May 18 2019 Montpellier to Bezier

Today was a 98.3 kms day but I guess I picked up an extra couple as I wound up at 100.3. Too much weaving from side to side I guess.  The climb was almost nothing though at only 141 meters.

The three of us rolled out of the hotel and down the walking area where we came in yesterday.  It looked a lot different without all the people crowding the street.  It was easy to find the path this morning whereas yesterday crossing through all of the construction was terrible.
    

At about the 1.5 km mark I got a flat tire. One of those micro shards of glass, about 1.5 mm long but sharper than the sharpest knife and devilishly hard to get out of the tire.  However persistence and lots of wiggling got it out.  Second ride and a flat but at least it wasn’t raining.  Bob was out in front and although we called to him he kept going.  I am sure he just didn’t want to get involved in that messy tire repair business.
  

The route took us alongside the canal which runs inland from the ocean. It was a very nice path with a big broad top but lots of people were out jogging walking and riding so a person had to keep an eye out.  Ken and I didn’t get very far, maybe another 1-2 kms when Ken gets a flat.  However he does not have a spare tube as he had given his spare tube to Bob when he got the double snake bite from the pot hole.  So we are patching Ken’s tube.  Ken has those stick on patches which while easy to apply I question how good or reliable they are.  Ken says he knows how to make them work every time and the trick is to have just the right amount of air in the tube. Luck and or Ken’s skill is with us and it works.

We got down to the ocean where the route turned North West along a barrier bar.  It was really pretty with the Mediterranean on one side and the lagoon on the other.  The path we were on had a large sand dune on one side and the lagoon on the other. This bar went from the 10 km mark to the 70 kms mark with only a couple of little breaks from the bike path where we went through a couple of little villages.  The unfortunate thing was there was a stiff 20-30 kms/hr wind blowing out to the NWN. Not quite a head wind but real close.  This wind kept our arm and leg warmers on and had us working hard.

After we got to the end of the barrier bar Ken and I headed inland towards Beziers. At times we were on little roads with no center line and at times along a canal path.   At the 75 kms mark we caught Bob falling out of an ice cream shop.  Oh sorry the shop just closed.  The three of us headed up the route which was now a canal path.  It was very pretty with huge trees lining the canal. The sun was out and shining through the vast green canopy.  

As we headed north along the canal we came to the Cameron valve factory.  I wheeled off the path to take a photo of the huge 36” ball valve which is mounted outside of the factory.  This was the butt of numerous jokes that only an oil man would take a photo of a huge ball valve.

At the 91 kms mark we came to a little village and I suggested that as we had only 7-8 kms to go and the place we are in was in the country we should stop for a beer. This suggestion was immediately adopted so we rolled in and sat down for a beer.  I phoned Agnes and she had arranged for the B&B operator to prepare supper for us.  

The B&B is just outside of the city of Beziers and is in a lovely old French farm house.  The view out the window is of a field of poppies and the Beziers cathedral and castle. What a beautiful place.  I am really keen on tonight’s supper as a couple of reviews had said that the B&B operator prepares a real spread.
  

The one thing which I feel I must comment on is how Bob and Ken have taken to the use of the Garmin. They both arrived in France with the Garmin’s still in the original boxes.   Bob who was in the Australian Navy and during his career became famous in the Australian Navy for his complete reliance on the sextant and astrolabe as his sole navigation aids.  He now swears by the use of the Garmin and is on record as saying he cannot believe there is any other way to navigate. Ken has zero navigational skills and once got lost in the hallway to the bathroom in his own house, is now out front leading the way though the tightest French villages.

I guess it was the wind as my legs feel like they got a good work out.  Of the 100 kms at least 90 kms  was down a bike path.  What a great day on the bike.

terry hot biker