Origin: Homps, La Maison del Palmiers 4 Quai de Negotiantes
Destination: Moussan, Domaine de la Clementiere
Having made an itinerary change to reduce distance, we enjoyed a garden breakfast at our B and B before returning to the canal. This stretch was pleasant, the path wider.
Just outside the quiet town of Roubia, Magali Reynes welcomed us to La Moline de la Restanque where she and her husband grow olive trees and produce oil. She shared their concerns about a poor olive crop this year due to the wet, cold spring.
We learned the steps to produce the oil and had our first experience tasting olive oil: nose in the small cup to get a good whiff, a small taste of the oil sucking air through the oil, close mouth and breathe out through your nose. It works! The flavor differences are so clear. We added a few bottles to our bike luggage to savor later. As we left, Magali was bottling up an order of 300 bottles. On our way out of town we loaded up on cheese, meat and bread ( and a knife contributed by the kind proprietor) for a picnic on a rustic wooden table in Paraza. Especially tasty on this 36 degree day was the melon that Benny had purchased the day before from a farm stand along the canal. We continued on D124 from Paraza, draining our water supply. A kind woman in Moissan pointed out a town fountain with the public water spigot (common in small French towns) and we happily refilled. We reached our most welcome lodging a couple of kilometers from Moissan and were greeted by Henri and Mari with cold drinks beside the swimming pool and a hose to clean off our dusty bikes.
That pool was the perfect antidote to the heat; Korcho had his own solution to stay out of the sun.
That pool was the perfect antidote to the heat; Korcho had his own solution to stay out of the sun.
Henri has been a lifetime adventure cyclist and showed us the video of his Moroccan trip 20 years ago with 3 other men. This was an amazing outback trip over very rough terrain.
To get to dinner at Le Grand Cascade back in town, three rode bikes and Henri dropped off three of us. To get back, as darkness came, three rode back and three walked/jogged.
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