I am the kind of guy who likes to save his two euro coins in a jar just to see it fill up, agonizingly slow and interest free. It’s probably the reason I get fat every fall and start a new training program that in theory sees me lose weight each cycling season (I admit this is progressively harder than saving coins).

So I am getting a giddy sense of satisfaction from the news that I just saw on Facebook – the Conseil départemental du Gard is going to add the final 13 km piece of greenway to a long stretch that starts on the western outskirts of Nimes.

When I moved here in 2010 there was only one piece of that puzzle – a dedicated path that started in Caveirac and went to Sommières. I usually avoided this, mainly because there were way better road options, but as the years went by, the department added bits and pieces that made more sense for a road cyclist; particularly a nice one that starts in Quissac and goes first to Sauve, then St. Hippolyte du Fort, then Ganges, and finally Sumène.

Where are all these places, you ask? They are northwest of Nimes and, most importantly, travel (on an old railway used when mining was a big thing here) towards my beloved Cévennes. Ganges is one of the ‘portes des Cévennes’, and Sumène is actually in them.

Here’s, plus ou moins, what we’ll have early next year, once the work is done.

A nearly eighty kilometer car-free road that takes you into one of the best places to ride in France. I’m glad I lived long enough to see it.