Friday 1st June. Castelnaudary (14) to Homps. (15)
49.9 miles. 3hrs 50m riding time Average speed: 13.2 mph Total: 696 miles
For a brief moment this morning I thought it had stopped ‘effin raining’
but it was not to be. Once again when clear of the town and fewer people
could see me I tied my shoes up inside plastic bags. On the plus side, the
wind was blowing hard behind me from the west which made the cycling easy.
Just outside Castelnaudary I passed the headquarters of La Legion Étrangère
(French Foreign Legion) and stopped near the main gate to take a picture.
As soon as the shutter button clicked I realised that this was an invitation
to be dragged into the guard room as a spy and subjected to rubber glove
treatment at the very least. The camera was swiftly stuffed back into the
bar bag and I high-tailed it down the D33 towards Carcassone which I by-passed
on a few nadgery lanes before taking the D610 which ran more or less parallel
to the canal to the village of Homps.
Guard room on right - rubber gloves not visible
Visiting the fantastic old walled city of Carcassone would have been a nice little detour but I really couldn’t be bothered given the weather. I’ll probably regret it but never mind. Nothing really happened today and other than getting a quick glimpse of the Massif Fontfroide (mountains) in a brief moment of sunshine there wasn’t that much to see either. The truth is, there was probably lots to see but bad weather doesn’t really encourage sightseeing or photography – I’ve taken very few photos on this trip because I really can’t be bothered undoing rain covers and rooting around in my luggage getting the contents and my camera soaking wet. I arrived in Homps quite early, helped in no small part by the tailwind so I spent an hour or so with a couple of beers sitting outside a canalside bar just watching the world go by.
I’m sitting now in the restaurant of my hotel the Auberge de l’Arbousier
and it’s full of British people; I’ve cycled into tourist territory.
It would seem that the Canal du Midi is far more popular with tourists than
the Garonne canal – although I think I found the Garonne canal more
interesting myself.
It’s about 20 miles to Narbonne from here and the sea is a further
10 miles beyond, so tomorrow will be an easy little last lap. Tonight is
my last night actually on the road - tomorrow I’ve finished. I can’t
believe it’s all gone so quickly, although thinking back, some of
the sunnier days do seem an age ago.
So… goat’s cheese with honey for dessert? It’s surprisingly
nice!
You can tell who the French people are in this restaurant – they’re
the only ones who actually leave some wine un-drunk in the bottle when they’ve
left the table. I’m rambling again – time for bed. http://www.aubergearbousier.com/
D610 near Homps
Canal du Midi at Homps – the view from the bar
15 Saturday 2nd June. Homps (15) to Gruissian Plage and back to Narbonne (16)