September 22, 2013
Day 66: Carcasonne to Deyme
No wind this morning!! We headed out of town as quickly as we could, before it might decide to turn on. Near us in the tent meadow yesterday had been several long distance tourers, but we were too beat and/or rushed to speak to them much. This is very uncharacteristic for us. Still, one, Thibaut, left at the same time as us, and the tablet guided us all through the few twists and turns needed to get on the D33 toward Castelnaudary.
Thibaut had picked up a very good free guide to the Canal du Midi, and this showed clearly not only which side the path is on, but where it is paved. Bottom line, it is only paved from Montferrand, but from there it is good all the way in to Toulouse.
Thibaut stuck with us for about 12 km, possibly setting a European patience record for Grampies cycling. He was hoping to get beyond Toulouse today, and to do that would require some faster pedalling.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
We continued on D33, past fields of sunflowers, and that mystery crop that maybe is buckwheat. The little towns continued strangely drab, but finally Castelnaudry, a larger centre, was really attractive when viewed across a wide lake like point in the canal. Trusty D33 seemed to end here, but the GPS put us onto another that while slightly busier also had a bit of a shoulder.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
The big thing was that the brutal wind, which we have learned is not the Mistral but rather the Tramontane, had turned off. So we hummed merrily along, the joy having returned to cycling. Montferrand is appropriately a bit of a mountain, but we turned away from it and to the Canal du Midi. This is the point at which Thibaut's map had shown a paved surface, and within a short distance this turned out to be true.
Actually it was more than true, and the Canal made up for its past transgressions with a wide and smooth surface, drop dead gorgeous views of water and Plane trees, information panels, and even drinking water and toilet stops. With these conditions and no wind we just bowled along.
Along the way, as has happened a few times, a day cyclist fell in beside us and chatted as we cruised along. On this occasion it was Bruno, who is from Toulouse. We talked about where our families were born and live, and of course the UQs about cycling. I found Brun spoke very clearly and I had no trouble understanding him. He was a really nice man, and now it seems we have a contact and possible place to stay in Toulouse.
Had we pushed a bit we could have made Toulouse, but we thought it better to allow some cooking and blogging time before dark, which now happens just after 7:30. Besides, we saw that we could camp at Les Violettes, a name that carries a lot of good associations for us.
It turned out to be a good choice, just €11.50 and with the ultimate luxury, a table and four chairs at our site!
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Today's ride: 86 km (53 miles)
Total: 4,412 km (2,740 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 1 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |