Day 1,544
Flamingos and thunderstorms
After a day's rest we set off with the stunning backdrop of Mont Vontoux behind us. Slowly it disappeared from view. Rather than retrace our route, we had decided to ride towards the coast, cycle along sections of the Eurovelo 8 towards Barcelona, with just a few of Tom's diversions added in.
One last look at the icon
The weather was kind, the gradients easy, this was the life! As we neared the coast we entered a fascinating network of gravel paths weaving their way through mile upon mile of lagoons. At times we were on a narrow strip of land with the Mediterranean Sea to our left and the lagoons to our right, a really unique place to ride through. To entertain us we had thousands of flamingos, and a fair few species of other wading birds.
Loads of flamingos
We did have to abandon our ride one day after being caught out in an awful thunderstorm. The lightning and thunder were exploding together directly above us. The force of the water was quite frightening. The canal we were beside was close to overflowing, apparently later in the day it did just that. We diverted into a town, and pushed our bikes through a mass of water desperately trying to find shelter. We eventually made it to a hotel with a garage who amazingly were happy to take in two dripping wet slightly muddy cyclists.
The following morning we abandoned the next 30 miles of the canal route and took a short cut on a busy road. It wasn't fun but overall safer than a washed out sandy path.
We returned to the canal later that day, it was just about rideable, with lots of sand, deep ruts and endless puddles. Tom and I loved it, we blasted along, whilst other cyclists rode tentatively through the sections deep in water, we rode straight in at full speed, the result being they stayed clean but we were filthy, but had a great time. At one point the path was in a bad way, partially blocked by a low growing tree. Ahead of us the way was blocked by two cautious cyclists, so I decided there was just enough room for me to get past them by riding under the tree. There wasn't. I hit the tree and immediately fell off my bike, landing at the feet of those cyclists. I wasn't stopping though, I dragged my bike upright and carried on, plunging through yet another deep puddle. Later in the day I realised I hadn't quite made it through unscathed, my shoulder was badly bruised, but oh we'd had fun!
