I woke up early and was happy because there was no dew on the tent. All the cyclist campers woke up soon after and we were all busy packing and eating. I never got to meet or talk to any of them. Today I have 71 km. to do so my 8:30 beginning will help. I went by this interesting bridge and took a picture frim the side of it before climbing a big hill to get back on the dike and the cycle trail.
Looking down at a cemetery
They sure make some heavy duty cement structures for dead bodies.
Peaceful morning along the canal
Clouds in the sky but wind in my face for the third day in a row
A stretch break at a lock
Still a nice surface to ride on
Selfie-always looks like my
glasses are dirty.
Old machinery entangled by dying vines
I stopped here for lunch and was disappointed to see some litter for the first time. Otherwise France has been pretty clean.
No place to park Silver so she had to stand on her kickstand but I took the phone off so it wouldn't break because the wind was getting stronger and she almost fell over a few times. Afternoon riding was not going to be easy. To make things worse was that a train seemed to be going by every 15 min. All day and I kept thinking that I could be comfortably sitting in one.
The landscape across the canal
Because of the strong wind my throat was much drier and I was drinking a lot today and would run out of my two bottles before my destination. God presented me with a house right smack on the canal with a door open indicating someone was home and I decided to pass the opportunity realizing my mistake in not heeding His leading. Later I passed a boat and saw David frim England on board and asked for water. He filled both my bottles and we exchanged cards . I apologize to him because my photo of only his face turns out to include his belly also.
We talked for a while about the very strong winds. We are both headed to Toulouse but he was debating staying put for the night. He offered me a ride with him and his wife and zi was sorely tempted to take it because I was quite tired now. But I saw that it would be very difficult to load Silver and I only had about 17 km. to go and he would probably arrive late because of all the locks he had to go through. Thank you though David for the kind offer. May God bless you.
I also passed Horst and Ingrid from Germany several times. We seemed to be taking turns taking rests from the gusty winds that brought the bicycle almost to a stop at times. I kept thinking that in Canada the wind is from the west and here it has been from the east . It apparently is because this is a valley between 2 ranges of mountainous area.
First view going into Toulouse
In the city after arriving on the trail through a poor and homeless section with a lot of broken glass
Looking down a side sreet.
My bicycle was pushed dangerously sideways several times while making my way to my Couchsurfing address. I was exhausted. Later I heard some of the winds were 80 km per hour strong.
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