Tuesday June 20th Capestang

Pomegranate flower and a set fruit. There were
many trees on the driveway at camp.

The morning was a bit hazy.

The talking continued this morning over breakfast…and a little longer and it was very late morning before we finally said goodbye to Bonnie and Cliff. An extremely enjoyable catch up.

Such fun meeting Bonnie and Cliff from Papamoa, NZ

Set Jilly to take us to Sete, a town on the Mediterranean coast where there were a number of bike trails. There was an Aire on the causeway and we had ideas of staying there and going for a ride. Town was rather busy and we got to the Aire but once again a dusty parking area and the bike trail along the coast had no views of the ocean. So we flagged that and moved on. We are pleased to have come to this coast but really felt that it was a very busy “playground” and not really the part of France that we wanted to spend a lot of time in. Checked the map and spotted the town of Capestang that was inland so we headed in that direction, and after looking a bit closer saw that it was on the Canal du Midi, a great area for biking. Perfect. There was a municipal campground that looked nice with plenty of trees and put the co-ordinates in and continued on.

Enjoyed the drive as we left the busy coast behind and got out into the countryside. It was close to 3 when we arrived, with about 30 degrees and quite a bit of humidity making it feel much hotter. A very nice camp with plenty of room and shady trees. Sat outside for a very late lunch and lay in the cool for an afternoon siesta.

Once it got a little cooler we got the bikes out and headed off to check out the paths along the Midi. We have not been on the bikes for quite a few days, and it felt so nice to get the breeze in our faces. There were so many barges tied up beside the canal, some looking so nice with their geranium window boxes and people were sitting outside enjoying the evening with a drink. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a decent canal path that went very far, tried both sides in both directions without any luck. What a shame as planned to have a good bike ride in the morning. Came back to camp via the middle of the town, winding through the little streets and past the cathedral. It is such a good time of day to look around towns without having to worry about the traffic.

Oh so humid still, have to admit that tonight we made use of the electricity in the camp and cranked up the air-conditioning, first time we have used it and it is cooling the van quite nicely. Tomorrow temperatures are getting up in the high 30’s again so we are heading into the Pyrenees, and hopefully a little cooler weather.

Sunset on the Canal du Midi

An enjoyable bike ride through town.