Nous sommes ici - hurray!!

Tuesday 5th November 2012 - it is 0730 and I am watching the sun rise over the Mediterranean from the balcony of Mike & Jenny's 5th floor appartment in Le Barcarès while out of our bedroom window we can see snow covering the Pyrenees. We arrived yesterday afternoon in glorious sunshine and strong winds.
From Carcassonne we had a good ride to Narbonne - not on the Canal but on very minor roads through some typical French villages. The forecast was for rain in the afternoon but we were caught with some heavy stuff in the morning - the day then improved and we arrived in sunshine but it p....d down in the evening. The town/city surrounds a massive cathedral and the most immpressive Hotel de Ville we have seen.
0800 yesterday morning Philippe (Mike & Jenny's agent) met us in our hotel for the handing over of the keys ceremony - this was to be our last day of cycling. Mike had described me to Philippe as a British Admiral reduced to riding a bike because of the cuts - this made me laugh. We were expecting sun and wind which was what we got but thewind was gusting 45 - lkph andwith loaded bikes made for an exciting ride - Gilly found it more horrifing then exciting. We went off-piste for 12 or so k and had to cross a flooded causway with deep water on both sides and a strong gusty crosswind - interesting. However we made it in good form and we are here for a week or so.
It's been a good trip, hillier in Spain than expected,propably wetter then expected but the journey  for me  has reinforced the reasons why I like cycle touring - the people you meet and have fun with - seeing the parts of the countries others don,t see as we travel on minor roads and just the joy of traveling at your own pace on your route.
We have cycled w1181.19k  with an average cycling speed of about 18kph and cover abetween 35 and 75k per day. In Spain cos' of unexpectedly steep hills we averaged less than 10 kms per hour. A big dissapointment to me is that I have overtaken just 2 cyclists, one of them with hanging basket of fresh mushrooms fromthe woods over his handlebars.
 We have been overtaken by runners, many cyclist and a windsurfer. The bikes have been good - they are a bit sluggish now after cycling thro' mud, sand and muck - I broke my mirrow and have a broken pedal strap. Gilly had a puncture in her back wheel which is not bad for 2 bikes over some of the terrain we have journeyed.

Thats all from me. Au revoir & Adios

The Canal du Midi et al .....

Saturday 3rd November - Carcassonne. Just two more days cycling and we will be dangling our feet in the Mediterranean at Le Barcares. All good things must come to an end and this trip is drawing to a close.

We left the hotel in Valence to a haloween market - ghosts goolies and lots of smoke - all good fun and we battled our way to the Tourismo to find out about the Canal du Midi. It appeared that the canal would take us all the way to the coast. It took us 2 days to get to Toulouse - great tarmaced tow path, tree lined and hardly anyone else on it. It is a working canal with a series of locks. It follows the course of the Garonne to Toulouse and the river feeds the canal. We stopped overnight in Montech and the only accommodation was a Gité- very comfortable but the town was shut, we had been recommended a restaurant by two separate people so we waited until 1930 got on our bikes and pedalled the 2k into town to find it all shut. We got into the supermarket just as it was shutting and grabbed some food.

Toulouse , as far as cities go is great. Big river lots of cafes and a good atmosphere.   My Weather Channel app for my phone indicated gusts of 65kph winds for the following day so after our experience in Scotland last year we decided to shelter in Toulouse for an extra day - we explored the town and it was a holiday, I said to Gilly these folk don't know whats going to hit them today. We strolled down by the river and had an early lunch incase the outside cafes were going to be blown away. We basked in the sunshine all afternoon and when the flags over the Hotel de Ville rustled I said here it comes. It was calm all day  My cycling buddy from the States was a big wig for the Weather Channel Ihim on the case! a50k outside Toulouse as we exited the Haute Garrone the tow path turned into a muddy track and apparently it is like that to the coast. We are now back on the roads. We stopped at Castelnaudary (nothing to say abput it really - I suppose a bit of a dump) before arriving here. A city with a complet walled town within. Fascinating but it has turned into tourist honey pot selling junk.