There is a strange phenomena with the starting towns at the beginning of long bike tours. In the planning stages you put a lot of thought into where to begin. You have to figure out some kind of transportation for yourself and your bicycle. Then it seems like you actually do not spend any time there at all.
When Nathan and I began our trip across the US in Florence Oregon, we began on the beach, dipping our rear tires into the ocean. But within a couple hours we were already so far inland, it was like we’d never been at the ocean, and would not see the other one for several months. Perhaps that’s why the full Trans-America Trail starts in Astoria and has the first couple of days along the Oregon coastline.
When MC and I rode from Vienna to Amsterdam, we arrived at the West Vienna Train Station at 7:00am. By 9:00am we had assembled the bike and were leaving town, heading up the river. We had just spent several days in Vienna the previous year, and were eager to get on the trail, so had no need to stay any longer.
Today we arrived in Montpellier. We assembled the bike on the train platform, then realized there was no way to roll it out of the station. We finally ended up taking it up an escalator. By the time we got settled into our AirB&B, we only had an hour or so of daylight left to walk around old town.
So perhaps it is good that Montpellier is not really the beginning of the tour. It was just the nearest train station. The Canal du Midi starts in Sete, so we will get to spend some time in the morning cycling to Sete along the first of our Eaux de France, the Mediterranean.