Day 51: Narbonne to Port Leucate

October 16, 2023

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Keith ClassenDarn …. I meant to warn you about that rough patch by the railway tracks. I think you could have avoided that by going on the other side of that body of water. We did the same thing but in the other direction. Rich Frasier cleverly avoided it … I should have too since I had Rich’s track.
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6 months ago

Today is Dodie's birthday, meaning that she can now legitimately claim to be a 75 year old adventure cyclist. And sure enough, one day early, she rode her age. (As Canadians we have it much easier, since our distances are in kilometers!). Today we prepared some further treats for her, based on returning to the evil Eurovelo routings, this time EV8. We'll get to that!

Though Narbonne has some narrow streets and quite an extensive old city, the impression we had came from the central thoroughfare, which surrounds the Canal de la Robine, which bisects the town. That impression was of expansive openness.

We somehow decided not to pursue the 28 things to see listed in the Narbonne tourist map, so we'll have to come back. This include my failure to spot almost any of the 16 things to see, mentioned in the handout of the Saint Justus Cathedral yesterday. So what did we achieve in Narbonne? It's a modest tale. We saw the covered market billed itself as the best in France, so we bypassed breakfast at the hotel, and went there instead.

Despite being well within the posted hours, most things we closed. But even so, we thought the place was blown away by Toulouse's Victor Hugo market.

I guess this is ok, but these are the guys whose real location we saw in Castelnaudary.

Something that did catch Dodie's eye was a confection claimed to be local: galette Narbonnaise.

Here is what it looked like The filling seemed to be based on almond paste, but not exactly marzipan. It was really good.

Our path started out beside the canal, and seemed really nice.

But when the guardrail disappeared we chickened out and went up to the road.

Up by the road we saw some nice houses, like the one below.

Going up to the road did us little good, because we were soon forced to the path, to stay on EV 8. But being on the path did not work, because it was immediately blocked (of course).

Aha, the culprit was removal of plane trees. Sad.

After a while we found our way back to the canal and the path. But this was the start of what was to be a really tough and confusing day. With the Canal du Midi we had been prepared for the bad surface, and had researched ways around it. But here, we were neither prepared, nor was there a way around, according to our on the spot searching.

Finding us vulnerable, the path did a full Canal du Midi like in the old days thing, which is often one or two track dirt. And this did not even have bridges and towns along the way, particularly, focusing more on canal and dirt.

Something interesting along the canal - a wooden boat construction.

The reeds along the way are the ones we also saw in the Camargue.

Way in the distance, Dodie spotted Flamingos! Wow, we really have arrived in a new ecosystem.

We now got a situation like what we had once encountered on the way to Agde - a canal running in or between a body of water on either side.

Across the canal, we came up to the Ste. Lucie "refuge" , which was a monastery offering shelter to pilgrims and cyclists. We looked it up - 48 euros, including supper and breakfast. But we were not yet beat up enough to need a refuge!

Looking ahead (as always) Dodie spotted a bird that I did not see (as always). It was this handsome heron:

The bumpy path, of course, did not detract from the beauty of the surroundings. Plane trees, though, were now gone, replaced by pine.

The canal was starting now to emerge into the beach area. We could not yet quite see the sea, but it looked like this.

The canal now arrived at Port La Nouvelle, where it joined the sea and left us to make our own way south.

We were now in the section that we were calling the "trackless waste". This was a misnomer at first, because EV 8 was in fact following the train tracks. So then we just had "waste" in the form of rough going under the wheels.

It was not exactly trackless, just there was no indication of what was the track.

The surface was comprised of sand and sea shells.

But we did eventually come to somewhere.

House were looking very seaside. In fact trackless waste would soon become vacationland.

And hey, any place with flamingoes is already fun.

Dodie took a very sudden turn to the right, and instantly we were climbing a slope that was just at the limit of what me and my bike can do. Then we continued through a bizarre landscape of rough rock walls and vines.

A town, in what had felt like a wilderness.

We had continued to see a lot of dill by the roadside, but now the dill featured those snails from yesterday, that had been using aluminum poles. checking the internet, climbing snails are a common thing. These are probably Mediterranean Sand Snails.

Look, sand and sea, that is kind of what we are looking for!

The track went down the middle of a spit now, producing a nice trail lined by pines.

