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Well, today was a little shorter then we had planned since we slept 11 hours, and didn't even get out of the hotel to find breakfast until 10 a.m. It was also a lesson for us that we should start a bike trip in either a small town that we don't care about, or plan an extra day, since this is the only picture we took of Montpellier, which is quite supposed to be quite interesting and lovely.
Today was the day that cycling trip highs and lows all started coming back to us... The beautiful scenery, the the old ancient towns lined with stone houses, friendly locals happily helping out two grimy travelers. Oh yes, and the streets so steep you have to push your bikes up and that end with a flight of stairs, the tiny cups of coffee, and of course the GPS mysteriously deleting the day's route.
That happened to us, as did getting lost getting out of Montpellier, but no flat tires, so we will call the morning a win!
Here are a few things that we saw today that go into the "love" column. Quiet rural roads with loads of olive trees and grapevines beside them.
Wild poppies
Picnic lunches with baguettes and Casino snack sausages (and a new discovery - Copacabana flavored yogurt).
And a few for the "hate" column. Riding several miles down a bike path only to discover that the pavement ends.
And for the "love/hate" column, staring at Eric's caboose all day, every day!
We made it!!! Although today made us realize another important lesson for cycle touring, the importance of training, we didn't do too badly and made the whole trip including a few formidable hills, in about four hours.
Our Air BnB in Clermont is in the cavelike basement of an old stone home - should be great for sleeping!
We cleaned up then headed out to see the town. Clermont is an ancient town arranged from the top of the hill (most ancient, including the original gate to the city which is next to our lodging), to the modern city which is at the base of the hill. Of course I chose the very tippy top of the town to stay in, so seeing the town included quite a bit of hiking up and down the steep hillside.
View from our AirBnB
Ancient city gate / falling rock zone
There's not much to see in Clermont besides the main church (closed by the time we got there) and some picturesque little alleys.
France's version of the Los Angeles river
So off we went to find dinner. We wound up at a surprisingly (to us) fancy place, Le Tournesol, where we had our first salade chevre chaud
A really nice (and inexpensive) bottle of local wine (we are in the Languedoc region)
Yes, you guessed it, magret de canard #2 for Eric
And duraude (sea bream) por moi.
Then baaaack up the hill (ow ow ow) to the room and sleep.
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