Day 28

Docked at 7 am - Glorious morning - a bit cooler than The Med - but we soon got pedalling back to Ferndown after our epic trip - 1000 miles in round figures. 

Coming off the ferry for the final cycle home

Day 27

Up and off early with a mission - reach Cherbourg before 5 30 when the 24 hour minibus hire ended ! I was doing countdown on google maps - we had a brief coffee stop and a brief lunch stop - then needed fuel I tracked down a Carrefours on google maps and we headed off the main road I was just panicking as we hadn’t time to get it wrong and there was no town or supermarket in sight but lo and behold - a tiny 2 pump Carrefours station virtually in the middle of nowhere 

Off on the road again, luckily no traffic , and we finally arrived in Cherbourg at 4 50 Tracked down another fuel station for the final fill up,  found the train station where we were dropping the minibus and threw all the bikes out including the pile of cardboard packing out of sight of the car hire depot. Andy returned the van in near perfect condition! I scouted round the station and found a skip for the cardboard ! Andy had repaired the puncture when travelling in the back of the van so all bikes reassembled and we dived in the nearest bar as it started pouring with rain. Luckily by the time we reached the ferry queue at 9 30 it was dry if a bit windy and we were soon all installed in our bunks for a night crossing - puncture problem resolved ! 

Day 26

Left for Montpellier just after 9 - Sue bike had a puncture so delay whilst we fixed it - couldn’t find a cause in the tyre but set offStopped in Sète for coffee and picked up sandwiches for lunch then carried on After passing through the industrial part of Sète on rather busy roads we picked up a cycle track Watched Kite surfers on a lake near Frontignan Plage, stopped again for our sandwich then set off again Unfortunately Sue had another puncture which we repaired , got going for a short time and puncture again, fixed again but when blowing it up popped again! it was decided that the boys would go on alone to collect the minibus from Montpellier and Sue and I would limp to the nearest village with our luggage and her flat tyre . We made camp in a rather quaint little place but it had a Spar shop, cafe and boulangerie so we spent more than 2 hours there! About 5 30 the boys turned up in the minibus We had to try and squash the bikes in without damaging the seats - I found a supply of cardboard boxes outside the Spar shop which did the job and we were soon away Sue and I had bought a picnic during our wait so we headed north - stopping at the very impressive Millau Bridge for a picnic

Booked into a Campanile for tonight - eta 10 30 pm ! 

On the road to Montpellier

A friendly cyclist stopped to see if she could help with the puncture

Millau bridge

Our little camp !

Loading the bikes 

38 miles but Sue and I did about 28 !