I really need to get my morning act together. For the second day running, I missed a turn that led to extra kilometers, and on a 30km+, sunny and warm day, they really count at the end of the day.
Today I change canals. Continuing towards St. Gilles, I will be following the Sète to Rhone canal, which over 69km, connects Sète with St. Gilles. From St. Gilles the canal continues to Beaucaire and the Rhône, but the entrance lock connecting to the Rhône is now closed, so anybody wishing to enter the Rhône does so via St. Gilles and the St. Gilles canal and Petit Rhône river to Arles. My wife and I walked the stretch from St. Gilles to Arles in March.
The Canal du Rhône à Sète passes through flat marshland that borders the wilderness area of the Camargue and follows a route that is a short distance inland from the coast and its beaches.
After breakfast I walked back into the centre of Sète to take some pictures. The weather was glorious. The town was quiet, the opposite of when I had arrived yesterday afternoon, probably due to it being a public holiday in France commemorating VE-day.
Leaving town, I walked on the left bank of the Canal du la Peyrade, but should have crossed over to the right bank after ca. 1km. I was busy trying to work out why the view finder (back display) on my camera wasn’t working, so I missed the need to cross a bridge. As the left and right banks are relatively close, the alltrails app didn’t alert me until the canal veered to the right and my path to the left. I checked alltrails again and could see if I carried on for 750m a road would take me back over the canal. I walked on, only to find that the road had a walkers forbidden sign. So it was all the way back to the bridge crossing that I had missed.
The first 3 or 4 kilometers weren’t next to the canal, but instead were along a fairly busy road, but with a shoulder, so there was plenty of room. I put my earplugs on and listened to music. Once Canal du la Peyrade joined the Canal Sète to Rhone, the path didn’t leave it again for the rest of today’s walk.
To be honest, it was a fairly monotonous walk. The canal runs through several lagoons, with water on both sides, and I walked primarily on a dirt path next to the canal. There wasn’t a lot to see, some birds, but not as many as I’d imagined.
Again today there were many cyclists and one or two runners and walkers. There weren’t many boats, only 2 or 3. There are no services after leaving Sète. I passed the former Cathedral of St-Peter and St-Paul de Maguelone, built in the 11th century. I didn’t visit, although it seemed to be a tourist goal and even had a tourist “train” to drive passengers. It stands, overlooking the Mediterranean, abandoned on the site of the ancient city of Maguelone.
I saw a few flamingos as I neared Palavas-les-Flots, once a small fishing village, now a large and busy seaside town with high rise apartment blocks and a space like building. During spring and summer it is estimated that more than 50.000 flamingos live in and around the Camargue.
Carnon is a large boat port, and like Palavas-les-Flots, there are lots of high-rise apartment blocks surrounding the many boats in the harbour and many restaurants. Whilst many were taking advantage of the long weekend, I can imagine it is much, much busier during summer and dead during winter. Carnon was fairly busy, being a long weekend in France, but I am sure it is packed during summer. I am staying at a small hotel and restaurant, where I had Moules-frites for dinner. Fitting now that I am close to the sea.
It was a long a tiring day, not made easier by the camera not working (now fixed, a button to turn off the screen had been activated, a button I have only pressed once when I got the camera, and since forgotten about). I also have a niggling pain just above my ancle of my left foot.