October 18, 2021
Saint-Gilles to Séte
We did it! We made it to the very end of the ViaRhôna, on time and under budget! OK, the under budget part is a joke, especially since our original plans had us camping the whole way down. Hopefully the finance department will understand our circumstances.
We finally had another "clock-in, clock-out" day. We sure earned our pay today. City riding, bumpy trails, headwinds, closed shops -- we were challenged in ways that might have crushed our spirits if not for the warm air and interesting scenery of this little corner of France. Plus, we have the next couple of days mapped out. Knowing that we don't have to exhaust ourselves tomorrow made it easier to push hard today.
The campground we stayed at was perfect except for a couple of things. First, they have these really bright flood lights. We like to choose pitches that are close to the facilities. In this case we were rewarded with a little midnight sun. The rain fly helped a lot, and we actually slept really well. The second thing is that the place is crawling with earwigs. We're good about keeping the tent closed up, but it didn't matter. I lost track of the number of times I had to toss one outside.
The greatest things were that the ground was dry and that we didn't feel cold in the morning. It makes all the difference.
Komoot put us on this really weird little alley/drainage ditch on the way out of Saint-Gilles. Thankfully it ended soon and we were out on the open road. We made good time due to the smooth surface and the self-imposed pressure to go faster when in traffic. The drivers don't give a damn whether you're going 15 or 20. They can't even tell the difference. Anyway, before we knew it, we were back on the ViaRhôna and its interesting mix of back roads and bike trails.
As we entered tiny Franquevaux, we noticed a few cyclists on the streets. That should have helped us guess that good riding was ahead. Still, we were a little taken aback at what we saw: a canal!
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This is a much more active canal that what we've seen elsewhere. Everyone's come down south. I can hardly blame them.
Much of the morning was spent in pursuit of a decent photo of flamingos. There were many opportunities to see them, but they were always off in the distance. It wasn't until later in the day that we got a closer look at some. So this is the only flamingo photo out of several dozen that I will share. You're welcome!
We were looking for a place to have lunch, and some of those pleasure craft on the canal delayed us:
We forgave them. We found a nice bench and feasted on our haul of Super U goodies.
It felt so weird to be down to just shorts and a short-sleeve jersey. I've worn fleece, long sleeves, and tights every riding day for the past three weeks. We were trying to think of the last time it was this warm. Somewhere on the coast of Brittany, we concluded.
We snapped what felt like obligatory photos of the Tour Carbonnière and the Tour Aigues-Mortes. We just didn't expect to see old stuff in these parts, and they caught us a little off guard.
The route takes a right turn just before the Mediterranean, taking one tantalizingly close to shore through a series of resort towns. It was like France, Spain, Florida, and California, all rolled into one schizophrenic package. Eventually, we slammed right into the beach and felt like we had finally reached the sea. People were bathing in the water, and we speculated on how warm it might be. Maybe we should've put on our swim suits right then and there to find out for ourselves. But nope, we were on the clock. We had a schedule to keep.
Soon it was back to inland roads. I'm not sure why. It looks like there's a road along the Canal du Rhône a Sète the entire way. Maybe the creators of the ViaRhóna thought that would be too monotonous. Maybe they're right. Anyway, it's getting time for our afternoon break, so we start looking for a place to have a beer. We get to the little town of Vic-la-Gardiole, but every place is closed. We take the road through the touristy beachfront. Every place is closed. We spent so much time looking for a place that we were down to our last 11 kilometers, so at that point we simply threw our hands in the air, leaned our bikes against a railing, ate the last of our peanuts, and called it good. A beer would've gone really well with those peanuts.
Things quickly turned very industrial as we approached Séte. The route put us on this poorly-maintained dirt road that turned into a poorly-maintained paved road. We finally reached the city proper just in time for rush hour. Before that madness ensued, we stopped to welcome ourselves to the end of the ViaRhôna:
We braved the traffic and reached our hotel at 5:30. We had to park our bikes outside, so we carried all our gear to the room in one trip. That's six panniers, two handlebar bags, and a tent. Thankfully this place has an elevator!
We found a takeout place that has a veggie burger. It was underwhelming but edible. We will cross our fingers that one of the nearby boulangeries has coffee, or even better, a place for us to sit and eat. Sorry that food occupies so much of our agenda. When you're touring, you understand!
Tomorrow will be a multimodal day for us and the start of our last little adventure. I know I keep saying this, but I'm sad that the "connection" chain of the tour is being broken again. But even with a touring-bike-worthy Canal du Midi towpath, we wouldn't have had time to bike from here to Bordeaux. So let's forget all that and enjoy what still lies ahead!
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Today's ride: 88 km (55 miles)
Total: 2,556 km (1,587 miles)
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Hey - we both arrived in Sete on October 18th!
3 years ago