November 10, 2010
Durban Corbieres to Narbonne: train to Bordeaux
WEATHER: SUNNY WITH A LIGHT TAILWIND
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We got up early since we had to ride 40 km to catch our train to Bordeaux just before noon. A very scant breakfast was served in the bar by the cleaning lady, and we were off just before 8:00. This last day of riding for the trip was beautiful, beginning with a long gentle downhill on more smooth pavement leading to the coast. There was a very short stretch on a busy highway with a wide shoulder, before turning off on a tiny little lane through a village and along salt flats and estuaries with pink flamingos in the distance. The luminous morning light and the landscape were beautiful and different from anything else we'd seen so far.
The town of Bages looked picturesque ahead of us and we skirted around the edge of it. Originally, before our train departure was moved forward three hours from 15:00, we planned to have lunch there. After Bages we cycled along more waterfront, no traffic, and then came to an unpaved stretch through a wildlife refuge. On Google Earth this had looked fairly straightforward, although Al was concerned that it could be muddy in the rain. Even though it wasn't raining right then, it was quite muddy and there were big puddles. We walked our bikes around the largest ones, and expected to meet up with a paved road after a km or so. As a final treat, it turned out that to reach the paved road it was necessary to climb a very steep rutted dirt track which was impossible with loaded bikes. We took off the panniers and scrambled up the hill and sure enough there was the paved road, barely 8 km from Narbonne.
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The rest of the ride to the Narbonne train station was uneventful. We went right by the hotel we stayed in last year and arrived at the train station with time to spare. We already had our tickets (luckily since the ticket line was very long and slow-moving), but when we inquired about a bicycle car, we were told our bikes would need tickets as well. Instead we folded them up and popped them in the bags (brought along for just such an eventually and the only time we used them).
Eva had some coffee in the bar, we bought baguettes for the trip, and hauled our baggage down and up to the platform. The smooth three hour train ride to Bordeaux was interesting, since we passed many areas we had cycled through last year, including Carcassonne, and this year.
After our arrival in Bordeaux, we unfolded the bikes on the platform, loaded them up, and cycled the familiar 2 km route back to Cosy Corner B&B, where Gen welcomed us. She suggested we try a well-known Bordeaux landmark for dinner, Café des Arts, which had been in the same location since 1926. Since it was a brasserie, we could eat earlier than the usual 19:30, and we enjoyed a good dinner in the tiled art deco surroundings: aiguillettes de canard (duck pieces on skewers with prunes) as well as tarte tatin for Al and a cheese selection for Eva.
Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles)
Total: 1,003 km (623 miles)
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