Day 9 Toulouse to Castelsarassin 40 Miles  Running total 227

Here is todays route. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42298466

It is very overcast this morning as we extract the bikes from the dark depths of the underground carpark. We are set to leave the Canal du Midi shortly, and we will join the Canal du Chemin to head along the Garonne towards Bordeaux.

Navigation through Toulouse meant we needed to walk for a short way through the city. The cycleway was being repaired, and we did not fancy trying to imitate French cyclists to weave our way through rush hour traffic.

The towpath surface is good, the sun has come out, and our route is slightly downhill, so we make excellent progress. We leave the city, passing the giant Airbus factories. Our guided tour yesterday informed us that Toulouse is the aeronautical capital of the world, but then, they might be biased.

We were looking for somewhere to buy lunch, but everything is on the wrong side of the canal, and the railway and so difficult for us to get to. Suddenly, we spot a sign on a building saying Artisan Boulangerie with a convenient but steep bridge over the canal and railway. We are in luck. Not only do they sell sandwiches, but they also serve coffee and have tables and chairs.

Disaster, the blog is refusing to upload photos, which will spoil our record of this trip. I spend an hour or so, at all our rest stops wrestling this problem with, on this occasion, little help from Google. Eventually, I agree with WordPress, the providers of the blog software, to upgrade to their ‘superior’ blog package – Jetpack, and Hurrah. It all works again..

My compatriot has obviously got bored with all this, and she has put her headphones on to listen to an audio book while both resting and cycling.

We stopped for lunch, after which it all got a bit exciting, well relative to the first 30 miles.

We were sat on a canalside concrete block, having lunch, and Garmin indicates we should carry on. We looked in the direction Garmin had chosen for us, but it was a dirt track. On the other side of the canal was a nice pristine tarmac cycleway, which we decided to take. A little way down the track was the first bend that we had experienced in over 20 miles, and we thought it merited a photo.

We ignored Garmins’ next instruction, which showed that we should turn around when possible. We found ourselves on a new canal, which was not going in the direction of either tonight’s accommodation or Bordeaux. I had been careful to choose accommodation on the cycleway side of the canal, knowing if you did not fancy a swim, it could be a long ride to find a bridge in France. My compatriot spotted a sign (Analogue route finding) that confirmed our (not just mine, of course) mistake, and not fancing a swim, we retraced our route back to a bridge. This error only added a mile or so to today’s total.

Once back on the right side of the canal for our journey, we came across a boatlift, no longer used for commercial traffic, but now turned into a tourist attraction.

We are now on the Velo deux Mer cycleway. The rest of the ride was as uneventful as the first section and I was not sorry to reach the hotel to look after my sore bum (my compatriot says this is too much information to share with those of you foolish enough to read this blog, but my bum is important to me). The hotel turned out to be a very beautiful art deco hotel and local monument, which we quickly spoil by hanging our wet washing out on the balcony.

Castelsarassin is a typical small French town with more bars and restaurants (although not all open) than people. We have been recommended a restaurant for tonight and told not to arrive before 7:30 and not after 8:30, it had better be good, and it is.