Cycle Tour 2022 – Days 20 & 21: rolling back to Toulouse

We awoke on Saturday morning not having slept particularly well. With only a few exceptions, all of our accommodations on this trip, whether Airbnbs or hotels, have been quite good. We stayed in one guest house that was not really to our liking, but it was in the right place, and for the same reason, we stayed in this overpriced B&B (booked through Airbnb) in Beaugency Friday night because there were few other options available other than generic hotels. Turns out, a generic hotel probably would have been better. Rarely have I felt so uncomfortable staying somewhere. The room itself was fine, though the bathroom/shower facilities were cramped. The room was stuffy (usually they're cold and damp in such old buildings). The whole place was clean though cluttered. But most of all, our host creeped me the hell out. I wouldn't say I'm a great judge of character; mostly, I try to take people at face value. But this guy, though outwardly personal (he works at city hall), made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I couldn't get out of that place fast enough!

Bridge over untroubled waters (Beaugency)

Cathédrale Sainte-Croix d'Orléans

Anyway, by 9 am, as usual, we were once again cycling alongside the Loire, looking forward eagerly to second breakfast, since our first breakfast was a French breakfast, which is barely breakfast at all. We found a promising bakery 8 or 9 kilometres down the road in the town of Meung-sur-Loire, purchased sandwiches for lunch and a treat for B2 and continued on our way. After that, we were mostly on the Loire levee again, with nary a bench to stop until we happened upon a small park near the descriptively named hamlet of Le Vieux Bourg. There, we had our actual first breakfast, plus our little treat, and we felt ready to do the last 10 km of actual touring on this trip—into Orléans, a famous Joan of Arc haunt—where we ate our last Loire-side lunch, cycled up into the city and looked around before heading a few kilometres further inland to the Fleury-des-Aubrais train station, whence we hopped on the direct 3:40 Intercité train to Toulouse (in which "hopped" equals a mad dash down the platform to find the car with the bike racks, and a good-samaritan-assisted scramble to get our bikes up the narrow stairs and into the car as the conductor was blowing his whistle. Somewhat reminiscent of German trains, actually.

Bikes on a train

After that, though, it was a relaxing 6-hour trip to Toulouse, where we have two nights in a cosy Airbnb apartment in a very cool part of town, steps away from the Halle aux grains, home of the Orchestre national du Capitole Toulouse. 

The weather today was unseasonably hot for mid-May, rising to about 34C by mid afternoon, so after one last load of laundry, we got out early to do some shopping. Serendipitously, we were perfectly situated to visit the amazing Sunday morning Saint-Aubain Market. Amidst the throngs of people, we were able to buy everything we needed for our last supper in France—such a nice change from having to find ingredients at some tiny village "supermarket" that happened to stay open till 7:30 pm. 

Then it was back to the apartment for a snack and, ultimately, lunch, after which we headed out to explore the city before the heat became too unbearable. Toulouse is quite a lovely city; we both like it better than Bordeaux. It is somehow less crowded and more open, with more green space and lots of tall plane trees shading the major avenues and boulevards. We took in the Théâtre de la Capitole, the Basilique Saint-Sernin (the most impressive church we've seen on this trip), the cooling Jardin Japonais, which though filled with people escaping the heat did not seem overly crowded, then up along the Garonne past the Pont Saint-Pierre and Pont Neuf, and back along Avenue de Metz and home to rest and get out of the heat. 

After a welcome beer and a snack (and perhaps a nap), we made dinner and then went out again, hoping to wander through the Grand rond and Jardin des plantes, but both were "exceptionally" closed for public safety reasons. After enquiring after a local passerby, it turns out that the civic authorities close the parks at the slightest chance of high winds (there are thunderstorms forecast for this evening, but they have yet to materialize), so we walked along the esplanade north and south of the Grand rond, cut over to the Canal du Midi, and found our way home. Tomorrow morning, we pack for the flight home and then do our last ride in France.