Great paths, free camps, warm beds, hot days, cold nights, new friends, beautiful sights - it's all good!
Friday 4th October 13 (day 34)
On waking this morning we looked out the window of our 5th floor hotel room and saw that the street below was very wet like it had rained a good part of the night. Unfortunately the rain was still coming down, but we had a few more hours until check out so crossed our fingers.
The TV in our room actually received ONE channel in English, out of 52 channels in French so we had spent most of last night and again this morning watching BBC World News. All very good but this is not an entertainment channel and the news updates are repeated continuously. But we had not seen telly for a few weeks so anything in English was better than nothing - almost.
The time had come for us to check out so we had no choice but to load up Sofia and Fonsi, don our rain capes and get on our way. At least it was just light rain and not cold or windy. A quick stop at the supermarket a block away to restock our camping gaz, forgot to get it yesterday, but turns out they did not stock it anyway. However, by the time I returned to the bikes the rain had stopped and we had no more for the rest of the day. The sky remained grey and threatening but we did not get wet today.
Crossing over the Pont St Jean we bid farewell to Bordeaux whose buildings today blended in very well with the depressing sky.
Less than an hour on the bikes and we came to a Decathlon store, which of course is impossible for us to pass without stopping and having a look. And we were also still in need of camping gaz. Also we are in the market for a new air mattress to replace the flat bed the we just cannot seem to repair satisfactorily. This particular Decathlon store did not stock camping gaz but we did not exit the store empty handed. We purchased a couple of the worlds biggest travel towels - almost as big as bed sheet! Fantastic at only 10.95 euros, they fold up small but god knows where we are going to carry them - but had to have one each. :-)
Not a total waste of time at this stop as there was also a huge department store which did stock the gas so we were happy with our now not wasted hour delay by stopping. We also bought a spare inner tube for the bikes, after the puncture the other day we decided it would be easier just to replace the tube rather than fix a hole on the road. We were fortunate we had water to find the hole last time but if it happens again (fingers crossed it doesn't) we may not be so lucky.
Continuing on bike trail along the Garonne river it was not long before we turned inland and started riding on the old railway line track. The path is nicely bitumen but tree roots make it a bumpy ride in some (a lot of) places. The old train station buildings along this route have been converted into an assortment of useful buildings. Most of them have a picnic area around them, providing picnic table and chairs and water tap. Some are cafes, some are tourist information offices and some are private residences. We rode past a few today: Latresne (cafe), Citon-Cenac (private house), Lignan (cafe), Sadriac (some kind of Nature meeting place??) and Creon (tourist office). We stopped at one of the picnic areas at Citon-Cenac for a lunch of bread and a very ripe brie cheese which I had been smelling all during the ride and tasted absolutely devine!
Todays destination was Creon which is 21 km from Bordeaux and we arrived just after 4pm. The girl in the info office advised the camping was 2 or 3km's (which usually means 4 or 5 km's) down the road. Our only other option was the one hotel in town which she advised was 50 euro for the night. I went for a little walk around town to confirm there was no one offering rooms or any alternate accommodation and came up empty handed. It was now close to 5pm, the sky was only getting darker and as it had not rained for hours it was promising a downpour if not soon definitely overnight. So an executive decision was made that we would head for the hotel. Neither of us were up for a wet night, and the weather forecast for later in the week is much better so we will save our camping until then.
Across the road from the hotel was a supermarket where we purchased dinner which consisted of a hot bbq chicken and baby potatoes, we added a can of spinach and as we ate dinner in our hotel room we listened to the heavy downpour of rain and agreed 50 euro for the room was well spent.
The bike path today was fairly easy, we had a few inclines but not enough that we needed to get off and push Sofia and Fonsi up the hills. Riding through forest, countryside and vineyards - it's a beautiful part of the country.
Unfortunately for Cindy I snored very loudly last night. I,myself did not hear a thing so all good as far as I'm concerned. Not looking forward to our next camping stop as I can not find the leak in the blow up mattress.


