| Day # | 34 | State of Legs | :-) |
| Distance (miles) | Distance (km) | Ascent (feet) | Ascent (metres) | Punctures | |
| Today | 56 miles | km | 502 feet | metres | 0 |
| Trip Totals | 1565 miles | km | 63411 feet | metres | 0 |
| Today's Route |
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| Route So Far |
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Travelogue
Today was a very good day and the first stage of three stages of cycling was pretty special. I started at first light as it's been so hot in the afternoons.
The first stage (carefully ignoring the bit quite close to the campsite where I got lost in farmland I shouldn't have been in - yes, let's pretend that didn't happen!) involved cycling through the Camargue region looking exactly as it has whenever I've seen it in nature programs on TV. It's a very large area of wetland and home to an enormous number of birds of all shapes (not just the triangular ones) and sizes (small, medium and large). See. I know my birdies.
Amongst the many birds I saw and can actually name were White Storks, Cattle Egrets and..... drum roll...... Flamingos! Yes, you read that correctly. Flamingos. I didn't realise you could find them in Europe but you can. They're migratory birds and increasing numbers are being seen in France and other parts of Europe like Italy and Spain. So there you go.
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| Cattle Egrets |
The White Storks I saw were on top of the most outrageous bit of nest building I've ever seen. Completely amazing. I had to wonder if they were competing with a neighbouring nest, adding another floor one year then maybe decking and a hot tub the next but I have no hard evidence of this. Very cool though!
Cycling through the Camargue was pretty magical. There's so much life there. The landscape is flat but like all wetland has its own beauty. Perhaps being there first thing in the morning enhanced the experience for me. Whatever the key ingredients, I loved the place.
The second stage of today's cycling was also pretty good and followed a large canal on a popular cycle path through the Camargue. I saw lots of cyclists on it and a fair few bikepackers like myself.
I even saw some of those famous horses of the Camargue!
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| Definitely horses.... |
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| Lots of birds here as well |
I passed through the town of Aigues-Mortes at one point. It has a castle and lots of moored boats.
And it was after here that I first saw flamingoes. Hundreds of them. I saw more of them further on in the ride as well. It was quite a sight!
From not far after here, the character of the route changed and I found myself mostly following a cycle path by a road and which passed through a couple of towns. For some reason I found this stage hard to navigate. There were signs but some of them were really confusing and at least once I was sent round in a complete circle!
Eventually, I found myself at the coast and the greater majority of the remainder of the route then stayed close to the coast with its long, white beaches and crowds of holidaymakers.
Today's campsite near Frontignan is much more to my liking than some of the others I've stayed at recently. There is no karaoke. There is no DJ. There's no restaurant. It's not a car park. It's actually another farm, with basic camping facilities. A whole two showers rather than just one per the last farm I camped at. It's pretty quiet and I have a good, shady spot on my own under a tree.
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| I'm trying the solar panels on my power bank today |
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| I've hand-washed my clothes and The Mule is lending a hand(lebar) for my clothes line |
I arrived at about 13:30 having hit a supermarket en route, so as soon as the tent was up, I'd showered and washed clothes, it was lunch time.
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| Lunch |
Now, my lunch might not look much to you, dear reader, with your fancy proper kitchen and your fancy proper plates and cutlery and your fancy range of ingredients from your fancy fridge but I can tell you, it was both nutritious and delicious and that's a pretty good combination. So, what does that bowl of camping mush actually contain? Well, tomatoes. Obviously. And a tin of sardines, one of my preferred sources of protein (I don't eat meat). And there are some chickpeas. And finally, the base of the whole concoction is a can of what seems to be marketed as a "salad" but which I can tell you consists of cooked rice and vegetables with tuna fish. There are several varieties in this range and I've tried three of them now. They're really tasty and of course convenient. The other two varieties were based on couscous and a mixture of potato and other vegetables respectively. I would never have considered buying such a product. It does not sound appealing at all! But I'm glad I gave the range a try (back in Milano, I think) as it's a big hit. Oh and I carry salt, pepper and a bottle of Tabasco too so I can spice things up if required.
I'm not alone on this campsite of course but nobody else is camped near to me. I did have a visitor about an hour ago though.
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| "play with me! play with me! play with me!" |
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| "You will pay attention to me!" |
This was followed by (caused by?!) the doggy dropping the yucky pine cone right inside my tent! I had both sides open to let the breeze through. More fool me! So, I had to pick up the pine cone and I threw it a short distance away. Rather than the dog go after it and bring it back though, as I'd expected, instead it would seem that a form of doggy vengeance was in order. It jumped into my tent and got inexplicable (it's bone dry around here!) mucky paw prints all over my sleeping mat! Doggy then vanished and the mat has since been cleaned. He/she did make another appearance a bit later, this time with a burst beach ball which is still under my chair by the tent! Persistent little *&^%&!
My kind of campsite!
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