October 24, 2022
Marmande to Agen
It's hard to believe this is our last full day of cycling, that is, required cycling to get from one place to another. It was a day to remember and one to make us want to come back.
Starting out of our apart-hotel this morning, we quickly crossed a bridge over the Garonne, navigated about 200 metres of traffic and then got on the bike path. For the first 4km we followed the highway which was not too bad as we were on a bike path slightly removed from the roadway and it was Sunday so there were no trucks. Then the path turned off and joined up with the Garonne Canal Voie Vert, a bike path beside the canal with no cars and no hills. Heaven. We had heard that the canal bike paths in this part of France were bumpy with root ridges, but this one wasn't too bad. In the past year or so, most of the bumps had been covered with fresh grit and tar, so we still had to go slow but with fewer jarring roots we made reasonable time. The sun filtered through the plane trees which arched over the canal, the temperature hit 26°C, we never had to think about where to turn, a few boats and other cyclists passed by but otherwise we had the trail to ourselves, riding side by side, talking about the pleasures of this trip and exploring ideas for the next one.
Approaching Agen, the farming got more intense and we passed massive orchards of fruit trees, apples, kiwis and pears, laid out in long rows with nets over the top, and pruned to be a standard width and height to facilitate picking machines moving between the rows. The apples looked good, but they were just a bit too far away to sneak over and steal one!
Suddenly we were out of the orchards and into the suburbs, then we were heading into town over the Pont Canal d'Agen, an engineering highlight where the canal flows on a bridge over the river. Built in 1834 and still used to today (although we didn't go underneath to check for leaks) it was quite something to be walking beside the canal and looking down at the river and the roadway below.
According to the guidebooks, Agen has a spectacular cathedral and a lovely old part of town, but the route to our apart-hotel went past the train station and some rather run-down neighbourhoods. But the accommodation is comfortable and we are looking forward to getting out and exploring downtown tomorrow. Good thing the train station is handy as we plan to take a train to Toulouse on Thursday.
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2 years ago
Today's ride: 63 km (39 miles)
Total: 1,571 km (976 miles)
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