Saturday 5th October 13 (day 35)
Outside the hotel window this morning all we could see was mist - visibility was only about 30 metres. But it was only early, too early to tell what the day is going to be like. The day does not reveal itself until about 10.30.
We had breakfast in our room and it was about 11am when Lyn started passing the bike bags out to me via the window. This was easier than carrying them out thru the foyer to the back of the building to where Sofia and Fonsi were kept in a wooden shed overnight.
The sky was telling 2 stories, blue & warm, and grey & wet, so who knows what the weather was going to deliver us today.
First stop was a photo in front of Creon station. Being a Saturday I expected the track to be a little busier today, but we encountered maybe a handful of walkers and fellow cyclists and all at the beginning of the day. The track was a little harder today than yesterday, with a little more uphills, long slow climbs followed by long coasting downs. But no rain.
Stations passed today: La Sauve (bricked up, unused), Espiet (under renovation as ??), Daiganc (cafe which was closed), Frontenac (unused). Westopped in the small village of St Brice at a stone bench by the church for lunch. Compared to yesterday there were not so many picnic spots, but of course as soon as we left town there was a picnic table right next to the bike path. Last stop was Sauveterre de Guyenne, where the station is now a public toilet (very clean by the way yes we used them).
This was where we were hoping to find a hotel for the night as we had cycled 29km today and this was the end of the bike track. We rode into the centre of the village where surprisingly they had a tourist information office and it was still open at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. I went inside and experienced the best tourist info office ever. Not because of the fact that the handsome man-child spoke perfect English but he gave me maps of how to continue our bike trail, booked us a B & B in a local hamlet and did not charge for the phone call. Then showed me on a big flat screen TV via google maps street the exact directions, the road and buildings I was to look for. Wow best tourist office ever - and I told him as much also. The hotel in town was closed (not sure if just for the season or permanently) so all accommodation was out of town, so we headed 2km to a hamlet called Saint Leger de Vignague to an old water mill house converted to a B & B.
Just as we were about to leave town rain started to fall. We waited for half an hour and then had a nice dry ride to our B & B.
Very nice place we are staying for the night. The hostess did not speak a word of English and we not a word of French but we still managed to communicate. What a lovely setting, and the sky turned blue for the rest of the afternoon which we spent on the terrace drinking a local (Bordeaux) bottle of Rose. What a wonderful afternoon, this is how our French holiday should be. After a tough couple of hours of pedalling this is a great way to unwind.
Thanks to the information from my informant at the tourist office tomorrow is going to be a very hard day on the bikes, so what better way to prepare for it than a comfortable night in a beautiful place.


Sunday 6th October 13 (day 36)
We were up really early (for us) this morning as breakfast was being served at 8.30. A quick look out the window revealed a misty morning but the sky looked promisingly blue. We ate breakfast, which was croissant, bread, butter and jam, with the other B & B guests (who were French). Tea and coffee are served in huge wide bowl like cups because it is the French way to dunk your breakfast in our morning beverage. This is a custom we have not taken to. Soggy croissant and wet bread and jam do not appeal to us but it is the norm here.
We'd had a good nights sleep but the days ride ahead was looming in front of us as we loaded Sofia and Fonsi. We needn't have worried cause the ride did not turn out to be so bad after all. We had a few hills and a few pushes, a missed turnoff and ride in the wrong direction where we had to U-turn and retrace our path. But the country side was beautiful and the back country roads had hardly any traffic on them.
Our host had given us a map that showed a short cut at the beginning of our trip and a detour at the end that would be kinder on us as it was a flatter road. We left the B & B with a waving send off by the owners and the other guests all wishing us luck. It was 10.30am when we rode out of St-Liger de Vignague and by 12.30 we had stopped for lunch in Girode sur-Dropt, after pedalling the back roads through St-Martin de-Lerm and Camiran. A bakery was just taking out freshly cooked baguettes just in time for our lunch stop, but alas they were all pre ordered and did not have a spare one for us. Today is Sunday so there are no shops open so when he offered to cut a piece off a 2 foot long giant loaf of bread I was very grateful. He then proceeded to weigh the bread as it was charged by weight.
