Relax

A fairly slow day in Toulouse before we hit the road again. Change of bikes and some re-organising of our stuff. Strolling in downtown took us to a wonderful museum with lots of renaissance art and lots of impressionist paintings. Oh la la!

Pierre Bonnard: Paysage du Midi

Otherwise, we have been people-watching

and checked out splendid medieval architecture in the basilicas and convents, notable Basilique Saint-Sernin and Convent des Jacobins. 

Lots of beautiful French culture ! – The only Danish input we saw in town were Carlsberg ads and posters announcing the Danish dogma movie "The idiots"; – not too encouraging.

Well, we said goodbye to the river Garonne 

and settled in for the last night in our Grand Hôtel d'Orleans.

Toulouse – or not to loose

Last night the Pont de Napoleon (Bonaparte himself had the bridge built) next to our hotel became illuminated and was quite pictoresque.

Next to it was France's most boring camping ground for RVs.

On today's 70+ km stage we passed a special tech treat at Montech where five ordinary water locks have been replaced by a rather unique moving lock (called a water slope). The huge machinery takes in on river boat floating in water and moves 600 m horizontal and 14 m vertical with the whole deal, just to release the boat at the other end. Pretty neat, but we did not see it in action.

At a point around noon we thought that we may not make it to Toulouse today. A savage thunderstorm in this region last week had uprooted a lot of trees and they were still lying in great numbers across the canal and across the cycleway along the canal over a 20-25 km stretch. Big plane, oak and acacia trees that were very hard to crawl under or crawl over, especially with two bikes.

After several km with these kind of obstacles we opted to take a detour into the countryside along normal roads to circumnavigate the troubled region.
Finally we came back on track again in the town of Grisolles (the home town of breadsticks ??)
Tired and warm we pedaled along still more locks and typical SW French settings and mid afternoon we reached the end of Canal de Garonne.

The last few km of this part of the trip we cycled along Canal du Midi that will be our companion during the next six days.

But first, we relax in Toulouse and take a day off tomorrow !

Moissac

Another 60+ km demanded our resources today, but the beautiful weather and the flat landscape helped quite a bit. We have biked along very extensive kiwi plantations; poor those who will be fruit pickers in that wilderness, it must be a TOUGH job – and in the heat of the day.

Stopped in the town Agen for a cultural injection at the Musée des Beaux-Arts with a very impressive collection for a provincial museum.

Enjoyed lunch in the shade of the plane trees along the canal and then spent a long, warm but splendid afternoon pedaling past a number of locks and much beautiful landscape.

Arrived at our hotel Le Moulin à Moissac which is right on the river Tarn (that joins Garonne river in this town). Our room has a magnificent view and literary excerpts painted on the walls.

This blog entry is being written on the terrace (in the shade) with a Gin & Tonic at hand and the river at foot. Looking forward to having a full plate served tonight in the restaurant ...  :-)

Tomorrow, Toulouse will be the destination.

Sérignac-sur-Garonne

Today was a loong and haard day ! A few really steep hills to climb (and none to descend, it seemed) but mostly just flat cycle ways along the Canal de Garonne.

We passed numerous apple orchards, tomato and corn farms and sunflower fields (ready for seed harvest and oil production). This region is quite a larder for France.

We crossed several locks, shopped at a local bakery, visited a famous Rembrandt painting in a tiny old church, had lunch – and covered a little more than 60 km today that brought us to the old and fortified village (bastide) of Sérignac-sur-Garonne.

We felt quite used when we finally dragged ourselves and the bikes into the courtyard of hotel Le Prince Noir, feeble wrecks after the vicissitudes of this stage of our Tour de France.

However, after a couple of showers and a shut-eye we were as good as new and more than ready to ingest a delicious gourmet dinner, complete with blood pudding, prunes and the world famous local red wine from the village.
Tomorrow yet another beautiful and warm day will be awaiting us !

Noailac

There are sure signs that the French like signs for anything. Sometimes it is almost a forest of signs – but, so far, the ones we needed have all been correct and to the point.

We had a picnic lunch in the sleepy town La Reole. It was a hot day and the cats were making the best of the siesta.

Then we reached and crossed the mighty river Garonne

and biked through areas with quite a bit of tobacco farming and plum orchards – and of course the almost endless vineyards where the grape harvest has now started.

Have settled for the night in La Tuilerie, a beautiful old farm turned into a guest house.

There are very few other tourists around and at the over-night places. We are enjoying the French life-on-wheels very much and are looking forward to the next many days en route.

Frontenac

We have now got wheels, left Bordeaux city and started our sojourn by crossing the Garonne river early this morning.

After about 10 km we took the piste cyclable which is an old railway line rewamped into a high-quality bike path through the beautiful landscape.

After 45 km's leasurely biking we have arrived at an auberge from the 16th century in the tiny village of Frontenac with 14 houses and a bar. We have passed numerous and very extensive vineyards bulging with almost ripe grapes. The terroir is quite sandy and gravelly, so the grapes may become grand cru "juice" in a few years.

Tonight's dinner at the local bar was superb and plentiful. We are constantly polishing our French by practising and engaging with les français who are all very kind and helpful.

Pre-tour

We allowed ourselves an extra day just to drift around in Bordeaux. Musée des Beaux Arts sported a multitude of paintings and sculptures from the recent 500 years.
Here is a pair of Bordelaises who also resemble their relatives on the streets today.

This is our view along the river front adjacent to our hotel:

[A. Smith, 1892. The embankments of Bordeaux]

And this will be awaiting us tomorrow

[A. Lhote, 1912. Bordeaux landscape]

when we start biking south heading for Toulouse –

– and so is the barge that passed Bordeaux this evening with two pieces of a forthcoming Airbus A380 onboard (to be assembled in Toulouse with many other pieces to form a complete super-jet).

BORDEAUX

"There is so much to discover in Bordeaux" it says on the huge canvas with bottleflies,

– and it is true. A major part of the city is UNESCO World Heritage so we have already started to explore.

Obviously, it is an organized city. Public benches can be sat on from Monday to Friday only during lunch break !  ;-)

Shopped in a super marché and had a delicious picnic on the promenade along the Garonne river as the sun was setting. Back in the hotel we now enjoy the warm evening and the sounds of tramways in the street below our windows and the roaring male lions in the visiting circus on the nearby Quinconces place.

Stay tuned !

Stockholm

Spent some warm and beautiful August-days in Stockholm. Copenhagen does have a looong way to go to match the 'Venice of the North'. 

Much has happened since the Danish-Norwegian-Swedish king Christian II (the Swedes call him Christian Tyrant) staged the 'Bloodbath in Stockholm' and got 87 Swedish noblemen executed at Stortorget in November 1520. 

Since then, Denmark and Sweden have fought 8 wars – however, the Swedes came out victorious at the end.

Not surprisingly, we (the Danes) still want to beat the Swedes – in football. 

Impressions from the Swedish capital can be seen at picasaweb.google.com/hthing/STOCKHOLM.

12-12-12

6:12 12-12-12

Absalons dag

12-10-12

Lys, skygger, rimfrost

1/2 sommer

1/6 <-> 15/7 <-> 31/8

Søro