Cycle Tour 2022: Day 4 – Zen and the art of bike riding

Another day riding along the Canal de la Garonne. It sounds boring when I say it like that, but the canal does manifest different personalities as you go along. Today, after finding our way out of Agen, the banks of the canal tended to be much higher. So we were not riding right along the water, and it was more like riding in the forest. We stopped for tea and second breakfast at a lock somewhere after Sérignac-sur-Garonne and then pushed on to Buzet-sur-Baïse, where we found an open bakery to buy some sandwiches for lunch. The main street had been dressed up in preparation for the village festival the next day. The carnival rides were all set up and  ready to go, including one decorated in a sexist style that I remember from my youth but that I haven't seen in North America in over 50 years. Oof. 

Seriously, France? 

We had intended to eat at the lovely little port there, but the town workers decided just then to start doing some noisy construction work, so we rode on 5 kilometres down the canal to Damazan at a strange little hillside park with two dilapidated iron benches and a sign warning people and cyclists to stay off grass. 

The Canal de Garonne is lined with plane trees, which are, alas, threatened by disease.

Plantations of what appear to be poplars are seen all along the canal

Then it was off to our Airbnb in Le Mas-d'Agenais (I have no idea what this means), a cozy little pool house with shitty wifi. As the Stones once sang, "You don't always get what you want..." 

Our lazy beginning days have now caught up with us, and we have been sort of forced into a pretty big day tomorrow, so we're going to try and get an early start. Then it's on to Bordeaux for the weekend, where we have already booked an Airbnb for two nights. So though we have a long day ahead, we also have the great luxury of not having to think about the next days lodging for a couple of nights. 

The weird wifi means that I'm using my data plan to write this, so I'll edit this post tomorrow with pictures.