The most idyllic shot of our trail for today.

We arrive now at Port Leucate. There had been Leucate, Leucate Plage, and now the Port. It is common to have an inland town and then a sort of nearby "beach" version, with the same name.

We saw these a lot last Spring in Portugal. It's Lantana.

And the bottle brush tree. It's a bit of "eco-shock" to have suddenly arrived in this lush zone.

We don't have a clear concept of the road ahead, for surface quality, traffic, and climbing, as we attempt to bust in the next two days past the Pyrenees and into Spain. But breakfast here tomorrow is included, and that should give us a boost onto the way!

Today's ride: 50 km (31 miles)
Total: 2,670 km (1,658 miles)

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Scott AndersonJust a follow up to a comment yesterday, since you’re following the EV8. If you’re thinking of following it across the Pyrenees, be careful. There is both an EV8 route, and a second route labeled EV8 PX. Whatever you do, don’t take the PX route. Trust me, you’ll hate it.
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6 months ago

Keith ClassenHappy birthday Dodie! Your birthday hotel looks pretty nice. Enjoy!
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6 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Scott AndersonThanks for the suggestions, Scott. What is it about the PX route that you think we will hate? Hillier, on road, dirt single tracks, all of the above?
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6 months ago

Bill ShaneyfeltHappy Birthday Dodie! You young whipper-snapper... But I am still a couple years ahead of you!
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6 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Bill ShaneyfeltThank you Bill. Let us hope that we both continue like this (with you maintaining that age gap) for some time to come.
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6 months ago

Scott AndersonTo Steve Miller/GrampiesBecause it looks like this, or at least it did six years ago: https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/dubrovnik2018/figueres/. I’d be surprised if it’s changed in the meantime.

I think it was Ken and Judy that told us they took the EV8 on D900 until the border and then just stayed on it (it becomes N-2 on the Catalonian side) until they could get off at around La Jonquera. I forget how safe or not they said that felt.

If neither of those attracts you, you might look at the route we’ve taken twice, that crosses over at Col de Manrella: https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/europe2022/to-ceret-ad6/. Paved and very quiet the whole way except for a short bit of dirt at the border, but there’s a fair climb involved.
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6 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Scott AndersonThanks again, Scott. Dodie had earlier previewed the PX route and strongly vetoed it, based on looking at the shape of the track, and looking at your blog from that day just confirmed her in that decision. So now we are looking at either the D900 through Jonquera or your alternate via the Col de Manterra. We have one more day to research a bit more, and think a lot more! Then, we will have at 'er.
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6 months ago

Scott AndersonTo Steve Miller/GrampiesYou really might give Manella a try if you think you can handle the climb. It’s a very steady 5% for about 10-12 kilometers starting from Maureillas, but after that it’s pretty much downhill the rest of the way. And it’s so quiet, because it’s not a through road for cars.
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6 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Scott AndersonIt is still a really strong contender. We are going to sleep on it, and the now older (haha), and hopefully wiser, Dodie will try to decide tomorrow evening. The suspense is mounting.
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6 months ago

Karen PoretTo Keith ClassenHappy Birthday Dodie! Even though I do not know you personally, you are an example of what I aspire to be doing ! Here in Santa Cruz, CA we had a “celebration of earth shaking” for your special day 34 years ago with a 5.4 …🥳
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6 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Karen PoretThanks for the birthday wishes. You seem to be almost caught up to us in real time. You are a quick reader!
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6 months ago

Karen PoretI stayed up past midnight reading your captivating stories yesterday( well, today, technically) and “paid for it” when trying to ride my own bicycle to exercise classes myself! Will continue to enjoy your journeys as mine are not even worthy of print text!
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6 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Karen PoretJust don't get so overtired that you have a bike accident, our stories are not worth it. And besides, they will still be there tomorrow.
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6 months ago

Karen PoretOk! Point made and taken! All caught up with THIS journal of yours..time to start from the beginning and work my way through with your others..Hope Dodie had some delicious cake to celebrate her birthday ( or whatever she wished to have..it’s HER day! :)
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6 months ago

Sue PriceA little late catching up, but Happy Birthday, Dodie! What a wonderful way to celebrate your birthday!
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6 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Sue PriceBetter late than never, eh? Thanks for the good wishes. We need to find a time to get together in November when we get back.
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6 months ago