Yesterday was a long day on the bikes, and all we really wanted was a quiet camp-site, where we would just relax, and get a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately, we didn’t have that luxury, thanks to the dogs howling in the large kennels behind the site, thumping music from a nearby van, and people shouting and arguing for (what felt like) most of the night.
We had somehow stopped on the worst campsite we have ever been to, and that was just the half of it. I would add more, but some things just can’t be written in blogs that people may be reading, when they are eating!
We were awake by 5, and were waiting for the sunrise, so that we could pack up, and move on. We had no intentions of having a slow breakfast, and just wanted to get moving, so by 7.15, we were packing down the tent, to the soundtrack of Little Owls calling to each other, which could just be heard above the dogs, barking for their breakfast.
The only good thing was the view of the sunrise, across the vineyards, behind our pitch. It was a glorious, golden morning, which boded well for the day ahead. Was this going to be our first day on the bikes, without rain? We didn’t really even dare hope.
By 8, we had pedalled out of the site and were riding along the quiet backroads, being chased by our shadows, in the morning light.
It was one of those perfect mornings, with the golden light, diffused by a soft mist that caught in the trees, sitting in the hollows and swirling through the vines. One of those days that just makes you feel alive, and that are best enjoyed on 2 wheels, when you can feel part of nature, at its very best.
We had already decided that this was going to be another long day on the bikes, as we had decided to really break the back of the sitance we still have to pedal, to get to Toulouse by Thursday afternoon, so it was lovely to have such a gentle start.
We soon found ourselves pedalling through the Saint Emilion Vineyards, with vines stretching across the landscape.
It was a stunning start to the day.
The harvest was well and truly underway, with the tractors busy along the vines (we did wonder how many kilometres all the tractors must travel during the annual harvest)
The road, in places was sticky with juice that had dripped from the trailers, and in one vineyard the mobile bottling machine was already hard at work ( and it wasn’t even 9am)
All we could do was pedal slowly past, and stop regulatly, just to enjoy the views.
We cycled slowly through pretty villages
And stopped in the riverside town of Castillon-La Bataille for breakfast and a coffee…
Before heading on again and crossing the Dordogne, with a realisation that we had crossed the same bridge, when we did our first ride through France together, in 2023, It seemed strange to be revisting the same place,,,
Then we continued pedalling along quiet back roads, criss-crossing busier routes, but never actually going more than 100m along them.
I chased a combine harvester, managing to catch it, and then be pulled along behind it, before we turned off. Only for it to take a different route and overtake us again, when we found ourselves going at a snail’s pace, up a particularly long, steep and gnarly hill.
Once we had reached the top, we stopped for a break, sitting on the steps to an old cross, on the edge of a hamlet. It was the perfect spot to sit in the sun (yes the sun!!) and enjoy a few minutes of peace.
It was hard to drag ourselves away – after so much rain in recent days, it was just lovely to enjoy a few minutes bathed in sunshine, rather than soaked with rain.
We stopped to say hello to some particularly beautiful horses
Passed Chateaux that looked as if they had fallen from the pages of a fairy tale book
And swept down hills, on empty roads, feeling like 4 year olds, enjoyong the feeling for the first time. Surely, that is one of the biggest joys of cycling, feeling like a child, doing something so simple
Eventually, we found ourselves in the flat Garonne Valley, and with a sigh, turned off the roads and started to follow the cycle path, alongside the Canal, which is part of the Canal de 2 Mers Cycle Route.
After the last 10 days, it was such a change to be pedalling along a purpose-made path, with the calm waters of the Canal to one side
And beautiful, Plane Trees to the other..
We had decided today that we would continue on to a little Canal-Side village, called Damazan, where Andy and the boys had stayed on their first trip down through france together, in 2016
It was a delightful ride, along the path, passing boats that were moored, or pottering gently along the waterway.
As we passed another 100km in a day, we stopped for a sugary snack, just to help keep our legs turning, all the way to tonight’s camp site.
It was the perfect ride for the last 30km of the day.
We arrived at the camp site, which was the opposite in every possible way to the one we stayed on last night, and have enjoyed a superb home-cooked meal at the small on-site restaurant, which uses local ingredients and suppliers – (2 beers, 3 courses, and a bottle of local rosé for under 70€)
It’s quiet, gentle and friendly – everything that last night’s site wasn’t and it’s been a delight
Having broken the back of the ride towards Toulouse, we have now replanned the next 2 days, and instead of having to ride 190km in 2 days, we only have to do about 140, which means the pressure is off and we can pootle our way along the canal into the city, in time to get to Colomiers for the rugby.
It’s hard to believe by the time we get there, we will have pedalled almost 800km, since we left east Budleigh
We’re having such fun!
Postcards from Provence and beyond 