Cycle Tour 2022: Days 1 and 2 – a very pleasant "route canal"

And so another cycle adventure beings. I tend to combine the log entries for days 1 and 2 because the first day is inevitably a jet lag-induced haze; no one wants to read that. Even today, I’m not sure how poetic I’ll be able to wax, but my brain has not shut down at the mere thought of writing a blog post. So there’s that. 

Our flight from Montreal to Toulouse was at the ungodly hour of 11:40 pm, and there were clearly many other flights leaving around the same time, because line for security was 50 minutes long. Fortunately, we had arrived at the airport in plenty of time and were not in any rush. Getting the bikes in bags and onto the oversize conveyor went smoothly; having done it 3 times previously takes all the stress out of it. The flight took off a good 30 minutes late and we landed in Toulouse 45 minutes late on a smooth flight and a spare seat between us… ideal conditions to get some sleep on the plane, except for the baby that basically cried the whole flight. I sympathize for the mother, but, yeah, very little sleep. 

Getting ready

The bikes arrived safe and sound. The chains were even still on the gears. Got them set up, changed clothes, got out of the airport, and had a bite to eat (a couple of emergency sandwiches packed just for this purpose). Then it was off to a nearby Decathlon (a French sporting-goods store) to pick up a canister of gas for our little burner. We had hoped to immediately get an eSim plan for Sonia, but after inquiring, it seems like that may be more complicated than we thought. I bought a data plan for my eSim slot, but it’s nice to have an actual phone number to use as well. 

The French greeted us with mounted police!

Then it was a matter of wending our way through the outskirts of Toulouse to the Canal de la Garonne, which will be our companion for the next little while. After that, it was a really easy and quite lovely 30 km to our AirBnb for the night in Grisolles. We checked in, went to get some groceries before the shop closed at 7:30, made supper, made some half-hearted attempt to get our panniers somewhat organized before we collapsed.

Today we got a rather late start; after breakfasting, making a few more inquires about places to stay tonight, and organizing our panniers, we were out the door by about 11. Then it was a day of fits and starts, stopping to take pictures quite often, going to explore the canal-side towns and attractions, and being generally lazy. We rode into Montech in search of a patisserie and found one about a kilometre off the path. After picking up a rustic baguette and a couple of Jésuites (a kind of almond pastry—totally forgot to take a picture), we had lunch beside the canal and performed this tour’s first tea ceremony.  

Then it was off down the canal, past the Pente d’eau de Montech, one of only two “water slopes” ever built, a sort of lock with a movable gate that takes ships up or down a slope. After that, we rode through Castelsarrasin and finally our digs for the night in Moissac. We had originally thought to make it to Valence d’Agen, but we wisely decided that the extra 18 km would be a bit too much in our still jetlagged state. With all the fitting and starting, we did about 49 km today, up from 38 yesterday. 

Pente d'eau et pente d'horison

Castelsarrasin

Le pont-canal du cacor – very weird to be crossing a bridge with a canal in it!

Moissac is a lovely little town on one of the Chemins de Compostelle (or Camino de Santiago), with its impressive 7th-century abbey, which managed to survive attacks by both Moors from the south and Norsemen from the north over the years. We have a cozy Airbnb in the old part of town and went for a walk after supper (of course it started to rain). That afternoon, we noted quite a few pilgrims walking through the town and even ran into some Montrealers making the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.  

Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Moissac

Tomorrow, our destination is Agen. Another short étape, but we hope to get an early start and get into our accommodations a little earlier so we can relax a bit and explore the town.