Category: France

You look forward to cycle paths most of the time. Sometimes they can be a pain: left to right, back again, onto road, back to path, dodge the large e-bikes thundering towards you in pairs.

Today’s ride, good as it was, had an extra frisson of mud, glorious mud. My fault, I cleaned the chains last night. Luckily this was super sticky mud with a nice clay feeling, so doubled up as extra lube. The canal on one side was the added incentive to stay in the tow path mud.

The coastal belt is a queer mix of traditional, slightly shabby and interesting local towns – where you see people (coffee, fags and pastries) and new developments along sea fronts. Where you don’t see people in the housing areas.

The beaches are deserted as are the acres of car parks. An ideal time to pass through or indeed stay. Probably a different scene just a week ago.

Inland there’s lots of nature in the marshy flat lands. Some of it bights. Red squirrels are used to being fed. The highland cow some saw was probably lost and very warm. Or on its holidays: why just us humans?

Tomorrow into Spain – which means an uphill to get to the Border post.

Which I think translates as Valras Beach, a small sea-side town with a fine beach. We got there by following the sea around and along the canals.

Leaving Montpellier I was eating words. Soon we were into out of town shopping mall areas. High traffic as it’s a Monday and the end of school holidays. We are going against the tide of traffic so generally ok. Apart from roundabouts and when the cycle paths switch back and fore.

It then felt like a mixture of Gwent levels, Llanelli Millenium Path and Swansea Bay along to Mumbles. Generally delightful, with a few amusement parks of varying rusting vintage thrown in for amusement.

Sete felt a good place – bustling, working, friendly. The ferry to Corsica was waiting to furrow it’s bow through the darkening skies.

A short day, fun. With a birthday celebration – well done Balazs, you’ve set a bar I will leave as a high tide mark!

This city wears its heritage casually whilst quietly being modern. A population of near 300000, 25% of whom are students. The University is one of the oldest in the world and it has the oldest medical school still in operation. Nostradamus is (was?) an alumni. Who’d have predicted that?

It remains France’s fastest growing city. We saw part of the greater metropolian area yesterday, though thankfully not all of the 800000 population. The location, 10km from the Med, helps.

So an old city with a young feel: the centre is largely pedestrianised. We ambled through narrow streets: easy to do on a quiet Sunday when most shops are shut. Great street art makes the mundane pop.

The highlight was the recently reopened and repurposed Carré Sainte-Anne church with a great JR display. Key learning point for me: JR is a famous grafitti artist, not from Dallas.

Adventice draws from a little-known chapter of the city’s history. In the Middle Ages, wool imported from Spain, North Africa, and beyond carried hidden seeds. These foreign seeds thrived in the Mediterranean climate, giving rise to France’s first botanical garden.

In botany, adventice stems from the Latin advenire, “that which comes from the outside.” Once seen as invasive weeds, they are now recognized as vital to biodiversity, supporting pollinators and enriching soil. Cornflowers and poppies are among them, now iconic in the French countryside.

In the middle of the church, a tree stands tall, covered with over 10,000 hands sent in by participants from around the world. The roots reveal themselves through anamorphosis, and those who approach the tree can listen to its heart beat. Each visitor is welcome to scan and add their hand to the project. 

For a change, not bullshit: quite stunning.

After all these cities, I’m left wondering how the UK lost a lot of its central cities to modern development. Only a relative few were bombed. We also lost trams. Somebody got the plans wrong methinks (simplistically).

The Antigone area we’re staying in gives a glimpse of what might have been. Regenerated from 1980s it’s concrete with style and purpose, centred around a University campus and social housing. The contrast with Swansea University’s new bleak campus couldn’t be starker. Antigone is a 20 min walk from the centre, great public transport and a variety of good eateries. How complicated is it?

Must be lack of exercise today – the judgemental cells have woken up!