events

12.45am I chose this little side room to have lunch, not the main restaurant, nor the terrace which was already fairly full. Here, in this quiet haven I could gaze out at the mountains and the pool and read my book in between sips of cold water and cold wine.

This was the pool where I would later have a dip and sunbath a little. Until, that is, it filled up with kids throwing balls and shouting!You can just see my bike against the wall, in view so I didn't need to worry.

12.58am I had Salad Niçoise followed by a very nice wood fired oven cooked pizza, with, yes you guessed it, chilled rosé. It was fantastic.I'd got the rest of the day free, since I'd finished surprisingly early in spite of the long ride, and so I went to have a swim and sunbathe; after putting up the tent and doing my washing that is.After an hour or so the pool filled up with noisy kids so I wandered off to visit Tuchan, since I'd come in the back way and hadn't yet seen the centre.The town was having some fete day celebrating the local wine - so I listened to an early music folk band in the town square, tasted 20 different honey's and bought some thyme honey.For dinner I had cassoulet de magret and felt full. I fed sparrows with fat chicks and watched swallows against a blue sky.

85km, avg 13.7km/hr, max 52km/hrrnComputer said 6:10hrs but I left at 6.30 and arrived at 4.30, about 10hrs and I didn't have that long a lunch!But I thought it was further away and I thought it would take longer and take two more day's to get to Maureillas. In the end, Thuir, where I thought I'd stay and where I had lunch had no campsite and no hotels either, so I had to press on.