Saturday August 18, Moissac

The Aqueduct carrying the canal over the river...impressive

Woke this morning to much cooler temps, very pleasant for a change, and this afternoon it warmed up nicely without humidity, so the best possible. This really is a great place to stay as so quiet, but with a good atmosphere.
Bikes out this morning for a ride along the canal. Packed up a picnic lunch to put in the panniers and firstly headed into town to find the boulangerie that Jim had told us about yesterday. Discovered, after a few wrong turns, a really great village with a market happening in the main square. Found a very nice loaf of very traditional organic bread (Jenny C you would have been super impressed!) but decided not to look around as we hear that tomorrow’s market is even bigger. Also rode passed the St Pierre Abbey which is classified as a World Heritage Site, another for tomorrows explore. Today we just wanted to blow the cobwebs out with a good ride, love the cycle paths along these canals, and there were quite a number of people walking and biking it. This route runs from Toulouse to Bordeaux and is very popular.
Not far from town we crossed the Aqueduct which carries the Canal du Garonne over the Tarn River. It really was amazing to be riding alongside a waterway that carries boat on a bridge over a river. Such a shame that no boats were passing by when we were, and found it hard to get a photo that really shows it off. It was built in 1846, consists of 15 arches, is 350 metres long, and is one of the largest canal bridges in France.
Continued along the canal through the town of Castelsarrsin and a large number of canal boats. This really is a way of life for many people. Found a spot beside the canal in the shade and enjoyed our lunch before heading back again. A really good 30 km ride. We checked out the kiwis at the canal in town and Tony was home, he is from Auckland and he and his partner are doing up an old barge. He has been stripping it out for the last month and expects the work to continue through the European winter.
It’s been a good day of relaxing.

Village market

This aqueduct is almost 200 years old and still working perfectly.

Some of the canal boats at Castelsarrsin

Living life on a canal boat.

Return view of the aqueduct