a river to cross, there tends to be no other, quiet or nearby option (apart from that wonderful suspension bridge near Rochefort, which was closed to anything bigger than bikes).

So we pulled ourselves together and rode out, in a stream of cars heading out towards Montpellier, taking the first possible opportunity to turn onto back roads that would take us in the direction we needed to go. It wasn’t the most relaxing start to a ride, but having negotiated the motorway junction, we soon slipped into a side road and felt our hands relax a little on the handlebars and sensed our shoulders starting to  slip down, away from our ears.

Yesterday’s heavy storm had left the road with deep puddles in places, and we wingled our way through, trying not to get too wet as we rode on. The first village of the day was like negotiating a complex puzzle, as we tried to find our way through the nest of narrow streets, dealing with a one-way system that never seemed to have anything but no-entry signs in the direction we were trying to go. We almost forgot that we had to add in the ‘priorité à droit’ too, so it’s not really a surprise that my brain felt a little fried by the time we emerged, happily unscathed and on the right road to make our way towards Mèze, where we were aiming to have breakfast.

It was a lovely ride through, with the road climbing gently, before it dropped us into the back of the seaside town, helpfully crossing the off-road Veloroute, to let us know where to pick it up from, after breakfast.

Whilst we generally have tried to find our own way, using little back roads, we had found that it really wasn’t an option today, as we had to get round Montpellier, and between the city and the coast there are very few options that don’t go near main and very busy roads. So today’s route from Mèze would be along the cycle-paths that form part of the ‘Herault à Vélo’ network and the ‘Mediterrannée’ a Eurovelo route that happens to pass the end of our road, on its way from Spain to Italy

We had breakfast, taking another check of the weather, which suggested that we would get slightly soggy in the morning, with the big storms still due at 3. So with quite a distance still to cover, we hopped back on the bikes and found our way onto the well-made off-road trail that led towards Bouzigues and Sète.

We have a real soft spot for Bouzigues, having stayed here with the boys a couple of times, in a house with probably the most terrifying staircase I have ever seen. But we had spent delightful evenings on the roof terrace watching the flamingoes fly over at sunset, and had just enjoyed the peace and slow pace of life in the town.

We then continued towards Sète, which has been a bit of a nemesis, travel-wise for us, having got lost on bikes there more than once and also not having much more luck in the car. Today though would be different, we had a map and knew where we were going, so we would have no problem at all. We spoke too soon.

It was all going so well, we had followed the route through and knew that we needed to be head towards Frontignan, but then saw the ‘Mediterrannée à Vélo’ sign and started following it, as that was where we needed to be. Only to realise about 2.5 km later that we were following it in totally the wrong direction, and were almost in the heart of our nemesis Sète.

So a quick about turn, and a few mild expletives later, we got back to where we had gone wrong and started pedalling in the right direction this time, annoyed with ourselves for getting so easily distracted and also for potentially losing valuable time, as we could already see storm clouds starting to build in the distance.

We followed a cycle path that took us out through salt-water lakes, overlooking the Mediterranean, catching our first sight of a flamboyance of flamingoes in the distance. I did get very excited, but effectively all we could see were a group of pale pink blobs, above the water at the far side of the Etang, but that was enough to make me grin.

As we left Palavas-Les-Flots, we found a spot overlooking the beach for today’s daily update which was a little shorter as, by now we could see the high anvil shaped clouds of a storm starting to build and our stress-levels were starting to rise.

From here, we followed the cycle path out towards La Grande-Motte, which was quite a surreal experience. I’ve never visited it before, but as we cycled onto the sea-front, it felt as if I had been whisked into the set of a 1960s futuristic TV programme. The town is formed of unusually shaped blocks of apartments, some looking like prows of ships, others straight from the pages of a vintage Habitat magazine.

After the countryside that we’ve passed through it came as quite a shock.

Shock over, we continued round, making our way through the pretty centre of Le Grau-du-Roi

Before turning towards Aigues-Mortes and seeing the stunning little walled town in the distance, against a dramatic backdrop of storm clouds.

Content that we were going to make it, before the storm arrived, we slowed down a little and enjoyed the final approach, amazed at the huge piles of sea-salt harvested from the big salt beds and yet more flamingoes!

Arriving in the town, we settled into the hotel and did a second , slightly more relaxed Daily update from the side of the canal, before heading into the pretty streets for a well-deserved ice cream

What surprised us, was that when we looked at The route we had cycled 105 km and climbed over 800 metres, which seemed impossible, as after reaching Mèze, it had felt as if we had been on the flat.

So tonight, we will head back inside the walls to find somewhere for supper and then prepare for what should be the second to last day on the bikes ….

We are going to be very sad when this is over.

As I mentioned yesterday, at the start of this adventure, I wondered about using the ride to help raise some funds for our local Resto du Coeur, in Apt. The Restos du Coeur are part of a national charity in France, established to support those in most need, in communities across the country, offering everything from food support, to community & cultural integration too. It is an incredible network, that does amazing work and it would be good to use this ride to perhaps support our local one too.

I didn’t like to mention it at the start, as if this ride had fallen apart within the first few days, then it would have felt a little like asking for money on false pretences. But as we now have Provence in our sights, and we are starting to dare to believe that this funny little adventure may soon be over, then I thought I would post the link to our fundraiser.

If you have enjoyed following our journey and would like to help support our local Resto du Coeur, then you can Donate here