The statue of D'Artagnan in Auch
The statue of D'Artagnan in Auch
Day
1: (July 8 - 75 km) We flew from Montréal's Mirabel airport to
Blagnac aéroport just outside Toulouse. The carrier was
the (happily) now defunct Nationair. The price was good and it was
the only carrier flying to anywhere in France besides Paris. But the
aircraft was an ancient stretch DC8, the luggage racks above the
seats were open nylon mesh in which you were only allowed to store
coats, etc., and while we were on our trip another of this airline's
old DC8's crashed in Saudi Arabia. (The airline was out of business
by the time we took our trip the next year.) We arrived in Blagnac at
9 AM local time, in a light drizzle. We found a hotel not too far
from the airport and booked a room for our last night at the end of
the trip. The rain had stopped when we headed west (without going
into Toulouse. We knew we'd be seeing the city at the end of the
trip.) We planned to cycle about 40 km to clear the cobwebs that grow
inside the brain during a trans-oceanic trip. However, when we got to
the pretty little town of Mauvézin, the hotel I'd been hoping
we could stay in was complet (full). The terrain had been
très valloné (very hilly) and since we'd been up
now for more than thirty hours, everyone was pretty tired. I sprinted
ahead to the town of Gimont where I found a
hotel for us and then rode back to meet the rest of the group with
the good news. (Real cyclists among you would question my use
of the word "sprinted" if you ever saw me cycling.) So we finally
settled into this nice little town, had a lovely meal (salmon in a
sorrel cream sauce) and then collapsed after our two long days of
packing, motoring, air travel and cycling. A good first day!
Day
2 (65 km): The morning was clear and fresh when we loaded up. We
chose a route on smaller country roads. Gascony, we were to learn, is
a seemingly endless series of rolling hills. The valleys all seem to
run NNW and the roads all seem to run at either oblique or sharp
angles to these valleys. As a result, we were always rolling down
short steep hills, never getting enough momentum to carry us very far
up the inevitable uphill that followed. As the temperature climbed up
to the mid-30s (Celsius, of course; that would be mid-90s for you
folks in that last little holdout of Fahrenheit, the USA), the climbs
got to be very tough indeed. 
We
picked up our lunch stuff in Auch (pronounced "oh sh"), one of the
largest towns in Gascony. Picnic under a big
willow tree by a stream in a park - beautiful setting, nice lunch
(with Roquefort, France's great blue cheese made from sheep's milk -
the best cheese in the world!) The impressive cathedral in Auch, with
its 113 magnificent carved wooden choir stalls, is perched on top of
a hill. There are steep narrow little lanes
from the lower town up to the city centre and a staircase (232 steps)
up to the cathedral. There's a statue of D'Artagnan (the "fourth"
musketeer) halfway up the staircase. It was so hot after lunch that
we abandoned the quieter (but hillier) country lanes and took the
main road from Auch to our destination, Castéra-Verduzan.
(A little aside here about our choices of stopping
places. We like to eat well and France is arguably the best place in
the world in which to do that. It's so dependable that it's nearly
impossible to get a bad meal there in a restaurant - any restaurant.
Besides the excellent 1:200000 scale maps we use for cycling,
Michelin also produces a guidebook of recommended hotels and
restaurants - the Red Guide. It's not all-inclusive and we don't rely
on it very much. However, it does identify some special restaurants,
rating them with 1, 2 or 3 "rosettes" (or "stars"). These restaurants
are all, by our standards, very expensive to very, very
expensive but the service, presentation and food are all superior.
Because of the expense, we have only eaten in such restaurants a
half-dozen times in our many cycle tours in France. Michelin also
identifies another group of restaurants with a red "R" in their
guide. These are restaurants which Michelin feels will offer very
good meals at what they consider to be reasonable prices. They are
still expensive by our standards but are at least within reach. In
planning our trips we usually identify the location of these "red R"
restaurants and sometimes arrange our route so that we can stop in
those locations. That's what had brought us to
Castéra-Verduzan and the restaurant Le Florida. End of the not
so little aside!) 
The
hills are gentler on these main routes. We arrived at 6:00 PM - too
late, too hot, and too tired! We spotted a small
épicerie as we rolled into town and each bought a cold
Orangina and a Magnum (French vanilla ice-cream coated in thick milk
chocolate, on a stick - rich, decadent but necessary under the
circumstances). We had an excellent meal at the restaurant, Le
Florida. We dined outside on the terrace under a big chestnut
tree. Very pleasant after a tough hot day of cycling.
