Dodie seemed much better this morning, but she felt she could only tell how it would go on the bike by trying it. Besides, a day in bed would be so deadly boring. So we woke our bikes up (they were resting so peacefully in the garage) and headed back down to the canal. The trip down was so much faster than yesterday's march up!
Dodie leaves the hotel in Beziers feeling a lot better
Overnight we had read Mrs. Slowcrank's (Nancy Wade's) account of the path to the west, and were disconcerted to read words something like rough and track. No matter, we couldn't find a consistent track of any description. Beziers has many bridges over the canal, and we went over and back looking for a decent or any path on one side or the other. We did find one sign for Eurovelo 8, Cadiz to Athens. We happily followed EV6 last year, and we hoped this would now signal the appearance of some signage. Nope, that was the first, last, and only biking sign we have seen on the canal.
The first and last time we saw bike directional signs.
Finally we jumped onto an auto road that seemed to parallel the canal. Soon, though, we realized that it was taking us north rather than west. So we hauled out the tablet and the maps, and like others before us, plotted a route to the next towns on D roads.
The road is very pleasant but windy and quite busy
Lots of snails. What are they up to? Flash: internet says: "In hot dry conditions snails tend to climb up posts, plants, fences and other vertical surfaces to get away from the hot ground. They then seal themselves into an inactive state until they are re-activated by autumn rains."
Eventually, D39 took us to Capestang, on the canal. We drew abreast of the canal and were not surprised to see that the bikeway was, yes, a rough track. Worse, right at that point there was a closure of the track, so cyclists headed west would be kicked off it entirely. We watched as two moderately loaded cyclists descended to the track and headed east. Poor guys!
Hapless cyclist heads off on the Canal du Midi path
Capestang boasts a really large church and some attractively narrow and twisting streets. We found the Tourist Information, and they typically only had information for this immediate small area. However, included in that was a piece touting the Canal a velo. When you read the fine print on that, though, you see that they recommend a mountain bike (VTT - velo tout terrain) and itineraries of 10 to 20 km. Hah, what triflers!
We sat in the town square on a shaded bench and ate our baguette and cheese. This is just about my favourite thing. All around (if it's France) are bakeries, a news stand, a bar, cafe restaurants, a fruit and vegetable shop, etc. There is little or no traffic, and a church to visit is nearby. Everything you need is there.
We turned our backs on the Canal, and headed out on the D5, a main route to Carcasonne. The road was lovely, but infested with just a few too many large trucks. Plus now the Mistral wind was blowing in our faces, similar to yesterday. Dodie felt very weak, but she plugged on.
Without the wind, and with Dodie at full power, we would have easily cruised the 80 or so km to Carcasonne. But under the circumstances, when we reached a camping at Pouzols we were glad to call it quits, In fact, once we had actually reached the tent site Dodie pretty much collapsed. So again at 4 p.m. she is down for a nap. Yesterday's long rest did wonders, and got her 44 km into the wind today. Hopefully by tomorrow she will be stronger yet.
The camping we found has many trees, including nut trees, free wifi and showers, and a very casual air. There seems to be a lot of stone walls, tile roofs, and stone patios around, giving a Spanish feel. I checked my map - we are actually not all that far from Barcelona and it's under 200 km to the Spanish border!
Arthur, they seem to oppose coal bed methane here too.
