Bordeaux was great. We indulged. I had the best food ever at the restaurant in Lac Bordeaux campsite. I can hear you from here: it's not camping if you're eating Salmon Tartare, Entrecote Roquefort, and Fraises Purees avec Gateau au Chocolat with a bottle of Bordeaux Superieur! Well when the Europeans decided to put a restaurant within or right next to every designated camping area they didn't ask my opinion, so voila. Accordingly, we have been eating like royalty for most of the first few months of this trip. It has been (and continues to be) a "tour de gastronomie"! The campsites in France allow/expect you to place an order for the next day's bread delivery (usually to reception, sometimes even to your campsite). We usually get a baguette, 2 croissants and 2 pains au chocolat - this name having changed to chocolatines in the southern part of the country. At this point I would like to introduce you to the newest member of our family: Nutella, never far from reach. Bananas are a mainstay in our portable pantry and I have discovered the unbelievable combination of a banana placed in a freshly baked croissant that has been adorned with a generous if not copious amount of Nutella with the possible addition of peanut butter, depending on the mood. What a way to start the day. Leigh is still warming up to the idea. I'll be surprised if it doesn't go viral.
The Canal de Garonne connects Bordeaux with the Mediterranean via the Canal du Midi, all said and done a 450 km stretch of water with adjacent paved or hard-packed bike pathway. Zero climbs. with all our extra baggage, about 50 lbs each neither of us moves uphill fast. Incidentally, I have named my bike Torro to give it the allure of more strength than it usually has - Leigh's is Torrini, smaller but just as mighty. This waterway route has an added degree of appeal as it requires little, if any, on-going navigation. Quite a plus considering how many times we might normally check the map on any given day. And, it ends up at the Mediterranean sea which is a fact not to be under-rated at this point. I got me a serious hankerin' for some beach.
Good campsites were never far from the canal. We found a good selection of places to put up a tent along the way. In Toulouse we decided to recharge and stay with Romain and Anais; yet, another fabulous encounter using the Warmshowers network. They made us feel so welcome that we accepted an invitation to stay for two days. Our extended stay included a lovely lunch in the park, dinner with their relatives, and discussion about their recent trip to Asia.
Onward to Carcassonne where Leigh said we might need an extra day to fully appreciate the area. Carcassonne is a refurbished and active medieval walled city (double-walled to be precise) with the modern area lying in the valley below. First established by the Romans, it has evolved to become one of the best preservations of ancient archeology in Europe. Leigh and I are both fascinated with historical buildings and lifestyles so, yeah, I needed a couple of days to go play there. If you're into medieval history, this place is a must-see.
There is a definite change in flora and fauna as we head south and a line seems to have been drawn just south of Carcassonne. I now know what a kiwi tree looks like and there are many more little critters crossing the path that require additional bike-handling skills. The Canal de Garonne is all paved but the Canal du Midi is only partially paved and has some rough spots along the way which shook the bejesus out of the bikes... or for our glass-half-full audience, thoroughly tested all the connection points. Popular opinion of cyclotouring along the canals is mixed: some highly recommend it, others say it's monotonous without a change in scenery for miles. We give it a thumbs up - Leigh 2 thumbs, me 1 1/2 thumbs due to the amount of knarly single track. There are stunning vistas and great times to be had all along the route if one has the right mindset. It's not a race. Frankly a lot of our days are full of experiences that are too numerous to remember, let alone share here.
A slight deviation from the canal route was required for our next Warmshowers stay with Francoise and Jean-Louis in Armissan, near Narbonne. Francoise is a wealth of information about what to see and do in the area. She pulled out a stack of literature for us to peruse and pointed out several key spots on a topographical map. Jean-Louis introduced us to some local cuisine including oysters and bbq'd sardines. We were treated to local wine and exquisite cheese with dinner, and coffee was made in the morning. Francoise has this hosting thing dialed right in. We stayed two nights here (of course) and are very grateful for such great accommodations.
With all the travelling and sight-seeing and people-meeting over the past couple of months we decided to take a little break from travelling once our ponies reached the Mediterranean. It was only 9 km away so honestly, how can you just ride away from that? There isn't much to write about here as we pretty much took a week off! Get up. Make coffee. Eat chocolatines (fresh-baked sometimes still warm). Go to the beach, swim, tan, swim, tan, swim, tan Eat. Maybe swim, tan some more... you get the idea. Some local sight-seeing and horseback riding was involved and even on our days off we managed 30/40 km on the bikes, albeit without panniers. After 5 days of beach-bumming we headed up to reconnect with the Canal du Midi and followed it to the end into Sete. The final 10 kms were a dreamy meander along the beachline, no cars, just smooth sailing along the bike path, sun shining down, wind at our backs. Bliss. Jon and Becky, relatives from England have graciously invited us to stay at their cottage near Ales, a little north of here. Our European tour will pretty much end there as we prepare to head out to Vietnam. Good bye sweet beach.