We left the Les Cloutets farm with mixed emotions. It was a rich, fulfilling stay, but we anticipated some great riding to Toulouse and were getting excited to see friends and family back in Canada, including Chris and Erin's new baby. The day started grey and grew brighter as we descended from the farm to Raines-les-Bain, turning into a classically beautiful autumn day in southern France. The roads were lovely, a little narrow and busy in spots, but we had grown to trust the French drivers and had a great day. The views over the course of the day were lovely with the distance Pyrenees glistening to our left and the rolling farmland to our right. As the sun starting dropping, the temperature did too, reminding us that winter is just around the corner. We lucked out finding a motel right along our route, complete with an outdoor patio table and chairs for our last night of cooking out on the trip (or so we hoped!).
The second day brought a dour forecast of rain and cold. We sped off, after a leisurely pain aux chocolat or two!, rejoining the Canal du Midi. In this section, the canal is well developed. The plane trees lined both banks of the canal and we passed many canal house boats and a few lovely towns. We are in good shape, and particularly on these flats, we can go all day without tiring. The rain held off until just outside Toulouse - not bad for what could have been a miserable day. The rain was cold and we were happy that the trail brought us right to a series of small hotels. We quickly did some hotel shopping and didn't waste any time tucking in to our warm room.
We enjoyed cycling and walking around Toulouse. The short film festival was on and we could even understand most of what was going on. Toulouse is a university town with its share of culture and character, a great place to depart from! We boxed up our bikes two days before our flight. The community bike shop was only two doors away, so if we had been shy on tools it would have been no problem.
We had a bit of a time lugging our bikes in boxes plus all the panniers and backpacks across the street to the train/bus station. We handily caught the bus to the airport - wonderful service! After tripping on my hiking shoes while carrying all our boxes and crashing to the ground (that's Sue), turning our 7 bags of panniers and bags into two (the old Russian doll trick came in handy when they wanted to charge per item!) and otherwise impressing people with our incredibly awkward luggage, we boarded the plane to London, England.
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