No prunes required!

Sunday 17th September 2023. Castelnaudry.

I didn’t sleep too well last night. Perhaps it wasn’t much of a surprise. I woke early and got out of the bedroom with all my stuff as quick as I could to avoid the nutty woman….only to find that my bike was locked in the courtyard and it would be locked till 10am. No members of staff were around till 10 either. Surprisingly, someone turned up at 9am to unlock the door for me. Hooray!

I had managed ot eat some breakfast I had saved from yesterday but I needed a drink, so, quickly stopped for a coffee before I left Toulouse.

There was a down side to todays cycling…..although the temperature wasn’t too hot and although the distance wasn’t too far and although it was very flat….it was very, very windy and it was always directly against my direction. For a change the wind was not caused by prunes.

I had contact from Janice. She is safely tucked away near Limoges at Tim’s house and is all ready to drive down to Carcassonne tomorrow….that’s if she’s forgiven me for making a nutty woman reference to her in yesterdays blog.

There were no places of great note along the way today and as it was a Sunday I was conscious of getting food at lunchtime before everywhere shuts.

I called at a restaurant right next to the canal and began to talk to Lucas from Frankfurt who had arrived in Toulouse yesterday and bought himself a bike for 250 euros for his two week bike tour. That’s a good idea. The bike looked in good order and he didn’t have to worry too much about arrangements for getting it home….maybe he can sell it for a similar price before he goes back.

We ate in the restaurant at tables next to each other and began our chat. Todays food choice was chosen because I needed energy to fight the wind….

Lucas and I cycled together to Castelnaudry….which was virtually ‘closed’ by now (only a couple of bars were open). He was going on to Carcassonne but decided to catch a train for the rest of the journey. For some reason we cycled to the highest point of the town before we said our farewells.

I am not neglecting the rugby! There are three more games. I caught the last half of the South Africa v Romania game at perhaps the only bar that seemed to be showing rugby. Romania were thrashed.

I watched the Australia v Fiji match in the apartment. It was a great game that ended in an exciting Fiji win. I went to a local bar to watch the England v Japan game and it sparked derision from some of the local yokels. They seemed pleased to tell me England would not win the World Cup….a view I agree with….but they didn’t need to be so happy about it. The locals didn’t actually have any interest in the match once it started and I ended up watching it with a Dutch family who were very knowledgable about rugby. The highlight of a fairly poor game by England was the ball bouncing forward off Joe Marler’s head for Courtney Law to run onto to score probably the decisive try of the match. It was comedic….they will probably claim it was a practiced move! Anyway, England won 34-12, a score that, very much, flatters them.

It shouldn’t take me too long to get to Carcassonne tomorrow….wind permitting.

Looking forward to seeing Janice tomorrow. There may be some soppy kissing, xxx.