Canal du Midi and Châteaux de Lastours

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Canal du Midi

   The Canal du Midi has a reputation for being slow, and the stretch within Toulouse is no exception. The canal was dug in the seventeenth century by Pierre-Paul Riquet, a tax collector turned engineer, who spent most of his fortune and the last years of his life on a waterway that joined the Atlantic to the Mediterranean through the pass at Naurouze. He died in 1680, a few months before the water finally flowed all the way through. Today the canal is a UNESCO World Heritage site, its banks lined with plane trees whose branches meet overhead.

   Read the complete Canal du Midi write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Canal du Midi is where the day begins. Next is Episcopal City of Albi.

2. 2. Episcopal City of Albi

   Albi is built of brick, which is unusual in the south of France, and the colour changes through the day, from salmon in the morning to a deep red at dusk. The great cathedral of Sainte-Cécile dominates the old town, and from a distance it looks more like a fortress than a church, with a massive tower and walls that have no windows at the bottom. It was begun in the late thirteenth century, soon after the crusade against the Cathars had been won, and its builders wanted the faithful, and the heretics, to see where power lay. Inside, the painted vault and a huge fresco of the Last Judgement are astonishing. The whole episcopal city, with the old bridge and the bishop's palace, was listed by UNESCO in 2010.

   Read the complete Episcopal City of Albi write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Episcopal City of Albi comes up about 82 km into the recorded legs. Next is Châteaux de Lastours.

3. 3. Châteaux de Lastours

   Four castles perch on a narrow rock ridge above the village of Lastours, in the Montagne Noire north of Carcassonne, and they look so improbable from the viewpoint across the valley that most people stop talking when they see them. The two streams, the Orbiel and the Grésilhou, wrap around the ridge, and the castles, Cabaret, Tour Régine, Surdespine and Quertinheux, stand along its length like beads on a string.

   Read the complete Châteaux de Lastours write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 175 km into the recorded legs you reach Châteaux de Lastours. Next is back through Episcopal City of Albi.

4. 4. back through Episcopal City of Albi

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Episcopal City of Albi write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Episcopal City of Albi, late in the day. Next is Canal du Midi.

5. 5. Canal du Midi

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Canal du Midi write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Canal du Midi. That is the ride.