Welch Wunder, dass die in Frankreich überhaupt Radwege bauen.

Weiss der Geier, was es soll.

In the afternoon we came close to Montpellier. On brochures we've seen before, that they call it themselves 'ville à vélo' (bicycle city), and we were eager to see, what they had done for us. Or, strictly speaken, we couldn't imagine what they could do better, than we had seen on our route across the whole land before. Soon we could experience the nonsense of 'bikefriendly' separation measures, three times just at the rim of the city:
It started with a no-bicycle sign on our road, outside the city. We had to cross the road, and used a bikepath left of the road. It was okay, wide and good surface. But it ended at the next roundabout: it followed left of one branch, uphill in our direction. Here we had to cross the road again, and this was very dangerous. Many cars came uphill, stepping out of the roundabout with high speed without blinking, and from the other side cars came over a knoll, so that you couldn't see them early enough. Not until several minutes of waiting we risked to cross the road. Riding on the road and through the roundabout would have been much much less dangerous!
A few meters later, on the top of the knoll, we left the main road. This route had a combined bikepath/sidewalk, but it was under construction. Nevertheless, only 10 m after the locked entry, an angry van driver honked at us and passed us very close, although there were no oncoming car on the wide road. Such intolerant behaviour is also a negative effect of such a 'ville a velo'.
After a look at the map we went back to the main street. It had a marked bike lane, as part of the road. The road was wide enough, so this caused no problem. But then the road became narrower, and still had this (also narrower) bike lane, which meant that it 'legalizes' the passing of cars with too little clearance. To avoid this, it's best to ride as if the marked line isn't there. So I rode a little left of the bike lane, this way it should not be possible, that cars can pass you with oncoming traffic. Then a police station was in front of us, and two policemen came from the yard on their motorbikes. What would they say to our choosen lane? They approached to the road, slowed down, and stopped with their front wheels ON the bike lane, THEN they looked left. So we had to leave our choosen lane left from the bike lane, and passed the cops in the middle of the 'car lane'! Could it be proofed better, what nonsense such bike lanes are? They are good for any multiuse activities, for cars parking, dust bins and even for motorbikes that hit the road. Further the road became again smaller, so that there was no more room even for the smallest bike lane. So riding on the road 'as usual' was possible, in mixed mode.

PS: Das Bier ist in Deutschland auch besser!!!

Radwege werden fast überall von Leuten geplant, die soviel wie gar nicht auf dem Rad sitzen.