This morning it was a bit cool, a bit grey and the temperature near ten degrees. Not a day that makes you want to race out the door, but the sun was making its bests efforts to warm the place up. The previous night we decided to have our breakfast at the hotel. This is not our normal procedure, in part because we find some of the breakfasts a bit expensive for the added convenience. Today the convenience was valued. Although all the main choices of cereal, breads, jams, ham and cheese etc were available, it is rather formula. We did leave with our stomachs full and even an extra pain au chocolate pastry for a snack later.
Looking out our hotel room window you can see the main highway running through Foix, the Ariége river below and a peek a boo glimpse of the Pyrenees with a bit of snow left on top.
Foix was a better place to visit than we expected. The town has a strong historic center and was interesting to walk around but it's hard to get the real feel of a place when all the stores are closed (holiday Monday) and there are few people on the street. Grey skies and drizzle did not help either. This morning as we left, the sun was shining on the castle at the top of the hill and it was an impressive sight. We are now eleven days on the road and we are just over one hours drive by car back to Toulouse where we started!
If you look closely, they are rebuilding the wall along the highway. An impressive amount of skill and energy is necessary to rebuild these rock walls as compared to putting in a steel guard rail. They are very attractive.
Some road closures forced us to find a slightly altered route out of town but we easily found the old rail line that links Foix to Saint Girons. We were anticipating riding on a road today but the rail line will do, at least to start. The surface was mostly dry and reasonably smooth. But in fairness, old rail lines are not our favourite choice. Yes, there are no cars to contend with but we can find the ride to be a bit monotonous with the consistent grades and they often provide only tunnel vision views. We pushed forward for about 10KM on the loose 1-3% grade rock surface. Then as we crossed paths with the fairly busy D117, we decided to give it a try. The wide shoulder and smooth downhill tarmac allowed us to pick up the pace and gain a few easy kilometres.
Amazing old railway bridge now a cycle and walking path.
At the 25 KM mark we pulled over at a picnic site to eat a sandwich. Here we re evaluated our choices as the rail line ran right beside our lunch stop. We may not enjoy rail lines completely but in the end they are better than busy highways, especially if you are heading up hill.
At this point the rail line`s loose surface had been upgraded to bumpy rough asphalt. Small gains but better with the small wheels. We also encountered a number of interesting sights and events along the way.
This is an old outbuilding at old railway station. Hommes and Lampisterie. Strange. Was expecting Hommes and Femmes. Looking up Lampisterie - it is a place where lights are kept. What about the Femmes?
This was a sight. This house being towed took up all of the cycle path and was a bit too wide for the cement curbs on the bridge. I think that they were planning to lift the trailer up high enough to clear the curbs by putting boards under the wheels. In the meantime, the workers lifted our bikes through a narrow gap on to the bridge so that we could proceed.
Ran into this guy taking a break. He is on a long tour as shown on the map on the side of his recumbent. He is giving talks to school age kids about the benefits of cycling.
We rode the old rail line almost all the way into Saint Girons where it spits you out onto a busy road on the out skirts of town. We did a loop around the town and had a quick beer before heading to our chambre d`hote. A sign on the door indicated that checkin time would be at 5pm. Unfortunately at 5pm there was no one there and upon calling them we were provided a code to enter. This was all quite frustrating and then we found that our room was without any heat and there was no one available in the house all evening to assist. We had to snuggle up!
Finishing the day on a positive note, we had a wonderful meal of tapas at a recently opened restaurant. It was a small restaurant and the service and food were excellent. Tomorrow is another day, a sunny one we hope!
