I woke up to a beautifully sunny day, packed the rest of my things and set off down the mountain into Morzine. At the bottom of the road to Les Gets, I caught up another cycle tourer who was on his way to Nice. We had a nice chat all the way up the hill into Les Gets, where he headed off into the town centre and I set off down the 13km descent out of the mountains into Taninges, quickly followed by a small Col before descending down into the large valley and into Cluses. From there I headed west towards Amancy, where I began climbing another Col to cross into another valley on my way to Annecy. After quite a lot more climbing and descending, I dropped down into the centre of Annecy, where I found hundreds of other cyclists, who were gathered for the amateur stage of the Tour de France, where anyone can enter and ride the stage around the mountains that the tour will do. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the campsites were full so I climbed away from the lake and found a little campsite in a village about half and hour away.
Things started well the next morning. I adjusted my gears as they were jumping slightly, which improved them significantly but as I was putting my tent away, one of the poles broke. I made my way to Chambery, where I found an outdoor shop (although it was a few miles outside the centre, up a hill and in the wrong direction) and replaced the pole, also getting a camping stool for 5 euros so I would no longer have to sit on the floor! Just as I as leaving, one of the 2 clips fell off my bar bag and as I just started to descend after climbing another Col to get out of Chambery, I nearly fell off my bike as my shoe got stuck in my pedals. Fortunately, I managed to force the shoe off the pedal - I was sat by the road in my sock - and tighten the cleat back up. After a day of breaking things (I was surprised I didn't get my first puncture!), I arrived in a little village, where I had a couple of beers in a café, whilst watching Chris Froome destroy everyone in Ax 3 Domaines.
Day 43 started with a morning of cruising along the flat before turning off and heading into some more mountains after lunch. No officials Cols were climbed but the road was never flat, seeming to be more uphill than down, especially as it was 40°C! The day after followed a very similar pattern, although I did 10 more miles (71 in total) thanks to racing along at 20mph for a couple of hours. I decided to cut the corner off the valley, instead of going all the way to Avignon, so I ended up climbing for a while before stopping at a campsite with a pool (their sign was right at the top of a hill and the thought of jumping in a pool was far too tempting!)
My pitch was right next to a Belgium caravan and I was just about to jump in the pool after my tent was up, when the owner came out and offered me a bottle of coke - I must've looked quite tired and hot. I declined in the standard British way and he said that if there was anything I needed then just ask! After my swim, I went to wash my biking clothes but, unlike most campsites, there was no powder/tablets and you couldn't buy them either. They very kindly gave me some powder, refusing to accept anything in return and also invited me for tea as they were going to have a barbeque. I cooked my pasta just before and took it over so I had at least something to give them and we (the two of them and their 3 young children) had a lovely evening eating food, chatting and then watching the amazing thunder and lightning storm that was passing across us in the distance!
Fortunately, we barely got any rain and I awoke to another really hot day, which was a lot slower than the previous one. My legs started to weaken up any sort of incline but I still managed 70 miles following the Tour de France's route along the coast and headed straight into the centre of Montpellier. I found a nice campsite just outside the city and had a nice relaxing evening pitched in the picnic area, where the campsite owner had let me stay as it was the only place left that had any shade.
I ignored my alarm to get up for bread the next morning and slept in as I only had 2 gentle days to go until I reached my Gran's house near Perpignan. I had an apple pastry, minus the apple (I was not happy about that at all), in the next village and cruised down the coast towards Bezier. I turned off the route before I got too far into the city, bought some fresh food for lunch and had a nice hour eating and resting by the side of the Canal du Midi in Villeneuve-les-Beziers. After blasting down the large, straight A road to Narbonne, sat in the slipstream of a vineyard tractor, I slowly made my way through the city and followed the coast to a campsite next to the 'Reserve Africano' near Sigean, where I spent an uncomfortable night's sleep lying on a gravel surface. Up quickly the next morning, I turned off into the hills and made my way through 30 miles of up and down through valleys, before I arrived at my Gran's in Cucugnan, just in time for lunch.
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