Cycle Tour 2022: Day 5 – A long day with a satisfying ending

It's funny how sometimes the hardest days are the best days. 

We awoke early, knowing we had a long day ahead of us. Waking up with the dawn chorus singing Hallelujah to the sun is a lovely change. We were on the road by 8:30 and eating second breakfast by 10:30 after 20 kilometres. Then, just south of La Réole, we forked off the canal, crossing the Garonne and climbing up into the town in search of groceries and lunch. 

Second breakfast in the sun

Our constant companion for the past 5 days, the Canal de la Garonne is a lovely cycle route, but after a time, even people like us, who love riding along canals, begin to find it monotonous, so we were not devastated to say goodbye. That said, lined as it is with mature overhanging trees along most of its route, I can imagine that it would be a relatively cool and relaxing ride in the hot summer months, which would no doubt add significantly to its appeal. But the path along this part of the canal is not as pleasant as parts east. It is less well-maintained and fairly bumpy from tree roots. Another reason we were glad for something new. 

We spent an hour or so in La Réole, most of it trying to find our way through the twisty up-and-down roads to the little grocery store. We kept running into the same group of cycle tourists, heading in the other direction, who seemed to be having no better luck finding things than we were. We happened upon a bakery and bought sandwiches, and eventually we got to the vicinity of the grocery store using Google Maps before asking a local where it actually was. Shopping done, we were soon on our way. 

Pedestrian/cycle bridge over the Garonne into La Réole

La Réole

The next leg of the journey was a 14 kilometre stretch along the fairly busy and hilly (by our standards) D670 to Sauveterre-de-Guyenne, a cute little town where we ate the aforementioned sandwiches in the town square with at least two other groups of cycle tourists. There was probably a quieter route to take, but it would inevitably have been longer, and our day was already pretty close to max. 

        

Lunch in Sauveterre-de-Guyenne

Then it was onto the Piste Roger Lapébie, a rail-trail that runs from Sauveterre to Bordeaux. Lapébie was apparently a local cyclist who won the Tour de France in 1937. We had about 20 kilometres to do on this trail, and although its ups and downs were quite gentle, as is usual for a rail trail, our legs were beginning to feel the strain. We stopped a few times to rest and check our progress and pulled into our digs for the night at just about 4 pm on the dot. The bike computer said we had pedalled 68 km. Sonia performed like a champ.

Fortunately, Sonia had also brilliantly booked us into a lovely bed and breakfast in a newly renovated estate. There are several rooms, but thus far, we have the place to ourselves. I write this beside a lovely pool overlooking a fairly wild hedgerow, beyond which vineyards stretch to the horizon. Our hostess is providing us with supper and breakfast tomorrow, so there's not much to do except savour the day and reflect on the misfortunes of having to deal with slow wifi and poor cell reception. 

The humanity!