With Shoko gone to Japan I find myself with less amusement at home, and some more badly needed time to get out on the bike – something I realized yesterday when my gut was spilling over the spandex a bit more than usual. At least it’s stretchy. 

So, as promised, I went back west to see how far yesterday’s bike path went. The answer is, about 20 km from Montpellier, right by these vines, where I hid from the wind and had my lunch. 

A few km down the road from here I stopped at the medieval-oozing village of Montbazin, whose streets are so windy and tangly that I could not actually figure out how to get to the entrance to this 14th century chapelle!

After Monbazin I turned south, with a tailwind that must have put some unwarranted confidence in me, because I decided to continue due south, over that mountain, instead of taking actual roads and skirting around it (I had to get to the other side, you see). The satellite function on my iPhone assured me there were road-like things in the hills, so I gave it a shot. 

All too quickly the road turned into this.

Then this.

And a few more variations on the same theme.

 

 

 

 

Then, after an hour or so of dodging rocks and horse poop, I got the Mediterranean side of the ‘mountain’. The Mediterranean is the thin blue bit under the sky, if you are wondering.

My destination was Frontignan where, thoroughly bushwacked, I took the train back to the comforting concrete of home.