Home; Time to Start Planning

Everything dried out nicely. In the end it was worth the extra 25€ to get warm and dry. We rode back in to Narbonne at 11am to be ready for the bus pickup at 2.45 pm.
A quick burger, frites and coffee helped to pass the time till the bus arrived a few minutes late at 3.00 pm.
I wasn't looking forwards to the ride home, coach travel has never been a favourite of mine but I was pleasantly surprised. It was very well organised and delivered us to our side of Northampton at 1.15 pm the next day.

Other than a sadly deceased bonsai, the house seems undamaged and life has carried on pretty well without us.
24 hours later and I'm browsing touring websites....this may not be a good sign for a contented winter.

I'm still sure we could reduce the weight of stuff we carried, but we did use everything and were prepared for pretty much anything that could be thrown at us, so that should see us well if we go further afield in the future.

After 3 months of eating like pigs and abandoning all our previous slow carb diet we have come back exactly the same weight as we left. Must be all that exercise, maybe it is good for you after all.

After the early problems with the Exped mat (now replaced) and the broken spoke we have had no other failures of any note, although the bikes are looking a bit rough around the edges, Unprotected exposure to rain, dust, sand and salt from the sea means that they need a little bit of loving care before they're pressed back into touring service again.

People keep asking if we would do it again, the answer has to be, most definitely yes. After all we need to get some more use out of all this gear we've now got to find some room for.

We travelled France end to end and lived the summer end to end. We missed the Olympics, Wiggins in the tour, Murray at Wimbledon, 2012, and the US open, and much more, but this was something we did rather than living through other people's achievements, however memorable they were.

Final tally.....over 2500km not counting many of the shorter shopping type trips, which I didn't record, 22000m of climbing over 170 hours of riding. Not too bad for a first go we think.

Oh, and I never bought a cassette tool after all.

Should have Waited for the Fat Lady

Went for lunch on Friday in Narbonne and found a traffic friendly route in.
Came back with time to partially pack and get organised. Still forecast to rain pretty much all day Saturday so wanted to be as ready as possible.
Saturday morning.....dry. Rode the 5k or so to the boulangerie as we were too late to order last night. Got back as dark clouds started to roll in and thunder began to rumble.
Sue put the tarp up to give us some shelter and finished just as the rain started.
It was gentle to start with but then it picked up just a bit. I was outside spilling water out of the tarp and Sue was inside looking after the inner tent.
The water level around us started to rise as water ran down from the higher parts of the site, and we weren't the lowest point!
I began to become concerned when firstly the saucepan started to float away followed by other tins and utensil.
At this point it became clear Sue was having problems of her own as the outer tent slowly submerged. Within moments the water had risen to start lapping over the inner tent skirt. We had left it late to get the sleeping bags into dry bags and only one got in reasonably dry.
As the inner tent started to fill up and the guy ropes started failing as the ground washed away around the pegs, the call went up to abandon tent.
We got as much stuff as possible into dry bags and into the bathroom.
We had to laugh, the last day, bloody hell.
Sue went off to reception to get warm and sort out a cabin.
I found our frying pan 100m away, and so far we still haven't found the big saucepan or the cutlery and some other bits. I'm going back out later when the water has gone down.
Sue's phone was submerged and she rescued her journal just in time.
So we're in a cabin with drying stuff everywhere waiting for the rain to stop.
It's supposed to be nice tomorrow.
Update...
Found the missing pan and most of the stuff. The pan was in a field at the far end of the site, and it's a big site.

End of the Road

No more routes to plan, no more browsing maps looking for hills to cross, we've arrived at Narbonne.
We're now sat in 4 star camping luxury, on a huge plot with our own bathroom and toilet, it's just like being at home.

It rained on Wednesday evening, but we spent the evening with a British couple who invited us to share shelter and drinks with them in their motor home. We drew the line at their invite to cook our tin of chilli in their van, but we did take it inside to eat, and they washed up for us. If Stan and Sheila ever read this, we feel very guilty.
Thursday came warm and sunny, the road we took to Narbonne was quiet and easy, at least until getting round the outskirts of the town itself which were a bit lethal.
We've checked out our collection point and now have to reorganise our bags and stuff. Then into Narbonne for a bit of sightseeing. Storms and rain forecast for tomorrow so we'll make the most of today.

Anyway Carcasonne is just down the road, and Spain is just over those hills over there and nobody would notice if we missed the bus, so I might just get those maps back out again.

