An outstanding day, that began with riding the paved bike path that follows the sea east of Gruissan for ten miles past a few seaside resorts and miles of virtually empty sandy beaches. Between yesterday and today there has been more than the usual amount of idle chatter heard about what an exceptional region this is and what a fine base it would make for a longer stay - even with the occasional tramontane to sober you up.
We followed bike paths like this most of the way from Gruissan to St.Pierre la Mer. Very, very nice. If we lived somewhere near here, say in Narbonne, we could bike down to the shore for a walk on the beach and lunch along the promenade.
Kathleen ClassenAnd we could come and visit. For the record, we prefer a king size bed, but can manage with a queen in a pinch. Reply to this comment 2 years ago
Scott AndersonTo Kathleen ClassenYes, that will work fine. Rocky and I can throw up a cot for ourselves on the porch. Reply to this comment 2 years ago
East of Saint Pierre la Mer we start gradually working our way inland, saying farewell to the sea. We won’t see it again until we reach Calais on the English Channel ten weeks from now. It’s a long goodbye though, as for a few more miles we pass by the last few lagoons. Not long afterwards we cross the Aude, here at its end by the sea a significant, slow- moving river rather than the way we think of more as it gushes down out of the Pyrenees through its narrow, steep-walled gorge.
A few miles on we come to Sérignan on the bank of the Orb and find a bench in the sun to enjoy our lunch - still more leftover pizza, a banana, and a wedge of cantal. This is the third time we’ve passed through Sérignan, the natural place to cross the Orb on a bicycle. Each time I come away wondering why we didn’t stay the night in this charming riverside town.
Beyond St. Pierre we slowly start angling inland away from the shore.
We still touch up against the edge of the lagoons here and there though. Beside the myriad flamingos we see many terns racing by in the distance and this black-headed gull.
The few remaining miles to Béziers bring the only subdued part of the day as we bike along the Canal du Midi and witness the removal of the once majestic columns of tens of thousands of plane trees lining both sides of its banks for miles. According to this reference, they were all planted in the 1830’s but are all being torn out and replanted with disease resistant species. They are believed to have been infected beginning in World War II from a fungus introduced from America in the wood of ammunition boxes.
Removing and replanting the trees is an enormous project that has been going on for over a decade now. The work occurs in spring and fall so it’s occurring at the moment, and along the stretch we ride today. At one point we’re diverted from the canal for a few miles because of tree removal activities.
The only sad portion of today’s ride - witnessing the rows of diseased plane trees that have been cut down along the Canal du Midi.
This is how this stretch of the canal looked when we biked along it five years ago. We were lucky to have gotten to see it like this before the trees were cleared.
The plane trees are being replaced with fresh plantings of oaks and disease resistant plane trees, but it will take a generation or more before they lend much shade to the canal.
A rusting barge on the Canal du Midi by the outskirts of Béziers. A few years ago this would have been in the shade of a row of 180 year old plane trees.
Video sound track: Sunshine Express, by Bud Shank (with thanks to my friend Frank for burning this CD for us).
Béziers is a substantial historical town, a place we’ve never stayed over before. We enjoyed a nice walk through the old city while looking for an evening meal, and it really deserves a narrative. It’s not getting it here though, or we’ll never make it out the door this morning. Next time.
The view down along the Orb from the balcony behind the cathedral is splendid. The structure along the river is the Moulins de Bagnols, built to supply water from the river up to the city. Béziers was one of the first cities in the region to have abundant drinking water as a result of this.
The 12th century Pont Vieux is under restoration, so we could only walk part way across it. Much of it is scaffolded so you can’t really appreciate it, but maybe in a few years we can come back.
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