Sunday, July 18, 2010

Cycling the Canal du Midi

Spent three days cycling the Canal du Midi. We started in Carcassonne and spent nights en route in chambres d'hôte in Marseillette and Argeliers. It was an incredibly beautiful bike ride, with views south over vineyards, wheat fields, and provençal villages to the distant purply Pyrènees. Loud incessant cicada trilling accompanied us most of the way.

I confess I found it quite tough going, especially the second day which took eight and a half hours to cover 45 kilometers, admittedly with a leisurely lunch break and several stops to imbibe reviving cups of tea, icy citron pressé and tall frosty pints of beer. The route although flat was often quite bumpy over rocks, paving stone, trees roots and dried clay ruts, which mercilessly pummeled one's derrière, and the weather was in the 90's with quite high humidity. But most of the trip was shaded by plane trees with a lavender scented easterly breeze. Now that I have recovered, I am ready to start planning another trip, perhaps covering shorter distances to enable more sketching.

No comments: