Day 61: Toulouse

Today I started in Carcasonne by visiting the local bike store since I needed some chain lube. But the store did not have any. I guess this is the first bike shop I encounter that does not sell chain lube. Instead I got a new phone mount since the old one broke two weeks ago. Not being able to look at the map without picking up the phone is often helpfull. Before the phone was mounted on top of the right wheel case, the new one it is attached to the tiller. I'm not sure yet which option I prefer. On the tiller the phone screen is easier to see, but sometimes it's in the way of doing things. Also the lid can hit the phone when it closes unexpectedly.

Leaving Carcasonne I stayed on the roads until I got to Castelnaudary. 

Nothing particulary spectacular to see

When crossing the canal it had a pretty good cycling path, so I switched to following the canal. A lunch break is also mutch nicer at the side of the canal.

Then the path got bad again a few kilometer later and I switched onto a small road. Only to return to canal later and to find a path of dries mud with tree roots. Argh.

I guess I am often suffering the "sunken cost fallacy". Instead of continuing I should just cycle back and take a different way. But at the start of the path I had had to stop for a foto shoot and a bunch of people on a boat applauded me for cycling (this always confuses me somewhat. I am not cycling the Tour de France nor am I performing anything special when cycling in leasure mode. But it is still better than people pouring water out of a overtaking car onto me. Probably thinking I need some refreshment. But when wearing glasses water in the face is not all that helpful when going fast. I prefer to see where I am going). Back to topic: So in this case I was a bit to proud to go back the same way ;)

When I approached Toulouse I expected another annoying time cycling through the suburbs, but Toulouse has actually a great cycling network. So getting into the city was quite relaxed (well, BRouter still managed to find the one cycling road that ended in a construction site. Later I disabled the navigation and just went wherever the roads took me).

I did not expect anything from Toulouse. So I was quite surprised to find a city with a nice and large pedestrian zone, many places where you actually enjoy staying and not a lot of traffic.

I guess I should come back at some point and spend some more time there. But for this tour I continued onward. Getting out of the city was ok, but the outbound M820 was ridiciously overloaded with cars (it was the evening rush hour). Only after 20km the traffic subsided. A little later I decided to call it a day and found a special accommondation right next to the "Canal des Deux Mers".

The cycling path along this part of the canal is quite nice, so I'll probably follow it tomorrow. 

When looking up the canal I also found this site listing and describing the segments along the canals. I should have known this before to be able to ignore the parts marked "Mountain Bike advised". But that's life. I know better now :)