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Bike Europe Blog
Day 16 - Aimargues to Ouveillan
By MatthewAn early start in Aimargues meant that we could leave early for once. Having figured out which were the mens showers and eating our porridge fairly quickly, we left at a record breaking 7:03!
The initial part of the ride led us through some small windy roads with virtually no hills or wind. We took full advantage of this and had reached our first town very quickly. It had started to feel as though we were approaching the sea here; lots of big hotels and tourist shop were dotted around the town. While heading south towards the sea, I failed to see a patch of broken glass of the road and we ended up pulling over to fix my puntcure. During this stop, Kevin thought he'd find somewhere appropriate to use as a toilet, but being in the middle of a town, there was nowhere, so he decided to use a local front garden. That was until the curtains started twitching and a face appeared at the window... probably not the best place then.
Leaving the town, we caught our first glimpse of the med. This sight gave us a bit of an extra boost and we pushed harder towards the beach, where we met John. We took this opportunity to get sand in our cleats and take some photos.
The road along the coast was a popular route for cyclists. We passed other cyclists every few minutes and thankfully, none could pass us. The road did start getting windy though, and this slowed our pace right down. As we started hitting seaside towns, the route got very complex and often very hard to follow. In the end, we decided to stay as close to the coast as possible, which meant that we lengthened the route and confused John, who was waiting for us in the wrong place.
We found Etang, which was back on route, but the head wind was so strong that we were struggling to get obove 10mph. Eventually, we met John, who had moved ahead of us and was waiting on a dual carraige way. We refilled our bottles with water and were told how to get through the big town of Séte.
Séte was very slow going, mainly due to the huge amount of traffic and the retarded traffic light system in the town centre.
To the west of Séte was a spit of land extending into the sea for 10 miles or so, before rejoining the mainland. This had been part of the original route since the beginning, so we were all excited to reach this milestone of the journey. Unfortunately, we could only see one side of the water, but the beach was stunning and the road was nice a smooth. Half way along, we stopped to see the sea and take more photos. Daniel discovered that the bikes stood up in the sand, so we had a very productive photoshoot; the homepage photo being a good example.
Continuing along the spit of land, we tried to get more photos of us riding in a line, with the sea in the background. This proved difficult because of the endless row of motorhomes parked on the seafront. The results can be seen on my photobucket page (link on homepage).
The spit of land finished in Agde, which we found our way through fairly quickly. The other side was a busy dual carriageway, with a lot of dangerous drivers, who either couldn't see us or were actively trying to kill us. At one point a police car was speeding the wrong way down the dual carriageway, towards me and the driver behind me decided to swerve to avoid it. The only problem was that I was right in front of her and she hadn't seen my until after she swerved. The screech of brakes made my heart rate shoot through the roof and combined with the sound of the siren, it made me think I was genuinely going to die! After that, I slowed right down and stuck to the inside of the hard shoulder.
A few miles later, we found John sitting in a lay-by near the local airport. We filled up with water again - it was a very hot day and we were running out fast - and we left the busy road and found quieter roads towards Bézier, which was quite a relief.
We skirted around the edge of Bézier on some very nice, fast roads with a strong tail wind. Paul and I took advange of this wind and flew off at speeds appoaching 30mph. After about 10 miles, I got a call from Daniel. Apparently the turning we needed was a few miles behind us. So we turned around and headed back into the strongest head wind we had yet experienced. In our defence, the road we needed wasn't signposted very well and we were told to stay on the same road for a long way.
This turning took us to Nissan, a nice village on the side of a hill (more like a cliff), where we got thouroughly lost. Kevin and I went a different way to Paul and Daniel and we spent a good 10 minutes looking for each other again. When we found each other again, we headed in what looked like a good direction. When we found out that it wasn't a good direction, we stopped and phoned Clive's friend Steve (we were staying at his house that night). He told us to find a particular D road. So we went back into Nissan to find some signposts. On our way thorugh Nissan, I got a puncture, so we stopped and watched a wedding happening while I fixed my puncture.
After another 10 minutes of seaching in Nissan, we found out the the right way was the way me and Kevin had gone originally. Finally back on route, we followed the signs to Ouveillon. A quick glance at my bike computer showed that I had gone 998 miles altogether! I got my camera out ready for when I passed 1000 miles, which happened just outside of Ouveillon.
We arrived at Steve and Moira's house at about 5pm, having been out for 10 hours! The house was huge and very luxurious. The showers were incredible - the heads were the size of dinner plates! John cooked us pasta while we stretched in the garden. Steve arrived back soon after we did, from the airport with his friend Mike.
Dinner was practically a feast. Four and a half courses of Moira's phenominal cooking, including a selection of the local cheeses, ice creams and wines. Kevin particularly enjoying the latter.
The evening as a whole was very enjoyable. We finished it with Myself, Daniel and John each sleeping in tents (one each... such luxury!) and Paul and Kevin sleeping on beds indoors (lightweights!).
