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Day 4: Narbonne to Carcassonne (90km)
It was a busy urban road but easy route finding out of the city, then off onto the quiet D613 past a ruined hilltop château. This was Languedoc Corbières wine country with large châteaux at regular intervals. We detoured to the 11th century Abbaye de Fontfroide and had a look at outside, but it was too early in the morning for a visit.
Our first food shopping opportunity was in St Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse where we also had a coffee stop sitting on the church steps. Continuing on through Tournissan we stopped to photograph the splendidly long avenue of plane trees, then climbed steadily to towards the village of Lagrasse before a swift descent into the Alsou Gorge. The road hugged the river as it curved and turned to reach Lagrasse. Lagrasse has medieval streets tucked into the vine-swathed hills, a ruined abbey, ancient bridge and historic covered market. We stopped to go sightseeing around the narrow streets with views of the river and abbey. We ate our picnic lunch under the covered market. From Lagrasse the route continued through the Alsou gorge with twisting bends and big sweeping amphitheatre-like hillsides. Then we climbed towards Pradelles-en-Val in very hot dry wind. Having plenty of time we decided to stop for a siesta in the shade under roadside trees to escape the heat. Feeling slightly cooler and refreshed we set off again through small villages, pausing for a chewy bar and water stop in a small square in Monze. Sheila decided to take an arty photo of the Crucifix in the square juxtaposed by overhead power-lines. Getting nearer to Carcassonne we opted to detour through Berriac in order to escape the main road into Carcassonne. Initially we cycled into the centre of the new city to visit the tourist office. We had not been able to book accommodation in La Cité and were advised that we should do this in the La Cité itself. We cycled out of modern Carcassonne to La Cité with a superb approach and photo stop on the bridge over the river with a view of the fortified walls of la Cité on the hilltop. An overtaking motorist encouraged us as we struggled a bit cycling up the hill to the city gates. We checked in via the tourist office. There were three hotels in la Cité itself. One was way outside our price range, the others were a dearer than usual treat. We could have two nights but would have to spend our first night in one and then transfer to the other for our second night. Everything else was fully booked - we were just pleased to get in. We walked up pushing the tandem through narrow cobbled streets. On a warm pleasant summer evening as we explored the city and walked around the walls before eating dinner outdoors in a garden beside château. The tandem spent the night in the hotel car park. Click on any photo to enlarge and scroll through
Day 5: Carcassonne
Today was a lazy sightseeing day to explore the old city of Carcassonne including an organised tour of the château and a visit to St Nazaire Basilica. Morning coffee was in a La Cité café and we had a picnic lunch in a shady open space overlooking the château. In the afternoon we made our hotel transfer including bringing the tandem into the hotel followed by a session of postcard writing in the hotel garden. Later in the afternoon we walked down to new Carcassonne and went to see the boat basin on the Aude River - drinks in a café. Our dinner was back in la Cité on a rather windy restaurant balcony terrace.
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Day 6: Carcassone to Castres (75km)
Heading north from Carcassonne we wondered why there was still a head wind even though we had changed our direction from that of previous days. It just seems a feature of cycling that headwinds blow in all directions. Once out of Carcassonne it would be a rural day all the way to Castres so we took a short detour from and back onto our route to visit Conques-sur-Orbies and buy food for lunch.
From here we were climbing steadily into changing countryside with cliff heights increasing. We made several photo stops in and beyond Lastours in order to admire crag top Cathar tower forts. Still climbing steadily we reached Mas-Cabardes. This was likely to be our only coffee opportunity so although the café was not open we paused there and waited for Madame to open up. Setting off again the gradient of climb increased – this was our first serious climb of the tour. We made slow progress climbing up into the Montaigne Noire zigzagging around the hairpin bends. The road crossed and re-crossed a rushing stream and we stopped for a breather and to take a photo on one bridge. In fact in order to take it John walked back down around the hairpin bend to the bridge below. From here it was even steeper and we selected an even lower gear to climb on all the way to Les Martys. Although not actually at the top of the climb we stopped at the Col de Fontbruno (880m) sign for a photo of Sheila – our first French col with a proper sign. John decided that now was not the time to admit to Sheila that there will be steeper and higher things to come next week. A wicked final kick up in gradient made us struggle up the short final pull into the village of Les Martys. We flopped onto a grassy bank beside flowers and decided this was our picnic lunch stop. Feeling refreshed and recovered we set off around a corner to see public benches neatly laid out! From here there was a false downhill around a reservoir before climbing again to the Col de Rhonis (893m). We made a short water stop beside a large monument to the Resistance after the col and chatted to a solo French cycle-tourist while we were there. The day’s effort was over. From here it was a super long long downhill but without spectacular views because of the tree-lined road. We would have made it to the very centre of Labruguiere without pedalling but for a red traffic light. Starting again it was a short run on to reach Castres. We spent the afternoon sightseeing as we wandered around town with a pause for drinks and a spot of ‘watching the world go by’ in a café. After visiting the tourist office we bought tickets for a boat trip on l’Agout River aboard a reproduction old river boat. Back in the town centre we walked through formal gardens and watched a remembrance of Resistance ceremony at the war memorial. Our overnight hotel was a Logis on the edge of the town centre where the tandem spent the night in a basement garage. Our dinner (moules) was back in town in a balcony restaurant overlooking the river. Click on any photo to enlarge and scroll through
Day 7: Castres to Albi (65km)
Today we were set to reach another valley and the River Tarn, but first of all it was uphill almost straight out of Castres. We stopped for food shopping in Roquecourbe before getting into some fairly serious climbing skirting and around and into the edge of the Parc Naturel Regional du Haut Languedoc. This took us through yet another very different farmed landscape to and beyond Montredon-Labessonnié.
We made our morning coffee stop in a café at Montredon-Labessonnié. VTT was very much the cycling recreational activity in the countryside here and there was a comprehensive routes poster on display. Smaller and very quiet roads followed through choppy terrain with steeper climbs and descents. We took a break somewhere on the D13 for water and bananas. Sheila took a photo of John sitting on the road route number post but did not record the actual distance on the post. We continued up on to the open countryside tops to reach St Antonin-de-Lacalm where we cycled past a wedding party leaving the church and stopped for our picnic lunch on benches beside the village hall. On to Trivalou and Fauch and then it was a very satisfactorily downhill towards Albi. At first we spotted a town up a hill, and thought it was Albi, but were pleased to discover that our road continued around the hill and on downwards to reach Albi on the Tarn River (if we had thought about it a town on a river had to be down not up). We checked into our city centre hotel, which was beside major boulevard digging works to create an underground city centre car park. The tandem was taken inside the hotel and John was led off to be shown where to park it. Some time later he re-appeared and had to explain to Sheila why it had taken so long. Parking the tandem had involved walking along a corridor and then across the end of the hotel ballroom. Not difficult, but the ballroom was laid out with tables and a large wedding reception was underway. Being French there was much interest by the guests in the tandem and lots of questions. John tried to say that their centre of interest really ought to be the bride not our bicycle, but was simply rewarded for his effort by being handed a glass of champagne. Finally the tandem was stowed away in a side room amidst many cases of wine. Time now for a sightseeing afternoon around the brick town of Albi. We followed historic trails shown on a leaflet from the tourist office, switching by accident from one coloured route to another. Inevitably a pause was taken for drinks in a café. We also visited the giant brick pile of a cathedral to admire its painted ceiling. For dinner in town we chose a Moroccan rather than French restaurant for a couscous meal. This was followed by coffee in a café beside the cathedral square where a concert of mid-summer night folk music was taking place. Click on any photo to enlarge and scroll through
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