Discussions
Canal du Midi Tandem Trip
Has anyone experience of cycling the Canal du Midi (Toulouse to Sete). Jane & I would like to do it late September / early October - and any tandemistas wanting to make a party of it would be very welcome to join us.
Organisation is currently proving challenging - if anyone knows of a company that could help I would be keen to know. There seem to be quite a few offering this as a solo bike trip, organising the hotels and luggage transfers, but so far I have failed to find anyone to cater for tandems.
Options would seem to be (1) hire a tandem - but are there any to hire out there?
Or (2) bring our own tandem (Circe Helios or our older heavier but splittable Thorn Raven Discovery). Fly it into Toulouse and out of Montpellier. Downsides - cannot fly with a battery for the electric assist, though could probably manage without given that this is a flat route). Do budget airlines on those routes carry tandems, and how would I package it up - especially for the return flight?
Option (3) would be to take the tandem in our car on the ferry and then drive down to Toulouse and leave the car there. At the end of the trip how do we get back from Sete to Toulouse? There is a train service but would it take a tandem? Hire a van? Or find a travel company that could organise this?
Any suggestions would be most welcome.
We cycled the Canal du Midi from Toulouse to Montpelier on our Thorn tandem in summer 2002, and travelled to and from France on the European Bike Express with the tandem in their bike trailer.
http://www.bike-express.co.uk
It was a great way to start and finish our holiday and the journey on the coach was very sociable and enjoyable with the other cycle tourists. We booked into cheap hotels and B&Bs 'en route' as we went, and took detours away from the canal on our 10-day trip. Travelling fairly light, we managed all our luggage in front and rear panniers.
When wanting to use our car to get to a tour in Europe, I search using Google maps satellite view for a 'base' B&B or hotel that has a large garden or car park where the car will not be in the way, and then ask if we can stay there on our first and last night and leave the car there in between. Never had a refusal.
We recommend travelling really light - one large rear pannier each plus a rack bag for elevenses, lunch and macs. After years of touring we have it down to a fine art (happy to share our packing list with anyone interested)!
In 2012 we cycled from the Atlantic (Arcachon) to the Mediterranean (Beziers/Montpellier) via the Garonne and the Canal du Midi. The path was excellent as far as Carcasonne, but then deteriorated badly so we rode along local roads through the south of the Minervois wine region which was hillier, but the quality of the wine more than compensated. The path has been improved since then – the current Canal du Midi website states: "The work to transform the towpaths into cycle paths is close to completion. Almost the entire route between Toulouse and Agde now boasts a smooth and stable path". There has been some spectacular cycle path investment in France in recent years.
We travelled with our splittable Pino as hand luggage. In those days Eurostar had the same rules as TGVs – provided each section fitted into a standard 90 x 120cm "housse" (ripstop nylon bag) it could be taken on board any train without pre-booking. In each direction we made one change at Disneyland (Marne-la-Vallee) from where there were direct trains to Bordeaux and Montpellier, so the whole trip could be completed in a day each way. We had no problems on the sections served by local trains (Bordeux-Arcachon and Beziers-Montpellier) – we just rolled the assembled Pino on board.
Eurostar now have much less helpful rules, but it should be possible to take a bagged split tandem if your Thorn machine can be fitted into the new TGV standard bag size of 90 x 130cm. You would need to change in Paris, as there is no longer a bike service to Lille or Marne-la-Vallee.
Happy planning!
Peter