La terminus

I headed for Montpellier at around 11:00, having cooked myself breakfast, and chose the northerly route via Meze, rather than over the causeway via Sete.

The wind this close to the coast has made for a very "technical" ride, which has been quite stressful. Most of my day has been spent in a howling cross wind. At times I've screamed out in a combination of frustration and terror, as the prevailing conditions seemed to conspire to suck or blow me under the wheels of a HGV.

Meze represents the end of my self imposed challenge to ride from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean coast of France, the journey that I had begun at Biarritz on day 4 of my Tour. I dipped my feet into the Med which was pleasantly warm (as one expects of the Med) to make it official.

I celebrated the attainment of this goal by having a baguette with chicken, cheese and butter, whilst my feet remained in the pleasant Mediterranean water, just along from the beach where people were swimming. Oddly enough rolling into the small harbor in Meze was my first look at the Med, as all through Beziers, Adge etc it had been just on the other side of some hills or buildings.

I reached Montpellier at around 16:00, the last way point on my cycle journey. I set about trying to find some accommodations; I headed strait to the central tourist office, who provided me with a map and made some calls on my behalf, but the camp sites were full or weren't picking up the phone.

I headed for a camp site in the north eastern suburb of Clapiers, but due to the placement of the river crossings, had to go a very long way around to find my way. When I arrived they were full, so I having expended all the battery power for my computer I had to call home and ask my parents to get onto late rooms and see if they could find a hotel room for me.

All the while the unpleasant wind conditions, roadworks and heavy traffic made the riding conditions quite unpleasant. My mood at this point had become a little despondent. I had intended to have this accommodation booked well in advance; as it was though during the early part of my trip there had been a degree of uncertainty around whether Chris would be rejoining me at any point, and during the middle and later portion Internet usage hadn't been possible because of a lack of connectivity, power or both.

I eventually got a room at the "Villa Bellagio" a hotel a reasonable ride out from the center of Montpellier (thanks mum).Read more