We both woke up around 8 am after fairly good sleeps. The sun was almost visible from our 5th floor room as it was just starting to rise above the buildings of Toulouse. It was a fine day to begin our ride to Montauban but first we still ha some housekeeping items to finish off. The final selection for our clothes was made and items not making the cut were stored in our bike suitcases to be left at the hotel. We plan to return to Toulouse in around five weeks and our hotel, the Odalys has agreed to store the suitcases until our return.
Sun just peaking over the horizon for our first morning back on the bicycles. Perfect!
We had a simple breakfast of fruit and yogurt in our room before moving our bikes and panniers to the lobby. Scott can not resist a coffee machine and poured himself a triple espresso to prepare himself for the ride. Pushing our bikes out the door we missed our target departure time of 10 am by about 30 minutes. We were not at all concerned as our plan for today`s ride was a perfect start to our tour. We will follow the Canal Du Midi for roughly 60 kms to the town of Montauban.
The Canal du Midi is a 360 km waterway that runs from Bordeaux on the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean sea. Technically, I believe that the Canal du Midi is the waterway south of Toulouse and that we actually rode along the Canal latéral à la Garonne. Together they are Canal des Deux-Mers. The Canal latéral à la Garonne was opened in 1856 to bypass the unpredictable river Garonne over a distance of 194km from Toulouse, where it connects with the Canal du Midi, The Canal du Midi is one of the oldest canals in Europe still in operation and is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
That being said, this part of the canal network was a wonderful ride on a warm, sunny day as we enjoyed the shade and dappled sunlit asphalt path. The riding today was a great choice for our first day and we were pleased that both bikes were working fine. We had a lot of fun taking our time heading north and enjoying the scenery. It really was beautiful and we saw many other people also cycle touring.
Our first wildlife was a group of feral chickens. This group was no stranger to cyclists.
Many fisherman are positioned along the canal with really long poles where they position a line with a bobber quite far out in the canal. The set up is quite elaborate and includes a sturdy, comfortable chair, a long handled net and other assorted paraphernalia. We even saw one guy with a weed eater he was using to clear a spot for himself on the canal bank.
Riding the canal is quite straight and flat, which for us would become monotonous after a while but our first day out we found it a great way to ease back into the touring routine.
Our coffee stop came right at the 20 km mark. It seemed like we were riding in complete isolation when all of a sudden we took a corner and were very surprised to find a restaurant right on the canal. The facility was also served by a road and people were starting to arrive for lunch as we enjoy our coffee.
The coffee stop just seemed to just pop out of no where at exactly the right time. It was empty when we arrived and we took this picture as we were leaving. It was a popular lunch spot.
Just down the way, we stopped again at one of the many locks on the canal to have an energy bar. We had not seen any boats on the canal as of yet but one was now approaching the lock. We stayed and watched the entire lock process in action. Scott was even asked to help by pushing a button on a pole on the far bank that would provide a signal to let the water refill the lock. Such a simple idea engineered hundreds of years ago and still in place today. It did occur to us that to keep all the lock mechanisms in working condition must be very expensive and they appear to be used infrequently.
A map showing the names of several locks and there are many of them. In one section there were about a half a dozen over a few kilometre stretch. It would be very slow going. This sign shows the water as the Canal latéral à la Garonne.
We followed the canal all the way and didn't leave it until we reached Montauban around 4pm. Although our apartment for the night was relatively easy to locate, the lock box and keys were a bit tricky to figure out. After successfully navigating our entry we headed to the main square in search of our well deserved first day post ride beer.
Really fuzzy picture as the path had a lot of roots in this area and it was hard to ride and stabilize the camera at the same time. But it does provide for a good look at how nice the ride was.
It is easy to see the atraction and beauty of Montauban. The highlight of the town is the Place Nationale. It is surrounded by grand pink buildings in the red-brick that is unique to this part of France and are set above arcades. According to the website France this way, ¨This central square in Montauban is one of the most impressive to be seen in all of the bastide towns of south-west France and some experts maintain that it is also the oldest bastide town in France¨. In the centre of the square there is a shallow water feature with several tiny fountains and an occasional mist of water. While enjoying our beer from the sidelines we watched the children play in the fountains on this quite hot September afternoon.
The Cathedral of Notre-Dame was built from stone in 1739 . It is in a classical - baroque style with four statues on the facade. The garden n front is also very well done with grasses, rosemerry and low level draught resistant plants.
Afer seeing the town we returned to our apartment to get cleaned up and wait for the restaurants to open at 7 pm. We checked out a few menus and settled on a restaurant offering authentic Basque cusine in the form of pinchos. We had both hot and cold servings of these tasty delights with glasses of red wine.
Another look at the centre as we headed out for dinner. The children have all gone home.
Returning home after dark, the town square was lit up with rotating colours and designs. The lights and different colours created a really neat effect.