We were now down by the Garonne river at Girode-sur-Dropt but had to travel to the next town to get a bridge to cross the river as the cycle path is on the other side. La Reole was only a short 4km away and as we rode into the centre I stopped to look at road signs which might indicate which direction we needed to head to get onto the bridge. Lyn stopped beside me and asked "we stopping for a beer are we?". Sounded like a good idea to me as it was quite hot - the day was beautiful. As we sat enjoying our cold refreshment, at the next table were another couple of cyclists. English couple with impressive (expensive) looking bikes who lived in France but were cycling around for a week staying in B & B's and eating at restaurants enroute. They were polite enough not to laugh at our overloaded aged bicycles and even said they envied the trip we were doing. They said we were brave and adventurous, but I think they were really meaning we were unfortunate and poor - but what the hell.
After finishing our beers, we found the bridge and crossed over the river. A little further along the road we came to Fontet and the Garonne Canal which is where the cycle path follows next to. Lyn immediately started to head in the wrong direction and I yelled out to her if you continue that way you will end up back in Bordeaux. Ooops, u-turn and we were off in the correct direction.
The path here was excellent and we both knew there would be no more uphills for us to push the bikes up. Trees lined the canal providing much appreciated shade as the sun was still very warm. Cycling here is easy, flat, paved with just the bumps made by tree roots lifting the bitumen path. At around 3pm we saw a sign that read camping 1 km ahead and decided to check it out. Most campgrounds are closed now, it being October, but we stopped to check and the caretaker (an English guy) said yes it's closed but we could still camp as the council has not come and locked up the toilet/shower block yet. The weather was still on our side and as it was still early in the day we did some much needed clothes washing hoping they would dry by the end of the day.
After hanging out the clean washing and setting up the tent for the night, we retired to the cafe for a afternoon beverage. The sun was still warm and it was lovely to sit by the canal and have another tasty rose. We saw quite a few canal boats along the way today and here at the little port near the campsite there were some moored also. We met some of the owners of these boats and spent the afternoon having a few drinks with them. Nikki & Tim - couple from UK who now live in France and also own a boat, Carole and David - couple from UK who live full time on their boat and a couple from Australia Carole and David from Hamilton Island who also own a canal boat.
We had an enjoyable afternoon, which turned into the evening. Lyn & I got a wee bit intoxicated due to a few too many drinks entered into a tired (we had a long cycle today) body and we were having so much fun we forgot about dinner. I think we may have gotten a little loud (surprise, surprise) and perhaps said 'fuck' too many times but our new friends must not have been bothered too much as they suggested we stay another day and tomorrow evening we would all have a bbq together. Or perhaps they too had indulged in a few and were amused by our sick humour.
It had been an enjoyable day, and nice finish having a few laughs.


Monday 7th October 13 (day 37)
On waking to a beautiful sunny day, we decided we would have to stay another day so that our washing would dry. Had nothing to do with the fact that we were feeling a little seedy after last nights wine intake - mmm no nothing at all we were both fit and well and very happy not to be riding today. It had been a little chilly last night so mental note to wear more clothes to bed tonight. I remember getting up in the middle of the night and was amazed by the clear sky and amount of stars - it was a beautiful sight. Lyn slept on the flat bed, we cannot seem to find where the leak is so we are on the scout for a new bed.
Today, not a cloud in the sky and the washing dried perfectly. We spent the day enjoying the surroundings doing bugger all. Oh we did walk up the 121 steps to the little village to have a look around and of course being a Monday everything was closed, not that we wanted anything but a look around anyway.
