Tag Archives: France

Day 39 – Saint Giles to La Couronne

125km of 2689km so far…

As I was leaving Saint Giles from the south side, I realized there was a factory behind the nice village. That was just a small sample of what I was about see during the day.

The first and only car accident I've seen so far.

The first and only car accident I've seen so far.

Heading south-east, I took a smaller road which looked a little more interesting on the map. Indeed it was a good choice, as for about a couple of hours I was cycling next to the natural reserve of Vaccares. It hosts many different type if birds, fishes as well as many other animals. Because of the numerous ponds around the area, I had to cycle with the mouth closed. Every now and then I would go through a cloud of bugs and about a dozen of them would be stuck on my cloths. Other than that, I really enjoyed that part of the ride, as the road was very quite and the surroundings very beautiful.

Reading and observing

Reading and observing

Bulls and a few birds around them

Bulls and a few birds around them

The big lake

The big lake

More birds

More birds

I had a 60cm sandwich for lunch in Salin De Giraud, where I didn’t find anything interesting to photograph, apart from the welcoming sign which said that it is a sister town with the Greek island Kalymnos.

No I am not in Greece yet.

No I am not in Greece yet.

And suddenly I run out of road

And suddenly I run out of road

After lunch, the scenery changed dramaticly. The natural reserve was replaced by big factories, refineries and ship yards. That’s what I was seeing around me for the next 4 hours, but at least there were not any big tracks and lorries overtaking me.

Windmills

Windmills

factories

factories

ships and cars

ships and cars

scrapyard

scrapyard

I got to Port de Bouc at around 4pm and as the city had a camp site, I was thinking whether to stay or move on. As I was going around the city looking for an ice cream, I realized I was still within an industrial zone. The tourist office was closed and even if I was uncertain if the next towns had camp sites, I decided to risk it and get out of this cancerous place.

The view of the scenery as I was leaving Port de Bouc

The view of the scenery as I was leaving Port de Bouc

Looking the three towns on the map, the first one was the smallest and the most isolated on the west. As I had to go up and down many hills to get there and I was getting a little tired, I decided to skip the first one and go straight to the two bigger ones that are merged together. When I got there a guy in a shop told me there is indeed a camping, but unfortunately when I got there they told me it was only for caravans and the tent camping was in the first town I skipped. Very dissapointed, I had to do the last 10km again, before I could pitch my tent and cook something to eat.

yet another col

yet another col

I shared my dinner with my neibours

I shared my dinner with my neibours

Day 38 – Montpellier to Saint Giles

80km of 2564km so far…

Hubert had already bought the essentials for a big breakfast by the time I was up. He cycles a lot as well, so the breakfast was rather complete, something that I really appreciated. I put my new tire on the bike, loaded it with all my bags and off to the road again.
The destination of the day was Nimes, which has an impressive Roman Arena. I did a big detour to get there, to avoid the motorway but also visit a nice village. I got to Sommieres just on time for lunch, so I bought a some pate from the local botcher, bread, cheese and tomatoes and had them by the river.

The entrance of Sommieres
The entrance of Sommieres
Its centre
Its centre

The rest of the way from Sommieres to Nimes was entirly on a cycle path which I rather enjoied, after spending the last couple of days on busier roads. The only problem was the head wind which made the ride slow.

The cycle path
The cycle path
Faster than my shadow
Faster than my shadow
Forward thinking
Forward thinking

I got to Nimes and after an ice cream break went straight for the big monument. The Arena is about 2000 years old and the best preserved in the world. It used to host 24000 spectators, who would go there to see the famous gladiators and other kind of bloody shows. I spend about an hour in there, wondering around the corridors and looking at the arena while listening to the audio guide which had detailed description of how the events took place. The arena is occasionally used even today for bullfights. Another cyclist I met in Carcassonne, visited the Arena to watch some. He told me they have two shows a day and on each one they kill 6 bulls.

Nimes' stamp
Nimes’ stamp
The Arena
The Arena
Its galleries
Its galleries
From the top
From the top
The ground is covered in sand, so they can quickly cover the blood
The ground is covered in sand, so they can quickly cover the blood

I departed and started making my way to the south again, as I will soon be visiting Marseille. I ended up checking into a camping in Saint Giles, which was about 20km away from Nimes

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