Canal Entre Deux Mers Stage 6 - Grisolles to Toulouse

From Grisolles, you can follow the canal towpath (27km, about 25m climb) all the way to the centre of Toulouse where the Canal de Garonne has its source, a short feeder canal from the Garonne river, and meets the Canal du Midi which heads out east from the city towards the Mediterranean. From there it is a short ride to points of interest in the centre.
With a total distance to the heart of the old city of around 32km on substantially flat paths, I expect to have most of the day to explore the city.

The towpath continues, as before, flat, about 2 metres wide, reasonable well maintained tarmac, and traffic-free. The landscape is now becoming noticeably more urban as you come into the greater Toulouse area. There are factories and industrial parks, and the railway line, on the eastern side of the canal, but the sense of tranquillity remains on the western side where the towpath runs. The route is substantially a straight line now all the way into Toulouse.

Shortly before reaching the centre you pass underneath an autoroute, and some 300 metres later the towpath appears to come to an end at Écluse No 1, de Lalande. Normally you just ride straight past the locks but here there are clear signs "No unauthorised entry" and it looks fenced off at the other end. You appear to have two choices - turn right and follow a small road to rejoin the path on the west side of the canal about a kilometre further down, or turn left, cross the bridge and then turn right down a small side street which brings you after 100 metres or so back on to the towpath on the eastern side of the canal. I took the right, and it was a mistake - while the road/path were fine and rideable, they ran right along the edge of a very busy autoroute so were noisy and polluted. I could see the towpath across the canal, and most people using that. After a further 500 metres I was able to cross a bridge to rejoin the main path on the other side, and with the canal between me and the autoroute it was a more pleasant ride.

This ends in a small residential street alongside the canal which emerges soon after at the Ponts Jumeaux, which is where the Garonne canal ends, and joins the beginning of the Canal du Midi. Here you are about a kilometre away, via the Canal de Brienne, from The Capitole city centre and Université de Toulouse 1 Capitole, the first of Toulouse's three universities, founded after the crusade against the Cathars in around 1229. Alongside the Canal de Brienne, whose primary purpose is to feed water from the Garonne river into the Garonne canal, are quite the most impressive trees I have ever seen - planes which I would guess are 80-100ft tall. We have a mature, 400 year old oak in our garden, which is barely half the height of these. I'm not sure my attached snap (which features a small van for scale) really does them justice.

Toulouse is known as the "Pink City" (La Ville Rose) because its architecture is predominantly of terra cotta brick, with some stone detailing. It is well served for cycle paths of variable quality, mainly alongside city streets. Getting into the centre doesn't appear to be too tricky. 

Geotagged snaps here.

Canal Entre Deux Mers Stage 5 - Moissac to Grisolles via Montauban

From Moissac you stay on the canal towpath all the way to Montech (about 24km, virtually flat with about 13m gentle climb at the end), where the Canal de Garonne meets the Canal de Montech, which takes traffic down to the Tarn River. Then follow the Montech towpath to the edge of Montauban (12km, about 20m descent) and a short stretch on urban road to finish. About 35-36km morning ride, leaving time to have lunch in Montauban and do some sightseeing. 

 After lunch, retrace your steps up the Canal de Montech (12km, climb that 20m again) to rejoin the Canal de Garonne towpath to Grisolles (17km, about 10m climb).

About a kilometre along the towpath out of Moissac you come to another aqueduct, the Pont-Canal du Cacor, which carries the canal over the Tarn river. It is about 300 metres long and like the Agen aqueduct it does not lend itself to cycling across, due to the narrowness of the path, lack of protection against falling in the canal, pedestrians and other cyclists to navigate - and a bumpy pebbled surface.

Once across, the tarmac surface resumes and continues to Montech,, a small town and marina for the canal, where a branch canal, the Canal de Montech, takes water traffic down to Montauban and to a lock which reconnects with the Tarn river.

En route, you pass a curiosity, the Pente d'Eau de Montech mechanical boat lift. This was designed to bypass a succession of three locks and presumably it was hoped it would increase the speed and capacity of the canal system at that point. In essence, a barge enters a form of bathtub of water at the bottom of the slope, and powerful engines on tracks then haul the tub of water, with boat, to the top of the slope where the tub opens and the boat can sail out. Or vice versa. It doesn't look like the Pente d'Eau has been used any time recently, but there is clearly a project in train to make a museum of it.

At Montech itself, to access the Canal de Montech cycle path to Montauban you need to continue a couple of hundred metres past the junction to go up to the road bridge to cross the canal (it is quite busy but there is a cycle path on the sidewalk) and then double back on the other side of the canal. It is then 12 km of gently descending canal to a port/marina just before the final lock which descends back into the Tarn River. Here, you cross the canal and head out of the port area, keeping an eye out for a sign for the Véloroute pointing right at an underpass below the railway tracks, with extremely limited headroom. At 182cm tall myself, I had to bow my head slightly to get through. From there you take separated cycle tracks along the road which bring you first to a modern road bridge, and then to the old bridge, Pont Vieux, where you cross into the town centre.

Montauban is an imposing, slightly gothic, town built, like Toulouse, mainly in red brick.

You can then return up the Canal de Montech to rejoin the Garonne canal at Montech towards Toulouse. I stopped over about 30km short of Toulouse, in Grisolles right by the canal, so I would have a short sector into the city the following morning and the rest of the day to explore.

Geotagged snaps here.

Canal Entre Deux Mers Stage 4 - Agen to Moissac

Stage 4 is an easy 44km from Agen to Moissac, entirely on the canal towpath and almost entirely flat - it rises perhaps 30m in the entire route, as ever as a series of level steps with a slight climb with each passing lock. The canal passes through or close to the centres of both towns so the amount of on-road required to position to or from an hotel is negligible

The tarmac towpath continues around the north of the town centre of Agen, just north of the railway station, and then along the north bank of the canal through mixed commercial and residential areas for perhaps 5-6km before returning to a more rural setting.  The run to Moissac however has a more built-up feel than the route all the way from the western end as far as Agen does. There is evidence of a busy road, small industrial estates, and most notably the railway line (Bordeaux to Toulouse) which runs directly alongside the canal much of the way now to Moissac. At times the cycle path is on the other side of the canal, at others it runs between canal and railway as it crosses and re-crosses the canal from time to time on small bridges.

A note on the railway line: the Bordeaux-Toulouse line is never very far away from the Garonne Canal for the entire length of the canal to Toulouse. It passes through La Réole and Marmande for example, and might be 5km or so away at times. It provides some comfort that, in the event of an emergency or a total breakdown in your bike, you would not have very far to go to find a station at which either express or local stopping rail services can be connected to get directly to a city or even return home if necessary. For much of the way from Agen to Toulouse you could access the next station simply by sticking to the canal towpath/cycle route until you see it right beside the canal. If there is no-one in the ticket office, and no automatic ticket dispenser, no worries - the ticket inspectors will almost certainly find you on the train and willingly accept that you couldn't get a ticket before boarding. They just sell you one on the spot without fuss. Fares are competitive compared to the UK.

As you approach Moissac, route signs for the Véloroute des 2 Mers direct you south of the town centre towards the embankment of the Tarn river, which is fine if you are passing straight through as it brings you back to the south bank of the canal where the towpath/cycle path continues, but you can also continue straight though a short section with "Quais", or canal-side streets, either side. The main town centre is just to the north of this section of canal.

Moissac is considerably smaller than Agen, but it has bars, restaurants and shops to belie its size. It has a very posh hotel on the banks of the Tarn (Moulin de Moissac) but other more modest establishments in the town centre. The main historic attraction is L'Abbaye St-Pierre, in the north-centre of the town close to the main square.

Geotagged snaps can be found here.

Canal Entre Deux Mers Stage 1 - Bordeaux to Sauveterre de Guyenne

From the city centre, you cross the Pont de Pierre (stone bridge) and then ride along cycle paths on  the east bank of the Garonne for a few kilometres until turning sharp left to join the Roger Lapebie cycle path, which is laid on an old railway line. In places the route climbs to about 100m amsl, but quite gently, before descending a little to about 70m at Sauveterre de Guyenne.

Bordeaux has quite an extensive network of cycle paths but their quality is never very high, and is often quite poor, in fact some of those I rode on I would say would be safer if they were torn up and cyclists just used the road. The situation however improves as you get further away from the city along the river bank.

The Piste Cyclable Roger Lapebie betrays its origins as the bed of an old single-track railway, with the old stations still present, some converted into cafes and bars. The path is asphalt from start to finish, generally about 2 metres wide, and shared with walkers, but the volume of traffic in September was manageable without any serious conflict. The path was clearly popular - I saw lots of walkers and cyclists, some just out for a day ride but quite a few clearly touring.

The condition was almost universally good, and much of the route is shaded by trees planted along both sides. What it conspicuously lacks however is either benches or picnic seating at regular intervals to relax on for a moment, and in particular there are almost no water fountains en route. 

Being an old railway track, there are gradients - it ascends from sea level to almost 100 metres over the 15km or so from its start to Creon - but these are very shallow, so that they are imperceptible to the eye.  Which is not to say you can't feel them - you seem to make relatively slow progress  for quite a lot of effort, for quite a long time. In some ways a more undulating path with steeper gradients is easier, at least psychologically!

Creon is the only settlement of any substance which is directly on the path of the route until you reach Sauveterre de Guyenne at the other end. It has an information office about the cycle path, a bike shop with repair and bike hire facilities, and some shops, bars and a restaurant in the town centre which is only 2-300 metres away. On my day riding this path the afternoon temperature reached 35C - some 11C higher than the seasonal average - and I found I was rapidly dehydrating, so the almost complete absence of water fountains along the way was irritating. Creon is the last real opportunity before the end to top up water bottles, so take it.

The path ends just outside Sauveterre de Guyenne, a small bastide town with its own wine Appellation. There is a hotel, and a chambre d'hotes which was very pleasant - no evening meal but they point you to a restaurant close by which offers a free aperitif if you mention their name.

If you prefer to camp, there don't appear to be any official campsites near the path, but you can wild-camp quite legally in France, on public land or - with the owner's permission - on private land, as long as you stay one night, using a backpackable tent, and leave no trace of your presence. There was certainly space alongside the path where you could pitch a tent in reasonable comfort.

Alternatively, you can continue another 15km to La Réole where there is a municipal campsite on the banks of the Garonne river.

Some photos, with geotags in the information tab, here.

Canal Entre Deux Mers Stage 2 - Sauveterre de Guyenne to Marmande

Stage 2 is 41km from Sauveterre de Guyenne to Marmande, the first 14km undulating and descending on country lanes to La Réole on the banks of the Garonne river, then a flat run  to reach the canal towpath at Fontet, followed by about 15km along the canal, and finally across the Garonne flood plain for about 5km to Marmande town itself.

After perhaps a kilometre of busy road leaving Sauveterre de Guyenne you turn left on to a much quieter country lane, designated a "voie partagée" with bike signs towards La Réole. The road is quiet, though not traffic-free – watch out in particular for agricultural vehicles which seem to be able to move quite fast – and the terrain is moderately undulating. My assessment though is that the maximum gradient is probably no more than 5-7% and within the capabilities of the gearing on my Brompton. About half-way through the 15km to La Réole you pass a splendid old watermill, the Moulin de Loubens.

As you approach La Réole you can join a busy road or you can cross this and follow a quiet back road which brings you into the northern side of the town instead of taking you direct to the bridge over the Garonne river. The town has a few bars and cafés, notably one overlooking the river close to the bridge, from which it is a short gentle climb up a street which connects directly to take you across the bridge.

On crossing the bridge, you follow a moderately busy local road for about a kilometre before reaching a junction with a much busier bypass road, which you cross to access the quieter road which leads down to Fontet, where you meet the canal. For the next 20km or so you are on the canal towpath, which alternates from one side of the canal to the other from time to time – you can’t miss the changes because you see that the path in front of you is no longer asphalt, and usually there is a sign to indicate that you need to cross the bridge 

To access Marmande town you need to leave the towpath and follow local country lanes for about 5km across a flat alluvial plain. You will see evidence of sand/gravel extraction by Lafarge all around you. There is about a km of slightly busier road before you come to a junction where you can join a separated cycle lane for most of the way into town, apart from over the bridge across the Garonne river just before entering the town.