On our way back we were met by another English guy - Derek - whom we had met briefly last night. I think we may have insulted him yesterday by calling him a poof as we was drinking ice tea when the rest of us were intaking wine. Anyway he could take a joke and was on his way to the supermarket and asked if we needed anything. I asked to go along with him so I could buy some meat for the bbq we were going to later in the day. Yep all good, we drove in Marmade to a huge supermarket and I was able to get a few supplies.
Back at the campground Lyn had retrieved all our dry clothes from the line and we had a full bag of clean clothes to travel with again.
We had a little rest in the afternoon and then met up with the others at about 7 for the bbq. It was a little cooler outside tonight compared to yesterday and the bbq did not want to burn the wet wood we had collected. David (from Oz) came to the rescue with a charcoal barbie so we were still able to eat. We were a little lighter on the wine this time as we have to ride tomorrow, which meant the night was a little more subdued, but still enjoyable with our new friends.


Tuesday 8th October 13 (day 38)
It was pretty cold last night, even with all possible clothes on. Again on waking the day seemed to be blue and bright. We had a leisurely breakfast as we packed up and loaded the bikes only to find Lyn's back tyre was down again. This is the same tyre with a puncture a few days ago and we have been keeping an eye on it and keeping the air up to it but today it was flat as the air bed so our departure was delayed as she replaced the rear tube with the new one we had bought.
Derek showed up before we left and offered us an air bed that he no longer uses. Very kind of him, sorry Toni Lemon means your lent one will be in the bin tonight, we can replace when we get back to Oz.
Slight delay, but after a goodbye to our canal boat friends we rode off at about 12 noon.
The canal path really is quite beautiful with trees lining both sides of the canal. Unfortunately, these trees are being removed as they are all diseased and I guess they have to take them down before they fall down. Sure will make the canal and path very bare and in the summer a very hot place to travel as the trees give lots of shade. I guess we are lucky to see it while its still beautiful.
We are definitely out of grape growing territory here, with not a grape vine in sight today. The main crop we saw growing was corn, fields and fields of corn.
The path is good, again only they tree roots making it bumpy in places. We passed a few cyclists (going the other way) today as well as walkers strolling along the path. The canal was also busy with a few boats moving about. Towards the end of the day most of them being hire boats.
We stopped for lunch at 2.30pm at Lagruere. After not being able to get bread, the village where we shopped earlier the shops were closed for lunch (still can't get over that), we managed to scrape together a lunch of tortillas (thanks David for that donation) and a can of sardines. We are like Boy Scouts always prepared, managing to carry a couple of meals with us when shops are not readily available.
We rode on for a few more hours and then just outside Buzet Lyn's back tyre was suddenly as flat as the air bed - same tyre again!!! I rode the 200m back to Buzet harbour and dumped by bags next to the lock masters house, rode back to Lyn and took hers so she could push/carry her bike back. Where the puncture happened was on the narrow path so we could not attempt to try and fix it there. When she arrived the man that mans the locks was more than happy to help fix the tyre. He did not speak a word of English but came back with a bike tyre which he proceeded to remove the tube from which he was going to give to us. So nice, but the bloody tube was too big, so then he just proceeded in taking out our punctured one and found the leak - and a nice pointy thorn which had gone through the tyre - patched the leak, put the tube back in tyre and put tyre back on bike. Not that Lyn would not be able to do all this, she had a few days ago but this guy was faster and let him get chain grease on his hands. Ok quick pump up, and we thanking him in the only French word we know - merci, merci, merci!! Load the bikes back up and we were again on our way - it was now close to 5pm and we were wanting to find a place to camp asap.
2 minutes back on the path and I advised Lyn to stop as the tyre was going flat again. Shit, back we turn, no point in going further on as we did not know what was ahead. Earlier the guy who had helped us had indicated that perhaps the port shop would have a tube, so I headed straight over there to check. I did not have high hopes as if they even had spare tubes they would not have our size as we have had difficulty in finding the correct size elsewhere. I should not have been so negative thinking as it turned out the only size tube they had was ours!! Yippee and more good news when I asked her if there was a campground nearby she said we were allowed to camp in the port grounds, double yippee.
