Wednesday 14th Montpellier to Narbonne (100km)

At the end of yesterday´s cycle I noticed that one of my spokes had broken. On closer inspection last night I realised that in fact six had gone. With this many out of action I had to get the bike serviced. I remembered passing a bike shop last night on the way in so I went down and enquired if they could fix the wheel.

The repair guy took a look and said he could he have it ready for next WEEK. This was not the reply I was expecting. He showed me his book and said there was no room. The repair guy in Paris had done it on the spot in 10 minutes. If only he could make an exception he would be saving me alot of money and time. But with my poor french I was unable to explain the urgency.
Remembering that Decathlon and Intersport fix bikes I went into an internet cafe and got the address of the local stores. They were a good way out towards the airport but luckily both situated close together. Intersport told me their repair guy had resigned last week. Oh this wasn´t going anywhere.

He recommended a specialist cycle company called Culture Velo that was nearby. On the way over I remembered what the bike shop in London had said about getting a stronger back wheel. When Culture Velo were unable to fix it on the spot I decided it was time to buy a stronger wheel. I explained to the guy and he sold me his strongest back wheel at what I thought was a fair price. The new wheel had only 20 spokes while my current weak one had 32. I was a little concerned so phoned my bike expert in Ireland who explained that the number of spokes is not the key to wheel strenght.

By now it was almost midday so I knew I would not be covering a huge distance today. I orignally hope to make it to Perpignan but would now be happy with Narbonne about 100km to the west. The cycle was going well and about 30km out I saw the Meditereanean for the first time. I stopped to take a picture. Once I reached close to Sete the wind picked up.

There are three boats a week from Sete to Morocco and this saves the long drive through spain for many of the returning morocans. After Sete the wind got stronger and stronger. It was a side wind so allowed me keep a reasonable speed but every now and then would hit me or try to push me into the middle of the road.
I reached Adge a seaside resort but it felt cold and very out of season with the strong winds. I pushed onto Beziers and was delighted to see the Canal du Midi, the canal built to link the Atlantic with the meditereanean. Although getting late I decided to push on the extra 30km or so to Narbonne.

By the time I got there it was darka and raining which along with the winds made for some of the nastiest conditions so far. I used the rough guide again to find a cheap BnB and went for a nice meal in the old town.