Some pictures of the surface between Carcassonne and Béziers

Just to give you an idea of why AF3V doesn't consider some of the Canal du Midi between Carcassonne and Béziers a greenway. From top to bottom these are: towpath near le Somail; road at Ventenac; towpath changes to road at Ventenac; towpath between Colombiers and Béziers. All taken March/April 2011. No worse than the untarmacked sections of the Erewash Canal towpath but I accept that it is not as good as the Mickleover Greenway! How would the small wheels of the folders fare over this sort of terrain?

More input for France, 2012

The Comments facility of this site seem to have completely frozen now so I am adding a new post to add my thoughts to those of others.
Looking at Clyde's initial proposals for routes and overnight stops I concur fully as far as Toulouse. This city has 5 F1 Hotels and,as far as I can see, 2 of them are almost on the "Chemin d'halage". These are Hotel Toulouse l'Union and Hotel Toulouse Ramonville.  I would be happy to book on our behalf if agreed on 19th.
As our basic remit is "Coast to Coast" I am wondering if we need to go as far east as Sete. There are Plages in the Narbonne area and either side of Beziers. I am familiar with that at Portiragne, east of Beziers, and I note there is a greenway mentioned in the AF3V website. There is also a HotelF1 at Beziers, albeit in the NE quarter a little way from the Canal (but on the  Airport side, if that becomes a significant factor). On a personal note, my friends from my working days live only 14km from Beziers and it would be a shame to be so close and not meet them.  
At a guess this could reduce the distance after Toulouse from its current 257 to about 225 to 230, spread over 3 days. The AF3V website and a (1998) book I have both suggest the towpath deteriorates after Avignionet Lauragais, a few kms short of Castelnaudary, and finishes after Bram, 15km beyond Castelnaudary but still some 25km short of Carcassonne. We may have to be ready to do some roadwork and I do wonder if the Toulouse to Carcassonne target may be stretching us to the point where we have insufficient opportunity to indulge in the local cuisine (Cassoulet, in particular). Unfortunately, there seems to be very little accomodation between the two "C"s.  A possibility may be to stop at Castelnaudary and then Trebes, just a few km beyond Carcassone. This would make distances of about 65km and 50km which should allow stopping time at both venues. The Canal starts to wander a lot more after Trebes and I know that the towpath approaching Beziers from the west is poor so maybe we could do Trebes to the staircase locks at Beziers on-road which might cut the distance to around 100 to 110km.   From Beziers there is the possibility of a flight back to GB, or a train to either Montpellier where there is a TGV service to Paris and an airport served by Ryanair or there is alternatively a train back to Carcassonne for the airport there.
Please give this your consideration.

More information on distances

The good news is that, as the distances I discover get more accurate, they get shorter - generally! Have a look at this leaflet: http://gironde.fr/cg33/upload/docs/application/pdf/2009-08/pistes_cyclables.pdf
There are a number of maps of pistes cyclables in the department of the Gironde (where we start). In particular, there is the Arcachon Basin Greenway and the Mios to Bazas GW. Arcachon station to the Dune du Pilat would seem to be 12 or 13 km. Pilat to Facture is 24 or 25 km. We know that Facture to Mios is 4.5 km (AF3V website) and the distance from Mios to La Gare comes out at only 62 km (instead of 76 km). So to get to Castets, the beginning of the canal , the distance from Pilat is 111 km. I'm working on ways of splitting this, plus a bit more, over two days.