I set up the tent and started cooking dinner as Lyn again changed the tube on Sofia. She checked the punctured one and it seemed to be leaking at the patch so she put on another patch and we will keep as a back up. Fingers crossed the new tube will still be up in the morning.
The afternoon had turned grey and cloudy, we are expecting to maybe experience a bit of rain tonight.
So a funny up and down day today, literally up and down for that bloody back tyre. But all worked out ok in the end, we have a nice place to camp and it does not feel as cold as last night. I think we will both sleep well tonight after todays ride - especially Lyn as she has the super duper new huge air bed that takes up almost all the tent.
Rode approx 34km today.
Thanks very much to Derek, my new bed is fantastic!!! Sorry Toni yours is in the bin could not find the third leak.

Wednesday 9th October, 13 (day 39)
Waking up at 9am just as the toilets are being unlocked is a relief in more ways than one. We were also able to have a shower using the tokens we bought the other day but did not need to use from the last camping ground. It did not end up raining so the tent was dry when we packed it away.
I rode the short distance into the town to the Spar to see if I could find a baguette for breakfast. Just as I entered the shop a fresh batch were being taken out of the oven, so we had a fresh hot baguette with butter and vegemite for breakfast - delicious.
After being on the road for a couple of weeks it is amazing that it still takes us an hour and a half to get packed, loaded and on our way in the mornings. It was 11.30 before we started off today, but that is not a problem as we have the time so we are not stressed about our late starts.
Today the sky stayed grey and cloudy for the whole day, with the sun showing its face every so often to warm us up a bit. But it did not rain so we are happy about that.
The path was good again with the only struggle is the slight inclines when the path leads up to the road level when there is a lock in the canal. Less corn fields today, but many apple orchids with the rows of trees covered by netting to keep the birds off the fruit perhaps. Then we passed loads of kiwi fruit farms where the only thing stopping me from stealing some fruit was the abundance of people walking and cycling on the path. Bummer the fruit looked so good too, yet we saw only kiwi fruit from New Zealand for sale in the supermarket.
We stopped on the side of the path for a quick smoko at about 12.30 and ate the raisin scrolls I had bought from the shop this morning. Lunch was later, after we had visited the supermarket at Boe (thanks David for telling me about this market, may not have seen it otherwise). We ate lunch at the picnic ground at Boe Port.
Just before riding through Agen, a fairly biggish town, we crossed over the Le Pont Canal. This is a bridge built to carry the canal across the river. Pretty bloody amazing. Built in the 1800's and its 580 metres long.
A few more hours riding in the afternoon and after it turned 5pm we had resigned to looking for somewhere to free camp for the night. Covering more distance than expected we ended up at Valance-d'Agen at the old Public Abattoir which has been turned into a free camp stop for motor homes. As we pulled up to have a look we were greeting by campers who had already set up their motor homes and claimed it would be ok for us to put out tent up on the little piece of grass. Free hot showers and cooking facilities were on offer here so we did not go any further.
We met a nice English chap, Brian who is travelling up the canal in the other direction to us who tweaked Lyn's bike so she now has the ability to stop. He did also mention that the front wheel was about to fall off as the wing nut was loose. Big thank you to him, what a nice person to help us after 10 minutes of meeting us.
Lyn cooked dinner, with the supplies we purchased earlier in the day, in the kitchen provided after we had both had nice hot showers.
One of the other lady's in another motor home came over to warn us that rain was forecast for the morning so we should store our bikes in the shed provided.
Lots of people have warned us the track ahead gets a little nasty: rocks, roots and ruts, so we are likely to be knocked around a little on poor old Sofia and Fonsi. Hopefully it should be ok, it just means we will be travelling a little slower and watching more of the track rather than our surroundings.


