To Lézignan Corbières

On the camping one of the workers said, I should not use the water from the tap to fill my bottles. I should ask for drinking water at the receptionist, so I did. The evening before I already thought my tea is a bit salty, probably the source contains some seawater.
The cycle path is parallel to the coast line. There are a lot of cyclists going to the beaches.
Sète is a nice town, at least the eastern part with the harbour. In the west there are a lot of modern hotel buildings.
In Agde I first passed the big supermarkets. They are open on Sunday morning and I take the opportunity,  to buy some bottles of water and juice. The old center is near the bridge over the Herault. After a short distance over a busy road, I can use narrow more quit roads. Some 8 km later the EV8 is on the border of the Canal du Midi and is good to use until Béziers, where the canal bridges the river l`Orb. The cycle path disappears and you have to find the way yourself.
I used the path along the 9 locks. This is continued as a small track near the Canal. Near Combecal I leave the track and use a small road at the south.
TransFrance_201407276099Near Maison du Malpas there are three attractions: the Canal flows through a tunnel, the Oppidum d`Ensérune (with pots carved in the rocks) and a view to the Étang-de-Montady.TransFrance_201407276082 I keep using the tertiary roads south of the Canal until Truilhas. Near Athens I decide to leave the Canal and head for a camping 6 km to the south.
Distance today: 129 km

 

To Mireval

Avignon was residence of some Popes. This can be recognized in the geographical names like Île-des-Papes, Chateauneuf-du-Pape etc.  There are also a lot of buildings that emphasizes these historical facts.
TransFrance_201407266032The start of the cycle path in Avignon cannot be found without a map. It is a small street in the quarter Les Angles.
Near Aramon the route crosses the Rhône. In Vallabregues I bought food and liquids for the weekend. In the twin towns Tarascon and Beaucaire again The Rhône has to be crossed. After the cement factory the cycle path EV8 is routed via a cul-du-sac, so I had to turn and use the main road (dear OSM community: it makes no sense to show the future plans, at least not as a normal route). In Bellegarde a Monsieur told me, I was using a street in the wrong direction. That was right, but the EV8 is on that street, so French authorities: please allow bidirectional cycling through the center.
In Saint Gilles I had lunch with a nice view to the south near the Mairie.
Behind the church I saw some remainders of an older church.
The next part leads through the Camargue area and the road has to be shared with car traffic.
After Aigues-Mortes the V60b is on the dyke of the Canal du Rhône à Sète, but this cycle TransFrance_201407266051path is not ready as well. I mastered the muddy way until it crossed the D61. Then I gave up and took that road to La-Grande-Motte. Now I used the EV8 that is very crowded with pedestrians from and to the beach.
in Palavas it was not easy to find the cycle path, because it is not signed out and at unexpected points you have to use the primary car road.
The weather was sunny and temperatures high.

Distance today: 139 km

 

To Villeneuve lez Avignon

In the morning the sun shone and I was able to pack a dry tent instead of a heavy wet tent.
After I passed some road works I was on the Isère cycle path again just near the junction with the ViaRhona as the Rhône cycle path is called. I missed a sign for the cycle path near kiosque Peynet, probably because that building attracted my view. It happens frequently,  one doesn’t see a sign and then one is lost without a map, that shows the path.
I choosed to try the official Viarhona and had to change to the other side of the Rhône. That took some extra meters, because the bridge at Valence sud points to north. At Charmes sur Rhône I changed the bank again and used the Komoot route again, because the Viarhona was not visible anymore. My lunch break was at Ancone in a park.TransFrance_201407256018
It started to rain again after Montélimar and stopped as I arrived on the camping site. Near Venejan Komoot brought me to a secondary road with more traffic, this improved in Caderousse. I passed Phenix the French fast breeder reactor. Photography is forbidden. No problem for me, because that are ugly buildings
Today’s distance: 169 km