October 22, 2003
Wednesday Oct 22: Revel to Toulouse: Bonne Fête Max!
I had a good breakfast and got right on the road in case the storm-force winds wanted to blow me back to Rijeka, or worse!
But to my delight there was no wind. Not a breeze. Not a zephyr. Not even a sneeze. I kept going just the same and again watched the sun come up over the beautiful pastoral fields east of Toulouse. The road was over undulating terrain of not too frightening-sized hills. I still thought that I was going rather slowly, though, but felt quite comfortable on the bike. I could not check the time as my watch was buried below my jersey, fleece, jacket and new ski gloves that I bought yesterday to save my hands from certain amputation.
As I approached Toulouse, I kind of expected a bit of yuck since it is approaching three-quarters of a million people. Instead, it was rather pleasant, and even beautiful when I was down by the Canal du Midi. I went to my LP-suggested hotel, where there was a sign in the window saying it was complet, but when I asked, they said that was from last night, so I certainly got a room, just a few metres from the Canal, and a short walk to Place Victor Hugo, where I was headed for lunch when I saw this cyber-cafe, so I decided to update right away and leave the afternoon to explore the Cathedral and for the satisfaction of my grumbling (ie hungry) stomach.
I ended up stopping not far from Place Victor Hugo where I had a great glass of red wine, thinly sliced duck, a salad and frites. What an amazing meal. Next, needing to find a route out of the city tomorrow, I headed towards the tourist information office. There I saw a couple with their touring bikes, so I went over to talk to them. We ended up meeting later in the afternoon, exploring the Old City a bit, then going for a meal, when I finally had a panini. The panini was great (thanks for the idea Max), and the company was amazing (thanks R and F). At the end of the evening we got caught in a torrential downpour so ducked under a canopy for a while and chatted a wee bit more. Really nice time; thanks again. They were heading to Bayonne for a ferry back home to England, though with a few SNCF snafus.
The hotel was great except for the person next door who was up in the middle of the night barfing a lot. Lovely. At least it was not me!
Today's ride: 52 km (32 miles)
Total: 3,108 km (1,930 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 0 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |