Cycling from Bordeaux to Toulouse: Canal de Garonne

Date

Saturday-Saturday 19-26 September

Organiser

Nick H

Cost

Accommodation approx. £60 per night. Cycle hire to be sourced. Flight or rail tickets to France. £20 supplement for attendees from Meetup.

Activities

A week's cycling holiday in Southwest France. We are cycling the Canal de Garonne which flows from Bordeaux to Toulouse. Average of 30 miles each day on the cycling days. The Garonne canal is perfect for cycling through France. Level gradient with traffic-free tracks, with great countryside the whole route. Our first day is spent in Bordeaux. This city is full of elegant quays and wine cellars. Great choice of art galleries, Gothic landmarks and excellent restaurants.

Our cycling adventure starts on Sunday and passes through a wonderful landscape of chateaux and vineyards. Accommodation scheduled for each stage at very scenic towns with lots of facilities. The canal has many historic features with aqueducts, manors and original locks along the route. Highlights of the journey include the tomato capital of France: Marmande. We will visit Bastide towns (medieval walled towns full of history) as well as detours to vineyards for wine tasting. We will stay at Moissac, another fascinating town with its famous abbey. Our hotel is in a converted water mill. At Agen, the prune capital of France, we aim to visit the art gallery which boasts a collection of rare Goya paintings looted during the revolution from a nearby chateau. The planned route can incorporate detours to regional attractions including Buddhist centres and historic abbeys.

On Friday, our final cycling day, we cycle from Montauban to Toulouse. After depositing the hired cycles, we can dine on the local speciality of Cassoulet to celebrate the cycling adventure. On Saturday before travelling back to the UK, we can explore Toulouse "La Ville Rose" the unofficial capital of Occitanie. Full of medieval cathedrals, towers and art galleries, Toulouse is also the HQ of Airbus (tours available) and the birthplace of the Concorde.

We will collect the hired cycles at the start and drop them off at the end of the ride. Railway runs alongside canal so option to put cycle on train for a stage if reasons arise. Organiser will provide fuller itinerary to everyone booking.

Refreshments

Abundance of choices in each town and on route. Aim to arrange picnic lunch each day.

Travel

Direct flights to Bordeaux and from Toulouse to UK. Option to travel on Eurostar and TGV. Organiser will provide full details of choices.

Accommodation

Hostels and hotels for the 7 nights. We are seeking budget options for each stage. Organiser will provide full choices to everyone booking.

Links

Canal de Garonne
Bordeaux
Toulouse

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