June 26: Carcassonne

Our plan was to use Carcassonne as a training ground for our Lourdes—St-Jean-Pied-de-Port Camino walk, so early this morning we headed for the Canal du Midi intent on clocking some flat kilometres in the direction opposite from yesterday.  The tranquil canal path gradually transformed into a tangled way of thorns, vines, and reeds that Betty named the “Route Savage.”  By this point, the bank was too high and steep for us to climb to the road so it was push on or back track.  I insisted that the path was made by walkers like us and not feral animals or hobos.  Persistence paid off when we finally emerged from behind a barrier on the other side to rejoin the well-trodden route.

The morning was warm with a cooling breeze and the tree-lined canal offered a shady path for us to follow. Our early conversations were punctuated only with stops to admire the vista or to wave at canal boats.  There is generally a dearth of public toilets in France and the Canal du Midi is no exception—I mention this because my walking companions require more sanitation infrastructure than I do and therefore have a shorter walking radius.  After passing a restaurant and two cafes that were, unfortunately, closed until later in the day, we needed to amend our route and return back past the same cafes (still closed) to the Carcassonne train station for relief.  To our chagrin, the restrooms at the train station were under repair so it was a very brisk walk back to our apartment.  Our 16 km walk earned us each a shower, lunch and a siesta.

After a few hours of R & R, we ventured back out into the heat for shopping and a trip to the Museum of Beau Arts.  Betty found a new dress and we all found a picture we liked at the museum (mine was “The Haircut “). Then it was back home for supper and some Netflix.