Toulouse- Bordeaux part 2

Day 4: To Agen

Auvillars was a lovely place to stay but we thought we’d better continue to a larger centre in case Rodney’s injuries needed treatment by a doctor (they didn’t – the pharmacists were great) and reluctantly returned to the cycle track. The surfaces were good, the weather fine and we reached Agen in good time.

First call was to an optician, who took the glasses, inspected them, said Go and have a drink in the bar round the corner and come back in half an hour. What an excuse, to sit in the shade and just chill out! And when we returned? He had replaced the broken ear piece, looked carefully at the deep scratches and decided that people don’t actually look through that part of the lens in general, and that the glasses would be fine to continue with until a replacement could be had. And the cost? Zero again, “our gift to you. Bonne route!” Fantastic people!

The combination of pleasure boat port, medieval buildings, open streets with cafes, a stunning cathedral, and a generally relaxed atmosphere made our stay enjoyable. No camping ground, so we stayed at the Ibis for the weekend rate, which is pretty reasonable and they take care of the bikes.

Leaving Agen we got to cross the fantastic aqueduct, where the canal of the Garonne crosses the river Garonne. It’s an impressive structure, with 23 stone arches, each 20 metres long. Constructed in the mid-19^th century, the canal bridge is over half a kilometre long and 10 metres high. The cycle path is on the side, in fact pedestrians and cyclists can use both sides of the bridge.

 Day 5 and 6:  Buzet-sur-Baïse

Buzet is well known for its wines, the Baïse is a navigable river flowing through Buzet, though the heavy rain had closed the Baïse (accessible by lock from Buzet) before we arrived. Agen- Buzet was a pleasant ride, though a little wet in places. We took shelter near a lock, where we struck up conversation with the people on the canal boat and promised to catch up at Buzet later.

Buzet is a port for pleasure boats and has facilities which can be shared with random cyclists like ourselves for the price of a shower (2€) – we stayed two nights, with access to a table and some shade – luxury in this life-style. With drinks on the boat and pizza from up the road, we had an enviable evening, with no rain!

We explored one of the wine centres, which did a roaring trade with passing travellers, but as persons in charge of bikes we neither tasted nor bought. Interesting to just look, though. Everybody seemed to load their vehicle with at least one or two cases of wine, and the tastings were serious, based on people’s preferences, not just what the vineyard was offering that week. We, meanwhile, have found Buzet on supermarket shelves, and have managed to enjoy some of their wine at a later date.

The Baïse opened while we were there and the canal boats were able to navigate the river once again. We, on the other hand, needed to continue downstream to where the canal path finishes and where we needed to strike out across country to join a voie verte which would take us to Bordeaux.