Matthew
Distance: 99.30 miles
Average Speed: 15.32
Time: 6:28:59
Weather: Very hot all day
The initial part of the ride led us through some small windy roads with virtually no hills or wind. We took full advantage of this and had reached our first town very quickly. It had started to feel as though we were approaching the sea here; lots of big hotels and tourist shop were dotted around the town. While heading south towards the sea, I failed to see a patch of broken glass of the road and we ended up pulling over to fix my puntcure. During this stop, Kevin thought he'd find somewhere appropriate to use as a toilet, but being in the middle of a town, there was nowhere, so he decided to use a local front garden. That was until the curtains started twitching and a face appeared at the window... probably not the best place then.
Leaving the town, we caught our first glimpse of the med. This sight gave us a bit of an extra boost and we pushed harder towards the beach, where we met John. We took this opportunity to get sand in our cleats and take some photos.
The road along the coast was a popular route for cyclists. We passed other cyclists every few minutes and thankfully, none could pass us. The road did start getting windy though, and this slowed our pace right down. As we started hitting seaside towns, the route got very complex and often very hard to follow. In the end, we decided to stay as close to the coast as possible, which meant that we lengthened the route and confused John, who was waiting for us in the wrong place.
We found Etang, which was back on route, but the head wind was so strong that we were struggling to get obove 10mph. Eventually, we met John, who had moved ahead of us and was waiting on a dual carraige way. We refilled our bottles with water and were told how to get through the big town of Séte.
Séte was very slow going, mainly due to the huge amount of traffic and the retarded traffic light system in the town centre.
To the west of Séte was a spit of land extending into the sea for 10 miles or so, before rejoining the mainland. This had been part of the original route since the beginning, so we were all excited to reach this milestone of the journey. Unfortunately, we could only see one side of the water, but the beach was stunning and the road was nice a smooth. Half way along, we stopped to see the sea and take more photos. Daniel discovered that the bikes stood up in the sand, so we had a very productive photoshoot; the homepage photo being a good example.
Continuing along the spit of land, we tried to get more photos of us riding in a line, with the sea in the background. This proved difficult because of the endless row of motorhomes parked on the seafront. The results can be seen on my photobucket page (link on homepage).
The spit of land finished in Agde, which we found our way through fairly quickly. The other side was a busy dual carriageway, with a lot of dangerous drivers, who either couldn't see us or were actively trying to kill us. At one point a police car was speeding the wrong way down the dual carriageway, towards me and the driver behind me decided to swerve to avoid it. The only problem was that I was right in front of her and she hadn't seen my until after she swerved. The screech of brakes made my heart rate shoot through the roof and combined with the sound of the siren, it made me think I was genuinely going to die! After that, I slowed right down and stuck to the inside of the hard shoulder.
A few miles later, we found John sitting in a lay-by near the local airport. We filled up with water again - it was a very hot day and we were running out fast - and we left the busy road and found quieter roads towards Bézier, which was quite a relief.
We skirted around the edge of Bézier on some very nice, fast roads with a strong tail wind. Paul and I took advange of this wind and flew off at speeds appoaching 30mph. After about 10 miles, I got a call from Daniel. Apparently the turning we needed was a few miles behind us. So we turned around and headed back into the strongest head wind we had yet experienced. In our defence, the road we needed wasn't signposted very well and we were told to stay on the same road for a long way.
This turning took us to Nissan, a nice village on the side of a hill (more like a cliff), where we got thouroughly lost. Kevin and I went a different way to Paul and Daniel and we spent a good 10 minutes looking for each other again. When we found each other again, we headed in what looked like a good direction. When we found out that it wasn't a good direction, we stopped and phoned Clive's friend Steve (we were staying at his house that night). He told us to find a particular D road. So we went back into Nissan to find some signposts. On our way thorugh Nissan, I got a puncture, so we stopped and watched a wedding happening while I fixed my puncture.
After another 10 minutes of seaching in Nissan, we found out the the right way was the way me and Kevin had gone originally. Finally back on route, we followed the signs to Ouveillon. A quick glance at my bike computer showed that I had gone 998 miles altogether! I got my camera out ready for when I passed 1000 miles, which happened just outside of Ouveillon.
We arrived at Steve and Moira's house at about 5pm, having been out for 10 hours! The house was huge and very luxurious. The showers were incredible - the heads were the size of dinner plates! John cooked us pasta while we stretched in the garden. Steve arrived back soon after we did, from the airport with his friend Mike.
Dinner was practically a feast. Four and a half courses of Moira's phenominal cooking, including a selection of the local cheeses, ice creams and wines. Kevin particularly enjoying the latter.
The evening as a whole was very enjoyable. We finished it with Myself, Daniel and John each sleeping in tents (one each... such luxury!) and Paul and Kevin sleeping on beds indoors (lightweights!).
Matthew
Distance: 99.30 miles
Average Speed: 15.32
Time: 6:28:59
Weather: Very hot all day
