Day 13 Palavas-les-Flots

Kat: From Béziers we followed our final stretch of the canal du midi and then some quiet (if very badly surfaced) back roads to Agde where we stopped for our first croissant of the trip. There was some light rain which didn't come to much, and it's a bit windy - but nothing like Ebro Delta. We passed lots of parks with water slides as well as riding stables. After picking up a new bottle cage and rehydration tablets from Decathlon on the way out of town, we followed cycle paths along the coast past wetlands full of birds including flamingos. The bike path then followed sand dunes for many kilometres, which was beautiful but a bit tedious after a while. Camembert, baguette and salad for lunch. The mosquitos here are enormous! The first one I saw I thought it was a small crane fly. Luckily they are super dozy and easy to fend off. We had to wait while a lifting bridge was undergoing maintenance, then after crossing followed a narrow strip of land between two bodies of water (lots more flamingos) which would have been lovely if the chill and constant headwind hadn't made it a real slog. Leafy country roads brought us through small coastal towns and eventually to our destination for the night. Another long day, and quite hard work. Hopefully the weather will improve tomorrow. Our hotel has the slowest lift in the world - 67 seconds to go up 4 floors! Over 2 minutes to go down!!