Beziers to Montpellier – 82km (D28, N112, D37e16, D137e2, D32e12, D51, D613) It was one of those days where cycling conditions alternated between the sublime and the ridiculous. On leaving Beziers, we made a mistake and found ourselves on the N112, which was extremely fast and busy with returning holiday traffic. We exited when we could and ...

Carcassonne to Beziers – 75km It was cold and clear again this morning. The temperature is  not much above 0  degrees C when we head out, climbing to around 9C  by afternoon. During the previous two days cycling we had had a strong, cold tailwind, which continued to blow in Carcassonne. From the references to local ...

Our walk in the morning took us through the old town and over the Pont Vieux (14th C) spanning the River Aude. This provided a great first  glimpse of the medieval castle. The history of the ancient Cité de Carcassonne and the Bastide de Saint Louis or “old city” is long and fascinating.  After our ...

Villefranche-de-Lauragais to Carcassonne – 65km As we had expected, the surface of the canal path soon deteriorated now we had passed into the l’Aude region. After watching a couple of boats navigate the locks, we reached the summit, where the waters divide,  At that point the path changed to a dirt track which we followed for ...

Muret to Villefranche-de-Lauragais – 58km  (D15a, D12, D817, D42, N20, D120) Cycling today was a joy! Last evening we made a decision to try to cycle as much of the Canal du Midi as possible, which meant riding into the outskirts of Toulouse. After Muret, we had a quiet ride through villages on the banks of the ...

Saint Gaudens to Muret – 73km (D817, D49, D15, D15a) We had joined the Garonne River just before Saint Gaudens and today we cycled on the Garonne-Toulouse plain all the way to Muret. The only hills were bridges over the autoroute! The snow-capped Pyrenees were finally visible at sunrise and all day, while gradually receding in ...

Easter  Sunday here was very quiet. With our usual cyclers’ appetites, not quite assuaged by the typical breakfast of yoghurt, baguette, croissant and coffee, we searched in vain for a restaurant or patisserie opened on Easter Sunday.  (The one restaurant opened, in the Hotel du Commerce, was full for lunch so we booked a table ...

Oloron Sainte Marie to Tarbes – 68km (N134 & D936) Tarbes to Saint Gaudens – 67km (D817, D938, D638, D817) The elevation charts reflect the fact that we have been cycling across the foothills of the Pyrenees, rather than away from them. In retrospect, this was not the most sensible routing decision, but it avoided the large city ...

Pamplona to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France – 73km Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Oloron Ste. Marie – 81km We were sad to say goodbye to Helen and Wayne, as they headed off to San Sebastián and we, to France. We talked about possibly meeting up on the Australia leg of our tour. We were a bit apprehensive about crossing the Pyrenees, but the ...

World Parkinson’s Day – April 11th Parkinson’s Disease in Spain: The prevalence of Parkinson’s Disease can be estimated by household surveys, medication usage and clinical reports. For Spain, the prevalence of PD, as estimated by these methods, is similar to that of other European countries and Canada, which  translates into 300,000 persons in Spain with the ...