Another shortish day. No complaints! Roughly 55 km from Leucate to Narbonne with a detour to Grussain on the way.
The day began with a delightful breakfast at the civilized hour of 9 am at my Bed and Breakfast, La Maison Bleue, in Luecate. The owner was a nice Belgian woman and had the most delicious homemade granola I have ever tasted. The French couple from Toulouse who I spoke to at breakfast recommended I take a stop in Gruissan on the way to Narbonne. I am glad I did. Gruissan is a seaside town with an old castle that looked like it had been partially demolished at some point over it’s lifetime. I stopped for a coffee by the sea and watched some windsurfers prepare to take to the waters.
Nothing horribly eventful occurred today except that the pannier piss-offs continued. The bags flew off about five times on separate occasions going over rough terrain or pot holes. Most of the ride was along the sides of canals on gravel paths that were quite bumpy. While the route was very scenic, it had me at stress-level midnight the whole time (both about my tires popping and my panniers bouncing off).
In the end, I tried to Google some info on how to keep the Ortlieb back roller panniers attached and it seems that this is a pretty common issue. One suggestion was to take left over inner tube from a previous punctured tire and use it to form a tight fit around the rack. If only I had figured this out last night before I left my punctured inner tube at the B&B in Leucate. As a place holder I shoved one of my bike gloves between the pannier fastener and the rack. Moderately irritating to not have my gloves, as I couldn’t fell my hands for the remainder of the ride, but the solution seemed to work. Tomorrow’s mission: find a bike shop and see what they recommend.
At least I have mastered the ability to slam on the brakes and immediately remove my clipped-in foot to make sure I don’t keel over into the pavement when my pannier flies off!
There’s not much else to say about my ride, except that Google Maps fought me the whole way trying to get me to either continue on gnarly gravel paths or to get me to turn onto them. I must figure out how to search rides that are paved only… anyone have tips?!
Arriving in Narbonne was interesting. It is a very picturesque, typical looking French commune. The population is about 50,000 and it was founded during the Roman ages in 118 BC. It is difficult to wrap my mind around how old these towns are. I walked into a Church and down into the basement that had Roman ruins and graves. There is also certainly more modernity to Narbonne than Leucate. It has many shops and bars, among which I was very excited to see Sephora. I resisted the temptation to enter.
In the evening there was a local food and wine festival going on by the canal with live music. Of course I had to go check it out and taste the flavours of Narbonne. My favourite was the fresh oysters, which the region is pretty famous for I am told.
After writing this I think I will head out to try to catch a free theatre production – a comedy. Should be very interesting to try to watch live theatre in French. I am hoping it will be a physical comedy…
Tomorrow I will set off bright and early to my next destination, about 75 km away, Séte. Again, it looks like the ride will be along the sea so it should be intriguing to see what kind of surface I will be riding on!
DOTD
Spotted a few furry potentials today, and even touched three or four. However, when it boils down to it I am a real sucker for a golden.
An Idiot Broad Abroad 