4-day family cycle trip along the Canal du Midi

Tout le monde a adoré notre escapade de 4 jours le long du canal du midi. Les étapes sont d'une bonne longueur, les vélos de très bonne qualité, et tout a très bien été organisé par le Vélo Voyageur. Il y a quelques passages boueux un peu difficiles en cas de pluie le deuxième et quatrième jour, qui permettent aussi d'avoir de bons souvenirs!

My husband, 10 year old daughter and I did the Canal du Midi trip in August 2018 and thoroughly enjoyed it. This was our first time to do a cycling trip and we really appreciated the organization of Le Velo Voyageur. The bikes were good with ample storage in the saddle bags, and a solid rack you could strap other things to (we strapped our picnic blanket on top). The baggage delivery service was perfect. The luggage always arrived in great condition and was waiting for us each day. Le Velo Voyageur planned a nice route with a good variety of hotels and bed & breakfasts and restaurant dinners. The owners of all the places were very nice, helpful, and a pleasure to meet. I don't think I would have come across those bed & breakfasts on my own. La Bastide Negra and Domaine Saint Jolie were delightful places to stay. Comfortable beds, beautiful houses, lovely scenery, delicious food, and interesting guests. The roadbook was excellent, very precise directions. The locks along the canal were fascinating to see in action, and the ride itself along the canal is almost entirely shaded. A bit of practical advice here. We stayed two nights in Toulouse before the start of the trip. This made getting over jet lag easier since we came from the US on an overseas / overnight flight. On the last day of the trip we decided to train to Paris after we arrived in Carcassonne so were a bit rushed although we managed to bike a little around Carcassonne. I would definitely recommend not leaving Carcassonne until later in the day or ideally the next morning. Dropping off the bikes, picking up luggage at a hotel, then finding a place to change for the train was less than ideal. Next time we will stay longer in Carcassonne and plan a place to change if we don't have a hotel. I should note that, for us, Carcassonne wasn't a very easy city to bike through (very narrow roads, lots of pedestrian traffic) but it was a very interesting city to walk around. I highly recommend this trip!

This is our second trip with le Vélo voyageur, and again the location of the lodgings were perfect, and at every location we found many details to be remembered with pleasure: the people, the food, the swimming pools, gardens... It was very agreeable to cycle along the Canal du Midi without worrying about the luggage, having time to enjoy, and getting to know remarkable places.