16 April Foix to Carcassonne: A near perfect day

April 16, 2023

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/nUX0EgK83yb

I spent the night in a cabin on a campsite I just outside Foix. It had a bedroom, a porch and a shower room. The bedroom had a double bed with about 18 inches space around the bed to walk. I had to get dressed in the shower room as the space around the bed wasn't enough! I think in the summer it would be a great value place to stay but in cooler weather you couldn't use the outside space much making it very cramped.

The upside was the shower room had a heater which I cranked up and dried all my wet cycling gear (apart from the shoes).

When I woke the sun was up and the sky was blue. Woohoo! Today's ride was 80km so I took my time getting moving after two days of over 100km each. Once going I felt fine and the temperature was good enough for shorts but I still had a long sleeve jersey and windproof gilet. Out of the sun it cooled very quickly. The wind was generally coming from the west and it gave me a push along a lot of the route. Some sections were quite blustery and occasionally the shape of the valley turned the wind onto my face but it was a minor hindrance.

The cabin only had a camping gas cooker so brekkie consisted of a croissant and half a litre of orange juice. So when I found a boulangerie open I had to stop for a coffee and, when I saw the counter, a cake.

Not long after I stumbled into the most amazing medieval village called Mirepoix. I can't really do it justice with words so I'll dump all my photos here. The main square looked like a film set with lots of people milling around a backdrop of very old buildings. Lovely and slightly surreal. I also managed to find myself in the large church during Mass! I caught the last 5 minutes which was the final prayer and a sort of requiem. The sound of the organ was something else.

Unfortunately the choc chip ice cream did not live up to my hops. It was just yuk, scoring 3/10.

It didn't rain.

I arrived in Carcassonne and discovered that the hostel I booked is well located and has great facilities like a bar and a nice communal area.

A friend recommended a restaurant in the old, walled city if I wanted to eat cassoulet. So I gave it a try and it was delicious.

Overall a great day.