Our first biking adventure

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So, for our adventures. As you know, I bought a bike and with the Pocket Earth App on my ipad and my Garmin, and the bike map of Montpellier, I charted a route to Palavas, famous for moules frites and the Cathédrale de Maguelone, which we had visited last week by tram and foot.

So by 10am, the sun was shining and so was my bike, so off we went.

This was about the halfway point to Palavas and the farmer here had put in a toilet for walkers and cyclists and also a vending machine with water and pop etc. A little further on, we saw tons of flamingoes and realized that when they spread their wings, they match my cycling jacket.

I'm terrible at selfies but what the heck.......on the beach at Palavas

We stopped for coffee in Palavas at noon and then rode on to the Cathédrale. The building is 11th century, saved from ruin and restored in the 1870's. Quite a gem.

And then we cycled back to Palavas for the moules, which were served with about a cup of onions on top. And yes, I ate the whole thing. 

Huge serving of moules, but of course, not too filling, so the ride back to Montpellier was fine. Except for........some of the bike lanes we had ridden in the city in the morning were one way, so our return route became a little complicated. The wonderful thing about this Garmin though, is that once we went off route, it would set about getting us back on route through a maze of little used streets.

We made it home by sunset, just after 5pm, having clocked 51km. This is the first time that I've been on a bike in a year, so my bum was a bit tender. I crashed for an hour and then we took a tram in to town to attend pub night with the British Cultural Association. Really, it's a group of English speakers (there were about 20 last night) and they organize different activities such as St. Andrew's Day, wine tastings, walks, pub quizzes, etc. Some of the people there had lived in Montpellier for 40-50 years, some had lived in France for at least 30 and there we were....the newbies. Everyone was welcoming though and it was nice to make contact with English speakers.........besides each other ;-)