Marmande is a modest town with hotels, bars and restaurants and small grocery shops. I didn’t see any evidence of a camp site but again you can wild camp discreetly beside the canal if you wish. It styles itself "La Ville des Tomates" but I didn't see any tomatoes on my route. It has its own wine appellation, Côtes du Marmandais

The towpath is a prepared tarmac surface, in fact for its entire length to Toulouse which is well over 150km. It is in pretty good condition overall, although in a few places the top dressing is crumbling and the surface becomes a little rougher. I saw no signs of potholes, though, and drainage seems pretty good with no puddles of any size on the path. It is about 2 metres wide, which for the traffic seemed adequate, and it is of course substantially flat, as it follows the water. The level rises in steps with each lock but in this area the locks are well spaced and rise perhaps 1.5-2 metres a time. The path does however vary in height above the water surface, between about 50cm and perhaps 2-3 metres, so there is a very slight undulation.

The path is also heavily shaded along its entire length in this area by tall mature plane trees on either side – planted originally by the constructors of the canal, to provide protection from the summer sun for the commercial barges plying it. This does mean some tree root disturbance creating mini speed bumps which were slightly uncomfortable on a Brompton, but generally they were easy to spot, often easy to steer around, and I wasn’t in any hurry.

Like the Roger Lapébie cycle path, there are very few benches or picnic tables to stop for a rest en route, and no water fountains to refill your bottle, although down in the shade of the trees that becomes a less pressing imperative.

The path is exclusively for walkers and cyclists - there are clear signs prohibiting cars and motorcycles, with an added panel saying horse-riders are prohibited too. The only vehicles you typically see are the engineers' vans from Voies Navigables de France (VNF) and some heavy machinery maintaining the banks, eg brush cutting or doing embankment reinforcement. It seems that VNF sees no need to instal gates or barriers to discourage motor vehicles so by and large there is nothing to obstruct non-standard bikes, and indeed I saw families towing child trailers and baggage trailers, and even one tandem and one tadpole trike.

There are however occasional spots where staggered barriers have been installed, apparently to force more sporty cyclists to moderate their speed as they approach small boat marinas, picnic areas and the handful of designated waterside campsites. These might require a certain amount of manhandling to get a bike/trailer combo through.

Geotagged photos along the route can be found here.

Canal Entre Deux Mers Stage 3 - Marmande to Agen

Stage 3 was 63km from Marmande to Agen, almost all along the the canal, including traversing the Garonne River on an aqueduct, so it is all almost entirely flat.

Marmande is a few km from the canal but after that you stay with it all the way to Agen where the canal passes through the town centre after crossing the river on an aqueduct.

On crossing the bridge over the Garonne back out of Marmande, you join a serviceable cycle path which runs all the way down the D933 until you rejoin the canal. The roadside cycle path is partly segregated from the road, in other parts just a lane divided by paint, and at the road junction and roundabout just outside the town it deviates from the road to pass through underpasses directly across the roundabout. It's not an especially nice stretch due to passing traffic but safe enough.

Once back on the towpath, the 2m wide tarmac path resumes, flat, reasonably well surfaced and drained as before. Much of the way it is heavily shaded by plane trees but there are some gaps in the cover where the trees are either smaller and affording less shade, or not there at all. There are one or two short stretches where the path gives way to a minor road running parallel to the canal, but these are very quiet.

After roughly 9 km, you reach Le Mas d'Agenais which is a boat marina and a base for one of the canal boat hire companies. "Le Boat". There is a picnic area, and the little village, which is just over the bridge on the other side of the canal from the cycle path, has a couple of small shops. At this point the Garonne river runs right next to the canal, but is quite a lot downhill from it.

The next village is Damazan, just a few hundred metres up the hill from the canal, where there is a bar, a restaurant and a small grocery shop. A few km beyond that you come to Buzet sur Baise, with its own wine appellation for reds, whites and rosés. (Buzet is apparently the origin of the English terms boozy, and booze, arising from British troops stationed there during WW1). This is also a base for a canal cruiser hire company (Nicols, which has bases on the Canal du Midi as well). 

What is more in evidence here than vines is large apple orchards, with the trees trained in rows. The apples were not, fortunately, Golden Delicious, but a slightly firmer texture and sharper taste.

The path continues in similar vein towards Agen. Approaching Agen it climbs to several metres above the canal water level but the canal itself then climbs through a series of locks which lift it to the level of the aqueduct by which it crosses the Garonne river. Passing the sequence of locks immediately before the aqueduct, a distance of a few hundred metres, the tarmac surface disappears and is replaced by a stony chippings surface.

