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Some details on the route
Greetings from the Lot-et-Garonne (47, Martin). I attach
here the map from Julien Savary’s first booklet which covers the latter part of our
journey and shows the bits of the Canal du Midi towpath which are ‘voie verte cyclable
revêtue’ (surfaced greenway – red on the map!) and those which are ‘itinéraire
cyclable non revêtu’ (non-surfaced cyclable route - orange). Just to recap, the
various greenways from the Dune du Pyla to the Garonne
Canal are all tarmacked, as is the
towpath to Toulouse
– so no problems there. After Toulouse, the
towpath is surfaced as far as Port Lauragais. Then there are small red stretches
as follows: through Castelnaudary; through Carcassonne; from Béziers towards Agde for a
few km. The rest is orange. There are also a few exclamation marks, which
the booklet describes as ‘difficultés’. The majority of these seem to be in the
region of Sallèles-d’Aude, Argeliers, Capestang, Poilhès, but there are some around Carcassonne as well, which I will try to
research. I will also ascertain which IGN maps are relevant and attempt to transfer the information concerning the towpath surface onto them and hence find alternative roads. More on all this later ...
May I lead for the first day? I'm looking forward to finding our way through the initial twists and turns to Mios and onto the ex-railway line to Bazas. I hope the weather will be kind to us. Here it has been rubbish recently, with showers and temperatures of only 12 C max, altho at last things are beginning to change: temperature today is 15 C.
Clyde, you could lead ALL the way as far as I am concerned but I do feel that we ought to take some share of the leading. I have IGN maps numbered 65 (Beziers - Montpellier), 66 (Avignon - Montpellier) and 72 (Beziers - Perpignan). These may not be the curent numbers. Maps 72 and 65 cover all the Canal du Midi from about 20km west of Carcassonne (south of Alzonne) right through to Agde. Armed with these, I could take one of the days beyond Carcassonne where we are more likely to have to go "off-chemin". Some of the towpath from Colombiers into Beziers was cetainly rough going when I was there a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteWhen I did a little stretch last year, from Le Somail to Paraza, I noticed that there was a minor road which ran alongside the canal for a bit. Now I see on Map 174 (one of the new ones) that there is minor road alongside most of the canal from Carcassonne to Béziers. That should keep everyone happy! Check it out on your Maps 65 and 72 and see what you make of it, Peter. I'll have a further look on other stretches tomorrow. Bonne nuit!
ReplyDeleteIGN maps are (older series): 46, 55, 56, 57, 64, 72, 65. The relevant new series maps are: 152, 160, 168, 174, 170. I have a mixture of both sets which cover the whole route and I can lend them if anyone needs them for leading the ride day to day. I'll bring the lot (but would prefer not to carry them all the whole way!) I have a table of places we stop at but have been unable to put it on the blog as a post - it's too wide! - so will email it to everyone instead.
ReplyDeleteI have, and will bring, maps 65 and 72. I also have 66 which would be useful for Martin if he does decide to visit the Camargue before leaving for home.
ReplyDeletePeter, what did you think about using these little roads which follow the canal for much of the route? While on them, you would have the canal in view for most, if not all, of the time.
ReplyDeleteI can see no reason not to use the nearby roads where the towpath condition is a handicap to enjoyable progress. The section around Colombiers was both muddy and uneven due to tree roots and I was glad to get off it. By the time we get to that area we shall have had 3 or 4 days of towpath, towpath and nothing but towpath so we may be pleased for an occasional scenery break.
ReplyDelete