Day
3 (48 km): It was sunny and warm again when we set out after
breakfast at the hotel. We hadn't yet started our routine of cycling
for 20 km or so before stopping for breakfast (as we now do). Rolling
hills again, but easier this time because we were sticking to the
main road for the first couple of hours after the gruelling
experience of the previous day. We had a great downhill ride into the
town of Condom. (Yes, that's right - Condom! Of course Peter and I
had to have our pictures taken beside the sign as we entered the
town. I think there's still a little bit of 13-year-old boy in all
men, no matter their age.) We spent a little time looking around this
attractive small town and had our lunch. On the road again, we came
upon the tiny bastide of Larressingle.
(A bastide is a fortified town built by either the French or
the English during the 100 Years War.) Larressingle is a remarkable
example because it is less than 100 m by 100 m and completely walled.
After a break there for a cool refreshment we continued on. We saw a
sign by a farm advertising floc for sale so we stopped to buy
a bottle. Floc is made by mixing fresh (unfermented) grape
juice with armagnac, the great brandy of Gascony. They do the same
thing in the Charente-Maritime - using cognac of course - one must
always make use of the local product - and they call it Pineau des
Charentes. Floc is a nice, if potent, apéritif
and is especially good poured into the cavity of a just seeded half
melon. 
The
ride into Montréal-du-Gers was easy but hot. (The Gers -
pronounced "zhair ss" - is the name of this department.) We stopped
at a café for a beer and chatted with madame la
patronne. When she learned that we are Canadians she told us that
a filmmaker from Québec had been there filming a documentary
about the 5 Montréal's in France. (I've seen 4 of them - all
pleasant little villages - not at all like the other Montréal
- the city of two million in Canada.) We stopped to look at some
Roman ruins outside the town and then continued another couple of km
to our destination for the night. The trains no longer service
Montréal so the station, 5 km away from the town, was idle. An
enterprising chef had turned it into a very good
restaurant with four nice hotel rooms. We had a nice cool walk in
the evening after an excellent meal. An easy (but hot) day.
There'll be dancing ........dancing in the street!
Day
4 (51 km): It was cool and overcast when we started out but the short
steep hills had given way to longer, gentler climbs and descents. We
stopped in Eauze (pronounced "ay ooze") to cash some travellers
cheques. Now, of course, we just use ATM's but in 1991 that was not
an option. The franc was only 19 cents Canadian, the lowest it has
been in the 10-year period since. How I miss the days of the 15-cent
franc! We stopped in Estang for a picnic lunch (with Bleu des Causses
- not as good as Roquefort but a nice blue cheese nonetheless). We
arrived at our destination, Villeneuve-de-Marsan, in the early
afternoon at the same time as another group of cyclists - all
middle-aged men. We chatted with them for a while. They even bought
us a beer. They were retracing the route from
Paris to the Pyrénées taken by a cyclist 100 years
ago. They had a sag wagon following so they were travelling light. We
wished them bon voyage and checked into our hotel, Hotel L'Europe.
In
the 1986 edition of Michelin's Red Guide, this establishment had
earned a rosette but in the latest edition the rosette was gone. We
had decided it might still be worth the stop. I asked our young
waiter why the establishment had lost its rosette and he told me it
was because the chef had suffered a stroke! Our
meal was superb! I don't know who had replaced the ailing chef
but I don't think the change could have been noticeable. We went for
a walk after dinner and heard music and singing coming from an open
second story window in the Hotel de Ville (town hall). We listened
for a while and Heather, Carol and Peter began an impromptu dance in
the street to one lively song. This attracted the attention of some
of the singers and they called down to invite us to come up and join
them. The choir was rehearsing for an upcoming performance. We
listened to a couple of songs and joined them for a glass of wine and
a chat when they stopped for a break. It was an entertaining end to a
wonderful day.
Day 5 (48 km): The day started out fresh and overcast but was sunny and warm by noon. We skipped breakfast at the hotel and cycled about 20 km before having coffee and a pastry. We stopped at a bar in the little hilltop village of Horsarrieu to buy a drink and eat our lunch. The patronne had two young boys who shyly watched us from a distance in the café. Heather dug into her bag and offered them two little Canadian flag pins (which she had picked up from her local Member of Parliament for just this purpose). They were thrilled with the gift and they left and returned shortly with a pin for her. As we were leaving town the boys rode along beside us on their little bikes. Peter took a photo of them on the fly that surprisingly turned out. He had the photo enlarged and sent a copy to the patronne (addressing it simply to the "Café, Horsarrieu, France") and shortly afterwards received a thank you note. Amazing! We stopped in Hagetmau where there was a large market on in the town. Usually the markets pack up at 12:30 but because it was July 13 (the day before Bastille Day) this market stayed all day. We watched a wedding at the church that afternoon. We had another great meal at our hotel (Hotel Restaurant Le Jambon). Afterwards, there was music on the street and an impressive fireworks display at midnight. A fun, exciting day.