Two places ticked off the bucket list

We left the site knowing the journey was going to be a lot of cross country driving and not the dual carriageways we love. As time went on the roads got smaller and smaller. Tractors to pass and she (the sat nav voice) just kept telling us to keep going. Well we did as we were told and ended up in a farmers field!!

We had to unhitch the caravan to turn around and off we went again.

“Turn left” she said and I could see on the map she was taking us back to the D road, only the map didn’t show you how steep the junction was and the car was not happy at all 😩😟 So we reversed back down and found a route around to the road we needed 😀

The rest of the journey was fine and we had our first ride on a toll road on this trip and we arrived at Camping du Lac de la Thesauque at 4:30pm. The site was fairly steep but terraced so the pitches were level. After dinner we watched our first DVD film “Eddie the Eagle” and really enjoyed it.

Carcassonne, a city I have wanted to visit for years 😍 and at last the day has arrived. We headed off after breakfast taking the scenic route and the views were amazing. These small roads are a doddle without the caravan in tow 😂😂
Arriving into Carcassonne the first thing was to find a car park for the day. We spotted an underground car park right in the centre. Great 👍………. well almost!! Just about to enter and …… CRASH! BANG!! …….. we just look at each other and say ” BIKES!!”
Yes we had totally forgotten they were on the roof bars and wouldn’t fit under the 2metre hanging warning barrier 😫😵😖😂

I thought they were going to be mangled but no, they were on the floor but in quite good shape and luckily there wasn’t a car directly behind us 😁 Two young boys came running over and were chatting happily to me about it all. I think it’s the longest French conversation I have had.
So with the bikes back on the roof of the car and secured once more it was off to find a car park we could drive into with no problems. 😂😂

We headed through town and called at the tourist information centre, armed with maps we set off to explore “Le cite” this is the ancient walled city of Carcassonne.

It didn’t disappoint, it was excellent and with blue skies we had a wonderful afternoon wandering around, browsing in shops, taking lots of photos and stopped for a glass of wine along the way.

By the time we got back to the caravan it was 7:30pm. Another amazing day 😍

The next days plan was to cycle along the Canal du Midi. After breakfast Andy checked the bikes out following yesterdays crash landings. They were a little battered but on the whole okay and rideable. We drove to Gardouch, a small village with a lock on the canal and car parking.

We cycled from Ecluse de Gardouch and through Renneville, Encassen and finally Emborrel. Here we visited the local town Avignonet-Lauragais.

I needed a few stops on the way as it was all uphill to the town centre church!! At this point we had cycled 10.6km and an elevation of 90m. At least it was downhill all the way back to the canal 😁👍

On our return ride we met up with Mr Duck, who according to our Great Niece Harriett, was on holiday in France and enjoying picnics 😂😍😂
Back to the caravan for a well earned beer and nibbles.

Moving day once again and we didn’t put the awning up so packing up is easy. Before setting off we needed to stock up on food and wine at the Super U and Aldi and fill the car with fuel. Chrysanthemums everywhere, they were beautiful.