Montpellier

A perfect day’s walking! Cool and cloudless, we left a little after 8.30, and followed the recommended plan (even by The Book) of getting the no 1 tram to euromedicine stop. Tram line was neat the hotel, and we’d found that yesterday, we knew which direction, and Amr as always negotiated the ticket machine at the stop. The tram ride took us to the edge of the city which was perfect, and when we alighted we immediately saw the signs for the GR, so off we went with no angst.

And through really pretty countryside, a bit of climbing, and quite a lot of bush walking, with loose stones, roots etc. our eyes have again become accustomed to sighting the red and white signs, very important today, as every now and then there would be a trick turn off which wasn’t obvious. They are very good mostly, and confirm you are on the right path, and put red and white crosses when a wrong turn, but much of today’s terrain had very few places to put a marker!

We walked about 15 kms on the walk (would have been 20 from the city centre) and arrived at Montarnaud by 1.30, much earlier than the 4pm booked with Cyril! We thought we’d explore the town a bit, sit and have coffee in a bar and relax, but found it is a pretty but totally sleepy town, that is, no main square with cafes, and the only shop we saw was closed…so we found the Mairie which was the meeting point, and found a picnic table where we could sit and relaxed and read - I had fortunately brought my kindle for this possibility! Amr called Cyril but being Saturday afternoon he had bookings, but did get to us by about 3.30 and we are back at the hotel in Montpellier and ready to hit the town, find somewhere to eat for dinner, and explore more of the sights.

Just back from dinner, showered and happy! It was COLD walking round…I am so surprised, because when I checked temperatures before we came it seemed to be quite warm, and I was hoping it wouldn’t be too hot…I love not being hot, but we did need jackets and Amr even kept his puffer on all dinner. But we had a lovely wander and saw more than we did yesterday…beautiful buildings of course, and there is an arc de triumph, an aqueduct, lots of neo Roman buildings…but mostly from the 1700s…the arc de triumph said Ludovicus magno, but not a Roman emperor, just Louis IV! All lovely in the bright sunlight, and the Saturday afternoon crowds also wandering round. We stopped for a drink in the Place de Comedie, lovely till the sun went behind a building, then went for dinner, nothing spectacular - I decided to boost the ferritin and have beef which was a mistake, as steak here (in Europe) I have found to be disappointingly tough and dry (I’m sure in gourmet restaurants not so, but in the ordinary ones just not worth it) but it was fun anyway, and buzzing by the time we left. Amr had beef tartare which is safer, if you like it! Can’t be over cooked! Tomorrow we get picked up at 9am to go back to Montarnaud, and begin walking from where we finished today, and then everything continues as normal. Tomorrow is quite a hard walk I think, and the next day the hardest, but then we finish with a short one on Tuesday.Read more