"Bonne Navigation!" & "Au Revoir, La France!"

 Despite attempts to avoid it and stick to sunbathing there was eventually no alternative! We had to do the (slightly) serious à deux cycle ride! We drove back up the coast to Port-La-Nouvelle, and parked next to this rather lovely mural depicting the past glory of the town. We then negotiated some repair works and found the towpath alongside the Canal de la Robine and went up and back a 13km stretch. This runs through the newly designated Nature Reserve of L'Ile de Sainte Lucie.

The topography here is intruiging! With the sea on one side and the Etang on the other the narrow spit of land at points is not much wider than the parallel canal, railway line and towpath. We saw a lot of water, some birds, a couple of cruisers and a few other cyclists. Our turning point was the lock at Mandirac, which we have previously seen by road. There is a delightful bar-restaurant there, next to a very old Dutch barge, which we wish we had known about before packing the picnic. The ride back was with a cold side wind, which unfortunately masked the very hot sun. Ruth had forgotten to put sunscreen on her face, so the next few days featured pain and disfigurement, as well as well-used leg muscles! A stupid beginner's mistake!

For our last few days in France the weather became a bit more "iffy", with a heavy rainstorm and some very high winds. Bob went exploring in a different direction and found the largest solar farm in France, and a pleasant resort with large marina at Sainte Marie. We were leaving on the Monday, so went there by car on the Sunday for a lunch of moules and assorted Catalan goodies, and in the (very chilly) evening we went to the promenade in Canet and made a quick choice of restaurant, which turned out to be a good one - except that Ruth sampled one of Bob's oysters! Oh dear!

We left La France on Monday 16th May. We crossed the Pyrenees on the E15 in fairly good weather, and went to the Fiat dealer near Girona, which had confirmed in an email that they could supply a rear windscreen wiper. The mechanic there was really helpful, and sorted it all out, and we took Yvette back to her winter home, so that we could go to Barcelona.