Thursday 10th October 13 (day 40)
Had a not too bad nights sleep. Was awoken at some ungodly hour by the dickhead who parked his motor home one meter from our tent. That was not the problem, the problem was when he started his engine this morning it was still dark! Dark that is until he turned on his headlights which almost blinded me because the only thing between his high beam and my retinas was a thin layer of tent nylon and 10 cm of space! Where the hell is anyone going to at that hour?? The baguette shop is not open yet!!
We had stayed up after dark last night chatting to a Canadian guy Frank who is doing the same route as us. Perhaps slightly faster and on a pretty good bike he brought with him from home. Nice guy, funny how people who travel alone get starved for someone to talk to, Lyn and I obviously don't have this problem.
Must have been about 8am when I heard rain on the tent, we had expected it and were glad to hear it was not too heavy. Nature called at 9 am and as the rain had stopped I got up and went for a walk into town to find a baguette and as it was a more reasonable hour the baguette shop was open.
Just about to have breakfast when Lyn suggested we pack up the tent as it had not rained since earlier and the slight wind had now dried out the fly. Just in the nick of time we brought it all in under cover when the rain started again. Good timing as we were able to pack it all away dry. Breakfast was no rush as we did not want to start out in the rain fall.
About an hour later we were all loaded up and ready to go and the rain had stopped. Luck was with us today as although we kept them handy we did not need to put on the rain capes all day. It was however a little chilly and we both spent the day in our cycling leg warmers.
The path was smooth and easy going again today, we have not yet hit the rough track yet. Lyn's serviced bike was much easier to manage and actually stopped when she applied the brakes - just like a new one, thanks to Brian.
Less than an hour into our ride Lyn had a head on collision - with a bee. Unfortunately for the bee it was fatal, unfortunately for Lyn the bee left its sting in her nose. So for the rest of the day she had a swollen nose and a fat lip and Lyn had much the same.
Scenery today was not very exciting. Of course we travelled along the canal and saw a few boats, passed through a few towns and crops today were apples and corn again. Later in the afternoon we passed fields and fields of sunflowers all black with bowed heads. A month or so ago they would have been an amazingly beautiful sight, but we are too late to see them with their yellow heads held high.
We had no particular goal or destination to reach today but thought we might treat ourselves to a room somewhere if we could find one. Like I said the path was good going today and we were making good time with a few km's behind us.
We stopped at Castelsarrasin for lunch after a quick visit to a Lidl supermarket for supplies. As we were eating 4 men rolled in on hire bikes, ironically they were Australians. Doing it tough (not) riding with a back up van who was supposed to be meeting them with lunch. Van was a little lost and they chatted with us for a little while, very curious as to what the hell we were doing with loaded up, clapped out bikes. They are only doing Toulouse to Bordeaux with no luggage and no camping. Guess they will be laughing at us tonight when they recap on their day.
So we rode on and at about 3 started to look for somewhere that had a hotel or rooms. No luck, every village or town we came to we could find nothing. So we rode on, and rode on, and on, and on. Still no accommodation so come 6pm we gave up and we are now just free camping by the side of the track at lock number 5. I set up the tent while Lyn cooked dinner of pasta, salami and sauce, while people rode and jogged by on the track. No one said anything except bonjour and bon appetite, so we presumed it was no problem we camp here. Didn't really matter, it was going to be dark in less than 2 hours and we did not want to still be riding in the dark. And we were buggered. We are right next to a railway line but I bet once we are in bed and its dark we wont hear a thing. (Lyn: We did hear the trains during the night, sounded like we were in a airport landing field with the planes taking off just over our tent. The French very fast trains are very loud.)
At a guess we are only about 20km out of Toulouse, and guess we pedalled about 55km today. Lucky for us the track was smooth and flat, but it's still pretty hard on knees and bums. Tomorrow definitely in the comfort of a hotel.

