Avignon to Toulouse?

crazynate

Hi,

Anyone cycled from Avignon to Toulouse? How long did you take and how hard is it exactly? Am not so fit, but managed a few 150 km over 3 days trips in the UK.

Thanks

psmiffy

The easy way is across/along coast to Beziers and then folow the Midi Canal/Aude Valley to Toulouse - no more than 400km to 450km - easy in a week - loadsa beaches at begining - all relatively flat

The much nicer/adventurous way is to go north to Pont de Spirit follow the Ardeche to Vallon, cross the Cevenne plateu and into the Tarn Valley - follow the Tarn to near Toulouse- Both the Tarn and the Ardeche gorges are spectacular - and canoing and swimming great -however there are at least one or two good hills - not tricky if you take your time - distance is 500km to 550km - easyish in a week if you do not spend too much time messing in the rivers

I did Orange - Ardeche-Tarn-Lot-Dordorgne - Bordeaux-Beziers - fully loaded in just under two weeks

crazynate

Thanks for that. What's the traffic like on the coast road?

psmiffy

Aiges Morte to Sete - along the edge its very built up can be very busy in the summer - never found it to be particulaly threatening - more when you are close to the beaches that the number of cars and pedestrians can slow you down - At Sete they are in the process of building a cyclepath along the back of the coastal protection works they are doing but at present only runs halfway to Adge-Sete itself the traffic is always heavy -

Beziers to Narbonne unless you go quite a lot inland or are intent on visiting the coastal towns (they are nothing to write home about) its best instead to follow the canal midi on the towpaths to carcossone (towpaths are poorly surfaced but OK unless its been raining heavily)

If you are going to follow the coast its best to aviod the main roads - however its pretty uninspiring on the other roads - Unless you just want beaches I personally would not recommend this route unless it was only a small proportion of your tour