Some notes on our route

1. The distance from the Dune du Pilat (or Pyla – there are two different spellings) to Arcachon varies according to what you read or measure! My IGN map makes it 9 km; an approximation to the greenway on Autoroute Express, but using ordinary roads, calculates it as 12 km; and the AF3V website mentions this link to the Arcachon Basin greenway and gives the distance as 15 km! I’m giving the total from Pilat to Facture as 30 km now, instead of my previous 28 km.
2. When we leave Pilat, we can ride the Arcachon Basin Greenway as far as Facture, then follow a linking piste cyclable to Mios and the start of the Mios – Bazas Greenway. For those riding from Arcachon railway station, you could make use of this GW, rather than ride on the road. Finally, if Shawn wants to ride from Bordeaux station, he can pick up this GW at Biganos (near Facture).
3. The Arcachon Basin GW forms part of that 1200 km cycle route from Roscoff to Bayonne.
4. Peter has identified a F1 hotel at Bordeaux. There are also two youth hostels, one near the St Jean railway station, the other further out at Blanquefort.
5. We want to stop at Carcassonne. I suggest therefore that the 7 days be split as 5 days from Pilat to Carcassonne and 2 days from Carcassonne to Sète. With distances of 430 km and 152 km respectively, this gives averages of 86 km per day for the first 5 days and 76 km per day for the last two.
6. We could use the youth hostel at Carcassonne.
7. Toulouse also has a youth hostel, so maybe we should stop there too. Toulouse to Carcassonne is 105 km – quite do-able. Then we could have a short day the day after this, which would allow us to look around Carcassonne.

French C2C first meeting Thurs 13 Oct 2011

Maldwyn, Peter, Shawn, Martin and Clyde met this evening at the Flowerpot to discuss some initial details of next year's ride. It will probably be late May/early June, midweek to midweek, avoiding bank holidays, and last 7 days. The idea is to start on the Atlantic coast, possibly at La Dune du Pilat (at 107 m, the tallest dune in Europe) and, riding the Mios to Bazas greenway, followed by minor roads to Castets en Dorthe, we will ride the towpaths of the Garonne Canal and the Canal du Midi, stopping at (approximately) Castets, Agen, Toulouse, the wonderful canal basin of Castelnaudary, the fairy-tale city of Carcassonne, Béziers and Sète on the Mediterranean. Distance is about 560 km. There is a lot to see and sample on this ride, including the famous three-way circular lock at Agde, the aqueduct at Agen and the delicious cassoulet of the Lauragais region and perhaps a glass of Noilly Prat at Marseillan. And our route takes us right through a motorway service station!
Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Dune_of_Pyla
http://www.af3v.org/-Fiche-VVV-.html?voie=68
http://www.af3v.org/-Fiche-VVV-.html?voie=17
http://www.af3v.org/-Fiche-VVV-.html?voie=240
http://www.af3v.org/-Fiche-VVV-.html?voie=188
http://www.af3v.org/-Fiche-VVV-.html?voie=197
http://www.af3v.org/-Fiche-VVV-.html?voie=5
http://www.af3v.org/-Fiche-VVV-.html?voie=6
http://www.af3v.org/-Fiche-VVV-.html?voie=26
http://www.af3v.org/-Fiche-VVV-.html?voie=39
http://www.af3v.org/-Fiche-VVV-.html?voie=280

A proposal for the 2012 Dragon Ride

Clyde has proposed that we do the French equivalent of the C2C (Coast to Coast). In brief, this would be on a Greenway from the Bassin d'Arcachon (Atlantic coast, not too far from La Rochelle) to the Garonne Canal, then along the canal to Toulouse, finally following the Canal du Midi to Sete on the Mediterranean Coast.  Clyde reports that he has 2 booklets on the route, including places to stay, assuming a start from Bordeaux (via two different routes). There is a third way, in many ways more obvious, starting from the Atlantic: a greenway from Mios to just before Bazas (76 km)

http://www.af3v.org/-Fiche-VVV-.html?voie=17

 There is an extension to this, taking the rider to Roaillan. Then it's only a few km by minor road to Langon and Castets en Dorthe, where the Canal de Garonne begins. Almost all the rest is by towpath.

When Clyde is back in GB a meeting will be held on a suitable Thursday evening in the Flower Pot pub in Derby to assess demand for this ride and to consider any other suggestions. Please watch this blog for an announcement from Clyde.

Day 7

Maldwyn and Clyde took the straightforward road to Sligo, the N15, while the others took the official cycleroute (part of the North-west Trail). This proved to be quite arduous for, although there were no serious hills, we were riding into a relentless headwind for most of the journey. This beautiful mountain is Benbulben, seen shortly before Sligo. Other pics: our bikes on the train to Dublin; O'Connell's statue, Dublin; the Spire of Dublin, O'Connell Street; Ryanair HQ, Dublin Airport.