Exploring the Countryside

Since my new life started last week, I have spent a considerable amount of time on my bicycle.  First there was a trip to Bessan, which involves a little bit of up and downhill cycling, and a good deal of attention to vehicles when the road becomes one lane with two way traffic bordered by tall trees.  When we did this in the car, we clocked it at 15 km, which is a bit of a hike to get to the grocery store, but gives us the option of several different kinds of gluten free bread.



Pyrenees in the distance - I didn't realize they were so close!



Beautiful until a car comes along











One of the highlights of this trip the first time I did it was reaching the crest of a small hill and realizing that what I could see off in the distance to the south was the Pyrenees.  Those are some very serious looking rocks! 





Blossoms on Almond trees along the road to Agde

Bessan's supermarket has a gluten free section, but so do both the supermarkets in Agde, so I tried Agde next.  My first attempt took me along the Canal du Midi on a dirt path that I gave up on after a kilometer or two.  My second attempt was a circuitous route that took me along a proper bicycle path at the side of a highway.  This landed me in Agde at the BioCoop which supplied me with gluten free baking mix as well as tamari, the wheat free version of soya sauce. 

Knowing where I was going on the way home shortened the ride from about 90 minutes to a mere 40.  Later the same day, however, someone told me about a much more direct and fairly safe path which we investigated on the kids' Wednesday off school. The road used to be the railway line which was apparently taken out of use in the 1950s.  Now it is a paved lane that runs perfectly straight and close enough to the highway that most vehicles just take the highway.  This makes it reasonably safe for cycling on with the kids.  In a few places there were blossoming trees at the side of the road that I later found out are almond trees.  We also cycled past a load of vineyards and some good looking olive groves.  It is still jacket weather, but very much like spring here.

I revisited the road to Agde the next day and found that without kids I can get all the way to Agde in just 20 minutes, but then I got thoroughly lost trying to find a supermarket.  I gave up after about 30 minutes of wandering and headed back to Marseillan and will return another time with a google map.

On my return I wandered off the beaten path, through the vineyards around town.