Day 26 Have bikes will travel

Another beautiful sunny day - but a bit cooler in the morning.

About 9:30 we hiked over to the bike shop we’d found yesterday and rented bikes for 6 days. The same friendly lady was there - we had a good chat about bikes, kids & Canada. Our French seems to be getting a bit better - either that or she was “super nice.”

The bikes are great - only 7 gears, but smooth & comfortable. After touring around a bit we paused for coffee & croissants. So French.

Agde is actually 3 different cities - Agde, the old city that’s further inland, Cap d’Agde a tourist’s playground where we are, and Le Grau Agde a traditional fishing village with miles of sandy beaches.

As we’d wandered around the Cap yesterday, we decided to explore Le Grau this morning, then head east in the afternoon. We decided to be “reasonable” and not explore all 3 cities in one day. Needless to say we weren’t reasonable and didn’t get home until 6:30pm - 17,300 steps / peddles later.

Again, we managed to get totally lost, ending up in Marseillan Plage, 13 K away, and coming back against wind gusts of 45 K. Fortunately the paths were relatively flat.

Overall impression - there are lovely well maintained bike paths everywhere, and sandy beaches & promenades that go on for miles. We rarely hear English and the locals are friendly.

Some highlights were beach resorts with palm trees, biking along L’Hérault peer, ultra modern Tourism Office & commercial complex, watching a boule competition - totally boring but obviously a serious pastime - circling a huge aquatic centre, (Archipel La Cité de L’eau), trying to visit Village Naturiste but being locked out, and heading past the Centre International de Tennis - 30 tennis courts, no pickelball . . .

All in all another fun, energetic day.Read more