Day eighteen

It's raining today, the first time my tent has experienced rain proper and it must be at least 25 years old. It's a Phoenix Phreeranger, which was a classic in its day but is no longer made. There is one company that makes a replica version now. I waterproofed it before leaving and it seems to be good. Amazingly it is still like new, even the elastic tabs.

What to do? My cycling shorts are still damp from yesterday's washing. Getting soaked from the word go is no fun. Everything ends up weighing 3x as much. It is supposed to ease off by midday. Tomorrow should be fine. The question is whether to make a late start and do a short leg or wait till tomorrow.

I tried out the Komoot navigation app yesterday with a route to Montpellier and it gave a distance of 116km the same as Maps.me. However it produced a different route, over a higher elevation. Maps.me took a more coastal route so I will go with that.

A view on the way to Montpellier.

Later ... Well I departed Avignon just after 10:00 as the rain had stopped. It was still cloudy but it's been so warm the roads were already dry. In fact it has been so hot that my grated Emmental cheese formed itself into a block again.

I found a perfect melon on the road and I was able to retrieve it and eat some of it.

It was an easy ride today, mostly flat and by 16:30 I had found a campsite after just over 50km. Tomorrow I should see the sea and I've already heard my first seagull today.

Me and the bike outside a supermarket. Today the bike passed the 1000km mark and is still going strong, although the rear tyre was looking a bit worn.