No Way Out

Said goodbye to Enko (dog) and Balaruc and set off towards Beziers.
We expected a longish day as there are fewer open sites around now.
Passed through Sete and along the causeway to Agde. Miles of lovely beaches but not very pretty surroundings.
We couldn't escape Agde as every road led to a restricted D road. French towns down here are well equipped with cycle lanes, but there is little concession for travelling from town to town by bike.
After an hour of searching in the company of another couple of cyclists trying to get to the same place as us we found the Canal du Midi and took that.
It was unsurfaced and very bumpy (the towpath not the canal, that was quite smooth but a bit too wet) but at least we were going in the right direction.
We were helped to lift the bikes over some narrow gates by a Dutch couple past some arcane machinery to divert the river where it crossed the canal.
The path turned into Tarmac for the last 10k and took us into Beziers.
After being happily called a "mean fecker" by an Irish guy, for not letting Sue stay in a B&B, he directed us to the shops.
We picked the canal back up and into Columbiers where we found an open site.
Pitched next to a Canadien couple bike touring around most of Europe but using flying or train between locations.
75k today but it felt longer, it seems we are winding down along with the time.
Last night we felt that if the bus could go tomorrow we'd be on it, but today after a sleep, daft thoughts like that have gone away.
Woke to a much cooler morning, I think the summer may over now.
Don't know if we can be bothered to ride back to Beziers, even if it's only 7k so we might just explore locally.

Getting Closer

Saturday turned into a lovely warm day, so we walked into the village and through possibly the tattiest brocante sale yet. Then back to sit by the pool and read for an hour or so.
8.30 start and into Montpellier for 10.30. Rode around the city centre , a curious mix of traditional and austere modern but still with an unloved feel that seems to be typical of this corner of France.
It has been interesting to see along this coast especially Cassis and Marseille but it's not an area I would want to spend a lot of time in and the riding has been on the whole busier and less rewarding.
We're in Balaruc les Bains now, just North of Sete. After a bright start the wind has picked up again so we're debating whether to explore, shop or both.
I've just read an article about Marseille and the northern part we rode through. Apparently it's the poorest part of the poorest city in France. That makes sense. We saw a woman with a bucket and large spanner opening a fire hydrant to get water as we passed and thought that she must have no running water. It's that sort of sight that you wouldn't see from a car as the main road is on a flyover above the whole area. It' been very intense to see so much so closely.
I've worked out that even with our 3 weeks break at Domaine we will have ridden a loaded 50+km ride on average about every second day. If I'd thought this through in those terms after our practice around Rugby I'm not so sure I'd have been so keen to do this. So I'm very glad I didn't do the maths.

Petit Carmargue

A relatively easy flattish 63k today to Lansargues just past Lunel. We were both happy with this as our legs didn't want anything harder.
Started off fine but clouded over in the afternoon, but still warm.
We noticed that the towns around here are a little more run down with more litter than is usual in France. Even Arles looked as if times are not that great.
Got our confirmation of the pickup time in Narbonne, 2.45 a week on Sunday. So we have week to cover the last 130k or so. Still not sure if we'll be able to see Montpellier or not. Weather forecast for next week not so good so we may push on.

The Longest Day

As we started the climb out of La Couronne it was obvious that the wind was going to be a problem. The planned route was already around 70k and we very rarely avoid going over the planned mileage.
We had breakfast in Martigues and the set off towards Fos. The problems started when the only direct road was a restricted N road. We diverted around , got some advice from a old guy on a scooter who came over to us pondering our map, and still almost ended up on an autoroute. Quickly backing up the slipway we looked for another route. One dead end, more advice from a La Poste lady and we had a revised route which would get us to Arles from the east rather than the west.
We left the towns and headed onto the D5. 12k of open straight road with no shelter straight into the Mistral. Despite it being flat we could do no more than an unsteady walking pace.
After what seemed hours we turned west towards Arles.
Did some shopping at St Martin de la Crau and pushed on to the edge of Arles fortified by coca cola and bananas. The site was recommended by some English cyclists we met going the other way.
Whilst sorting out I found that I'd left my lock at the supermarket. I wasn't happy, but was far too tired to do anything about it.
6 and a half hours riding, 85+ kms and 600+m of climbing, plenty for one day.
Woke up at 8, after nearly 10 hours asleep, got up, dressed and went off to find my lock. A 26k round trip but it was still on the floor where I left it, so worthwhile.
Back for breakfast and the rest of the day.
It's much cooler today but at least the wind has dropped.