Crossing the aqueduct itself on a bike is not for the faint-hearted - I personally would have chosen to walk my bike across, even if I hadn't been compelled to by a flat tyre just as I reached the locks. The paths either side of the canal as it crosses the aqueduct are narrow, no more than about 1.5 metres each side. There are walkers and other cyclists to negotiate as you cross, and there is no guardrail to prevent you falling in the canal so I'd say attempting to cycle across is quite risky. It would also have been a bumpy ride, as the path surface is composed of large pebbles embedded in cement.

The canal passes through the heart of Agen so from here it is a few hundred metres at most to the town centre and shops, bars, hotels etc. Fortunately there were several bike shops, and the first I visited was able to supply a new Marathon Plus 16" tyre to replace the one on my Brompton which had failed (not punctured) and the mechanic knew enough about 6 speed Bromptons to be able to remove and replace the rear wheel.

Agen itself is a small town but it feels bigger than its population might suggest so, for example at 35k population it is about the same size as Farnham, which is near me, but the town centre felt much bigger, the size of Guildford, pop 130k. Of course, France has about three times the geographical area of the UK for a similar population, and the big cities of Toulouse and Bordeaux are rather further away (and rather smaller) than London is to Farnham/Guildford, but the difference is noticeable.

Agen itself is apparently famous for its plums, which are dried as prunes and marketed as pruneaux d'Agen. I'm not aware though that I saw any plum trees on my route.

Some geotagged snaps can be found here. 

Riding the Canal Entre Deux Mers, Episode 1(a) - change of plan re bikes.

So, that puts paid to the Birdy, which by now is presumably in the hands of a proud but oblivious and unsuspecting new owner and some little toe-rag has a wad of cash for it. My first thought was that probably killed the scheme, because it relies on being able to bag up a folder and take it in the hold of an airliner. But, a little more thought and I reckon it can be done on a Brompton.

Years ago, before our children were born, we used to tour the wine regions of France on vintage 1988 Bromptons (which I still have, to give to my kids as heirlooms). I think the most we ever did in one day was about 70km, around the Monbazillac/Bergerac region on the Loire, and that is slightly more than I plan for any one day on this occasion, but we didn’t carry luggage with us as we travelled from town to town with the folded bikes on the back seat of our vehicle. We did however have small pannier bags which permitted us to collect 6 bottles of wine per bike to bring back to base camp, the boot of our vehicle, so not entirely luggage free.

Since then I have a new Brompton, which is a story in itself - one of the vintage Bromptons got damaged in an accident at Hyde Park Corner and was considered probably beyond repair, I bought the Birdy as a replacement, because it folded and was really nice to ride, but quickly discovered that it doesn’t fold easily or neatly enough to do three times a day in my home-bike-train-bike-office-bike-train-bike-home commuting routine. So I bought a new Brompton and kept the Birdy. 

(Curiously, several months later FW Evans called to say “aren’t you going to collect your Brompton?” so I went to get it. The bent pedal crank and seat post had been replaced, the frame it turned out was undamaged, and Brompton, to whom it had been sent for evaluation by Evans, refused to charge anything for the repair)

Anyway, the new Brompton, which I’ve had since 2007, is this one.

According to this Youtube video, it fits the bill for touring: an M6 with the reduced ratio on gearing (by fitting 12% larger rear sprockets). It goes part way towards this video in that it has the Titanium seatpost, rear triangle and front forks, but I’ll dispense with the rest of his suggestions. I won’t be able to use my Ortleib panniers on it, but the standard Brompton handlebar stem-mount bag and a rear rack-top bag should suffice - I'll travel light, and I’m not expecting Aquitaine in summer to require much waterproofing.

In comparison, the Brompton is certainly easier to fold than the Birdy, it folds more compactly, and the more delicate components are better protected inside a carapace of mainframe ironmongery - being thrown around by airport baggage handlers always required a certain amount of straightening out and resetting gears and brakes etc on the Birdy where more delicate stuff found itself near the surface of the folded package. On the other hand, the Birdy rides like a full size bike and has full suspension. It could handle the gradients on Iceland’s roads, and the very coarse chippings used in the surface dressing of their road tarmac, in a way I suspect the Brompton wouldn’t. But this trip involves asphalt-dressed off-road cycle paths, mainly dead flat canal towpaths, with an old railway track at the start. About 360km, of which barely 20km is on roads, and only 10 of those on undulating ground.

So, hopefully this virtual trip will still become real, eventually.