Free cycling along the Canal du Midi

Programme

Our suggestion
We suggest the following 7-day programme, which can be tailored to your needs. You can alternatively start you trip from Toulouse, Sète, Narbonne or Carcassonne.

Day 1: Arrival
You are met either at the Narbonne train station or at the guesthouse. Settling down for one or several nights. Night with dinner in option.

Day 2: Pouzols – Béziers (52 km/32miles) or Pouzols –Mediterranean Sea (42km/26miles)
Off you go after breakfast towards Béziers. Along the way, you’ll see and cross several remarkable architectural works such as: the Quarante aqueduct, the Répudre canal bridge, and the Fonsérannes stairway of locks. Until you arrive in the town of Béziers, birthplace of architect and master builder of the Canal du Midi, Pierre-Paul Riquet. Upon request, your return can be organized by car.
Alternatively:
From Pouzols to the sea. Riding along the Jonction and Robine canals, you’ll smoothly reach Narbonne, and then Ile Sainte-Lucie and Port-la-Nouvelle with a welcome halt in the lovely hamlet of Somail. In Narbonne, you’ll leave the path to freewheel along a tarred cycling path directly to the sea, across the marshy lake of Bages through Ile Sainte-Lucie (nature reserve). Upon request, your return can be organized by car.
Night with dinner in option.

Day 3: Pouzols – Minerve – Homps (40km/25miles)
Our suggestion today is a little detour which is well worth the extra turns of wheels: the perched village of Minerve, where Cathars tried to take shelter when chased by Simon de Montfort’s fierce armies.
Night with dinner in option.

Day 4: Homps – Carcassonne (30km/18,6miles)
A sustained leisurely pace will take you to one of the best preserved medieval cities in Europe: Carcassonne. Still pedalling along the same bank, you’ll make halts in front of three landmark sites: the Argent Double River, the Orbiel canal bridge and the Fresquel locks. Access to Carcassonne is by climbing up from the train station to the “Cité” (old city) which overlooks the lower modern town.
Night with dinner in option.

Day 5: Carcassonne or Carcassonne – Alzonne (23km/14 miles)
A second day in the heart of the medieval city is barely enough to discover its treasures (visit of the County castle, ramparts, etc.) – not to mention the lower city where can also be found the René Nelli Centre for Cathar Studies and a lovely little Fine Arts museum.
Alternatively:
After a late morning start, you’ll leave this film like location cycling down to the Canal du Midi, at the foot of the town. In a few turns of the wheel, you’ll reach Alzonne or Montolieu, the famed village of books. Please note: arrival at the village is steep!
Night with dinner in option.

Day 6: Alzonne – Castelnaudary (30km/14miles) or Carcassonne – Castelnaudary (40km)
For this last stretch, you can either take the shortest route or make a couple of detours via the aqueducts of Mezuran and Tréboul, before reaching the Abbey of Saint-Papoul. Arrival in Castelnaudary, free visit of the old city, famous for its “cassoulet” and impressive canal structures: the 1788 Pont Neuf (new bridge), the Old Bridge, the Grand Bassin (Great Reservoir), and the Saint-Roch lock bridge. If you feel like and up to it, an extra ride to Seuil de Naurouze will be worth your efforts to see the parting of the waters.
Night with optional dinner.

Day 7: End of stay – Return
After breakfast, the local train where you’ll load both luggage and bicycle can take you back to Narbonne to collect you car if you have left it in the first guesthouse. End of tour.