Day Twenty Nine: Castelnaudry to Toulouse: Happy Birthday Amelia: Six Years Old!

April 25, 2017

Our big excitement in starting today was the thought that from Castelnaudry the Canal path was supposed to be wide and smooth. Not that we were wrong about that, but it took a few kms for the promise to come true. In fact it was not until we left the department Aude and entered Haute Garonne that the path magically became paved. That was about 20 km.

The change in pavement happened at the high point of land from which the canal descends in either direction. This is where Paul Riquet located enough water to supply the Canal in both directions. He convinced Louis XIV that he could do it, and got the ok.

The height of land is called the Col de Naurouze. At the spot an obelisk hounouring Riquet stands. We detoured to see it and cycled up to the little park that surrounds it. Closed, of course. But it turned out you can see it better from a distance anyway.

Boats in the canal at Castelnaudary. Down the line at Toulouse, we ran into kms of canal lined with large and interesting house boats.

The canal path for the first 20 km out of Castelnaudary

The Canal has 42,000 plane trees, which make up much of its character. The current trees are too yound to have been planted at the time of Riquet, but it seems fitting that the path to his obelisk is lined with these symbols of the Canal.

From the Col it was of course downhill, though only slightly. At each lock thereafter the boats going in our direction were being let down, rather than raised up. It was little boost. But the road surface was the big thing. Our speed doubled from this point.

Once in Haute Garonne the Canal path becomes what it always should have been - a paved route verte. We were so glad to finally see this sign.

As all the ways of the road to Santiago begin to converge, indications like this are becoming more common.

The Canal path and the plane trees. The trees are currently under threat from a fungus and are having to be cut down and replanted. The Canal authority quotes a cost of 3,000 euros for each tree to cut and replant. There are 42,000 of them!

Houseboats like this lined the canal for kms leading into Toulouse. They all have interesting and apparently custom designs. Where do they come from/where were they built? Do they ever move? We have only ever seen "LeBoat" rentals actually plying the canal.

So we just cruised down the now lovely canal. Sooner than we almost had a right to expect, the surroundings of the canal changed from just trees and maybe fields to more city things, and even an Airbus plant.

In entering the city we had the same objectives as always - find the Tourist Information, find a place to stay, get a stamp in our Creanciale.

Sometimes there can be some stress attached to these simple objectives, but this time, maybe because of good maps but mostly because we had made such good time, we set about the steps in a very level headed way.

We left the Canal and cut across town to the Tourist Information. Almost immediately we could feel the spirit of the place. People seemed to be about all over the place, filling the streets and squares. Maybe it is because this is a southern city, but they just seemed to be outside, everywhere. We passed through neighbourhoods that you could only describe as "cool and groovy". At the same time, or maybe consistent with the "scene", there were a lot of street people, derelicts, or rowdy men shouting at each other in languages we could not identify.

The heart of the city, certainly for us, is the Saint Sernin Basilica. The basilica was built in honour of Saturnin, the first bishop of Toulouse. In 250 a.d. he apparently refused to participate in the sacrificing of a bull. A crowd turned on him and tied him to the bull, which dragged him through the street. Rue de Taur and a chucrch along it - Notre Dame de Taur - commemorate this martyrdom. Rue de Taur leads directly to the Basilica, and I must say, it was the coolest and grooviest of the streets we saw.

The route we chose for ourselves on this "pilgrimage" tour sometimes followed one of the "official" voies of the Chemin St Jacques, and sometimes not. When on the official route, we could find pilgrim accommodation, get our creanciale stamped, and have TI understand what we were up to. Off the "voies" - not so much. But now that we are closing in on where the routes join and enter Spain, St. Jacques recognition is intensifying. This is very evident in Toulouse, where we found a St Jacques welcome at the entrance to the city, and where St Sernin has a pilgrim welcome room that is continually staffed. In fact, while we have been somewhat (or a lot) playing at this pilgrim thing, we are now running into people and places where this is taken with great seriousness.

One evidence of this seriousness came in Saint Sernin, where we undertook to get one more creanciale each, since our original ones will soon be overflowed with stamps. In Paris (even in Paris) it had been give us 5 euros and here is a little booklet, and goodbye. But here, not only was it 8 euros, but they wanted our passport numbers, email, phone number, home address, and insisted that we needed to put a photo in the designated spot. wtf? It is one thing to sort of play at passport-like creanciales and maybe another to want real passport numbers. Oh, yes, the lady assured us, in Spain they are very strict about this.

From Saint Sernin basilica we shifted over to La Petite Auberge de St-Sernin. This was presented to us by the TI as the place for pilgrims. This is no doubt true, but the place is really a hostel rather than a shelter, and does not seem to have any religious links. So it featured funky comfy furniture in common rooms, and dormitory sleeping. I looked at the 44 euro, no breakfast, bunk bed offering and had the same reaction as for the 8 euro creanciales - something not right.

So I ducked around the corner where I had seen a standard two star hotel - but they were full. Other such hotels were mainly at the train station area, so I accepted the idea of the 44 euro hostel. Dodie was fine with this, because of the effort that would be needed to go back on the street and find a different place.

Right now as I write this, scrunched into a small space and with two other men in this two bunk bed arrangement, I am sure that 15 euros more for a real hotel would be a good choice. Once on the actual Camino, the communal experience in an albergue could be different and worthwhile, so the jury is still out. But right now I would say I am too old for a "youth" or other form of hostel.

Our room mates might actually form the same opinion when Our alarm and lights go on tomorrow at 6 a.m.!

SPECIAL NOTE

Today is Amelia's 6th birthday, in Montreal. Happy Birthday Amelia!

More streets of Toulouse - this is Rue de Taur - the main one leading to the basilica and the presumed route over which the saint was dragged by the bull (Taur)

In the church halfway down Rue de Taur - Notre Dame de Taur - a bull represention on the ceiling.

One of our roommates, Sebastian, is in town for a job interview. We had an interesting conversation about French politics, though we fear he may be leaning LePen. His reason might be the same as for many Trump supporters - LePen can seem more the anti-establishment candidate.

Today's ride: 69 km (43 miles)
Total: 1,404 km (872 miles)

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