Artist’s impression of the Arc de Trump and Trump equestrian statue. Montpellier, France
Not the most exciting day of caminoing, which is perhaps why some take the tram from Vendargues to Grabels ( probably requires a change of tram in the centre of Montpellier). Lots of residential areas, very confusing routes, and in the middle, the attractive old town of Montpellier. Being a Saturday, there was much activity. By missing a turn. I stumbled by accident on a lively Saturday market, but adding fresh produce to my backpack was not on my wish list. My hosts last night were telling me that Montpellier is famous for beautiful women, and that I should sit at a cafe and people watch for a while. With another two hours of walking ahead of me, sitting at a cafe was not a priority: besides, the volumes of beautiful women were conspicuous by their absence. The old city is beautiful however, and had it been my day’s destination, i would have been happy to aimlessly explore its streets and alleys.
Place de la Comedie in Montpellier. There should be a prohibition on fast food joints opening outlets in buildings built prior to the company’s founding!Another arch. So clean it could be the golden arches. Maybe the tangerine tyrant could convince Maccas to pay for his proposed golden arch!
Tonight, due to a lack of alternatives, I’m staying in the local F1 hotel in Vendargues. One pilgrim gîte was not available, and the other didn’t respond to my email. I’m 99% sure that Max and I stayed in an F1 hotel in Dunkuerqe in 2019 on our via francigena adventure. Similar circumstances: lack of alternatives within our budget range!
Fi hotel wall mural: more interesting than many hotel’s room “art”.If I’d presented my Kiwi passport, maybe I’d have got a different set of retro travel poster reproductions.
In 2009, we embarked on a one-year family sailing adventure aboard a Grand Soleil 39, "SV Mulan". Our original sailing blog is linked on this site.
In 2017, Susan, Andrew, Sam & Max walked the Camino Frances from St-Jean-Pied-de-Porte to Santiago de Compostella (and rode bikes from Burgos to Leon as a blister recovery strategy), and in 2018 Jack also joined the crew as we waled the northern section of the Camino Portuguese from Porto to S de C.
In 2019 Andrew, accompanied by Max for the first few hundred kms, and Susan for the Tiscan section, walked the via francigena from Canterbury to Rome. That journey is blogged in this site.
This blog is planned as an alternative to the endless instagram posts used previously to communicate with those interested in our travels - although there is a linked instagram account as well!
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2saunter 