To Friends, Bikes & Minervois

Day 9  Tuesday 1st October 2013

Waking up in Albi after a surprisingly undisturbed night considering that we we were in a city, the day dawned with a red glow to the sky, weather on the change autumn was not far away.  Anyway, it was warm & with the GPS set to Carcassonne we set off on our way.

Once again we avoided the autoroutes, heading instead due south towards the Pyrenees.  The route through the Tarn  was fairly quiet with very little traffic being encountered, passing through the rolling countryside of woodland, sunflowers & maize. However, after driving through the slightly narrow streets of the picturesque town of Mazamet, the gateway to the Montagne Noir, we encountered a slight problem in the form of a Diversion.  Our route should have taken us through the town centre & out onto the D118, but, as in all good traveller's tales, the road was closed, ferme.  Great. After a highly complicated reversal move, which incidentally was then copied by several other motorhomes who had come to a grinding halt at the barrier, we retraced our tracks turning a very sharp right onto the D54 which had  a 3500kg weight limit.  

So, there we were, on a fairly narrow road, the only open route south.   The diversion route was, well interesting.   The road started fairly well, running alongside a fast flowing river in a narrow gorge that must once have housed tanneries & mills, the buildings were still there in fact, though not in the best of repair it must be said.   By now there were 3 other motorhomes behind us, then the signs & sat nav directed us right across a bridge & on up through the forests.  Ok it was very twisty, it did become narrow & it reminded us of the narrow lanes around Leaholm & Egton on the North Yorks Moor.  Eventually we returned onto the D118 & thankful that we had not met any vehicles coming the opposite way.  The scenery was amazing, all lush green forests & the smell of mint was almost overpowering when we stopped for lunch in a tree-shaded picnic area.

The sun climbed higher & the temperatures rose.  Once back on the road the route took us to the summit, then as we began to drive down towards civilisation the countryside changed.  In the distance the Pyrenees dominated the horizon, whilst the landscape became that of the Mediterranean, hot & dry.

The GPS took us over the Canal du Midi past a busy lock with pleasure craft waiting to pass through, then on around the outskirts of the city, causing husband to 'oh' & 'argh'  at the first sight of La Cite.  Camp for the night was to be at the Camping La Cite, only a few hundred metres from the ancient walled town.  The site itself was not busy but with the weather being very hot, around the 30C mark so we were told later, we rolled out the awning & sat in the shade until the temperature dropped.

The site was within walking distance of both the town & La Cite, so, late afternoon we walked along the banks of the Aude, past families feeding the ducks & up to the main entrance of the medieval city.  This was husband's first visit.  I have been a few times now, several times with my parents then again several years ago when l came over to help a friend to move house.  Although it was now October, the place was still full to bursting point with visitors from all over the world, with the tourist shops all hoping to part them from their cash to buy a souvenir sword, a Cathar relic or some interesting items of tat.

As we moved on through the narrow alleyways, the squares & lanes became less busy so by the time we left by the Porte l'Aude we were the only people there.

By early evening it was still pretty warm as we set off on our bikes, along the canal bank, crossing the Pont Vieux & heading off to the Place Carnot to meet up with one of my friends, who just so happens to be the proprietor of a rather bijou B & B,  No 11 Carcassonne.

So there we all sat, supping ice cold beer, catching up on all the hot gossip whilst watching the world go by. Bliss.  As the sun sank behind the buildings, & fortified by the thought of food, we all sped off like demented grannies on bikes down the Routes Barbes then across the Square Gambetta whose plane trees were alive to the sound of thousands of roosting birds.

The end destination was the Restaurant Le Passage, just across the Vieux Bridge, thankfully it was open so there we all sat, giggling & drinking Minervois, tucking into a selection of mouth watering tapas that included a most fabulous dish of moules, yummy.

As we took our goodbyes & then discovered that our bikes didn't have lights we headed off along the well lit canal path back to our motorhome without too much of a hiccup, though l must confess l do seem to be having a problem with the bicycle basket that is attached to the handlebars, l seem to be, at times, a little out of control.

Today's mileage = 75 miles