It’s time to leave Moissac today but not before visiting the market again to stock up on provisions. We both feel very sad to be leaving this gorgeous place but know that we are being pulled onwards to more adventures with new discoveries around each corner...speaking of which, we pulled up the anchor...or so we thought...set off, only to swing around the first corner and come across a car boot style market taking place on the banks of the river...looks like the anchor was dragging and we just had to stop and have a mooch around! So many wonderful things for sale, from children’s clothes and toys to a table full of whisks and oodles of french antiquities...just as well we are already full to overflowing or we both would have snapped up a bargain or two!
We managed a couple of miles up the road towards Castelnaudray before we stopped again, this time at McDonald’s...again...to catch up with emails and blogging.
Once on the road, the music playing BT was happy and full of mischief....
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Definitely BT!….and he was driving…on the wrong side of the road!!![/caption]Although we really liked the look of Toulouse, and would love to discover the city more, we have decided to bypass it today and find the Canal du Midi once it leaves the city boundaries heading towards Castelnaudray.
Castanet Tolosan was where we started off. We parked under a tree in a car park next to a sports stadium where there was clearly a football match going on...we spilled out onto the grass and had our lunch...we had many strange looks from the passers-by but we just smiled and said ‘Bonjour’...tsk...the English!!!
The path was really easy....it was properly paved with tarmac and wider than what we’ve been used to so far and probably because it was Sunday, there were many people on the path, families walking, people jogging and many lycra clad cyclists buzzing along...probably from Toulouse, out for a days cycle. We have both contemplated the lycra look as we are spending so much time on our bikes, but we have decided that it would serve no purpose except to give you all a jolly good laugh!
Our ride today was about 20 kms long. We stopped at this large barge for a cup of tea on our way back ....
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Tea time[/caption][caption id="attachment_618" align="aligncenter" width="640"]
Tea barge[/caption]Previously, when we have looked for a canal side spot for the night it has been fairly easy, but today we spent a long time trying to find somewhere. It seems that on this part of the canal, there are no roads that specifically follow close to it... only the main road a short distance away, and the little quiet lanes only cross the canal at locks which are heavily signed saying no parking etc... We even trundled around this lake to try and find somewhere...it was stunning, but again...nowhere for us to ‘wild’ camp.
Eventually, at about 9pm, we found this spot, made some tea and went to bed....zzzzz!
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Canal side bedroom![/caption]
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