Bordeaux to Montpellier

[apb]

If anyone is interested in doing this cycle i would recommend it. Basically following the Canal de Garonne and the Canal de Midi. My Brother an i have never done any cycle touring before and found this pretty easy to navigate.

Day 1: Bordeaux to Agen
Day 2: Agen to Toulouse
Day 3: a day in Toulouse
Day 4: Toulouse to Carcassonne
Day 5: Carcassonne to Montpellier

Got a bit lost at times and found ourselves on some main roads on the way to Montpellier, but a pretty successful trip.
I see why people use Internal gearing as the baggage people in Edinburgh or Bordeaux bent my rear mech hanger. Had to bend it back by hand. Other than that it went pretty smoothly.

 

[Brains]

we did your trip in reverse a few years ago, we traveled via The European Bike Express so had no problems with bike transport. Good trip, but we were forced to stop when the heat hit 40c and then 'had' to rehydrate in the vineyards of Bordeaux.

We also found out the maximum number of bottles of wine that you can carry on a fully loaded touring bike (tent, stove, sleeping bag etc) is seven, which meant having bought a case each we struggled to get the number to an acceptable level

 

[srw]

See also the link in my sig! Once you're beyond Carcasonne you have to take to the roads, unless the canal paths have been improved since we were last there (on a boat, not a bike).

 

[apb]

See also the link in my sig! Once you're beyond Carcasonne you have to take to the roads, unless the canal paths have been improved since we were last there (on a boat, not a bike).

Oh yeah i read your blog when i was planning this. The paths haven't improved. 30 miles after Toulouse the track get quite rough. The bikes got a bit of a hammering, though it hadn't rained for a few days hence the tracks where dry. We got on the road before Villesequelande.

 

[apb]

just looking at you photos @srw. It all looks very familiar. For example your photo of Mas d'Agenas. We sat just there and had the best Pain au Rasin ever.