7th July saint marie de la mer to marseillan plage

During the night there was a shower which left the tent wet and had to be dried with a towel before packing. It was pleasant leaving Saint Marie on the flat country roads; the road is lined with stud farms stocking the traditional white horses of the Camargue. These horses run wild in the fields along with wild black bulls.
There was a change in wind direction today as the Mistral had started to blow from the north and would continue for the next couple of days.
Leaving the Camargue area around Aigues Mortes the scenery changes to vineyards, very beautiful countryside and easy cycling. I stopped at some of the fruit stalls at the side of the road and enjoyed the fresh fruit straight off the farm especially the juicy nectarines. The weather was again becoming very hot and there were a lot of bikes on the road.
I took the beachfront cyclepath from la grand motte to Carnon plage but as I was making no headway I headed for the main road away from the coast towards Montpelier. The cycling around Montpelier arterial routes was unpleasant with heavy traffic and no cycle lanes.

At Sete I headed off the arterial route to the city centre; I found it always to be better to go straight through a city rather than cycle the busy arterial routes around it. City centres can be attractive and have no lorry traffic. At the tourist office in Sete I was advised that the best place to camp was Marseillan plage ten miles down the coast. On the road to it they are building a new beach complete with new cycle track.
Marseillan was indeed a very busy resort and anywhere advertising 'chambres' were full with a queue at the door. The big camping sites were charging 40euros which I would not pay to sleep in a tent; I found one at 20euros, no pool or restaurant but all these facilities were nearby. The staff at the campsite, 'camping pisse saumes' were very freindly.
66 miles
Have a look at the map and more photos here