Day 22: Grenade to Moissac

50 km. Details.

Don't you just love a good avenue of trees?

Still blowing 40 kph this morning so despite the fact that I felt good I decided to settle for an easy day. And I took the implicit advice proferred a couple of weeks ago by the most frequent commenter on this blog, and chose my destination so that I could ride with the wind, rather than against it. Didn't some Roman say something like "If you don't know to which port you are sailing, all winds are favourable."? He didn't mean it as a compliment, he was being scornful about equivocal leadership, but it struck a chord today with this aimless tourist. Things go easier if one does not struggle against the fates. Euripides had a lot to say on the subject, I think.

So, an easy 50km spin to Moissac, with the wind at my back. It says something about the psychology of touring that I'm now at the point of thinking that a 2.5 hour ride is barely worth getting kitted out for. A nice ride up the Garonne, which would have been pretty quick had I not got lost in Castelsarassin and circled the town twice before finding my route.

Moissac turns out to be a nice town. On the river Tarn it also boasts the Canal des deux Mers, the junction of the Canal du Midi and the Canal de Garonne which between them run from the Atlantic at Bordeaux to the Med, way south east of Toulouse. And it is home to the St Pierre Abbey. I won't give an extended description, because Wikipedia does it so much better. It is very impressive, though;

We're accustomed in the UK to think we have a wealth of historic buildings and monuments. And it's true, we do. But on balance I'd say there's a greater sense of history here, or more precisely, of continuity; and I think that is largely down the the Church. It's like the UK would be if the Dissolution of the Monasteries hadn't taken place. I'm not sure I've really grasped what a massive upheaval that actually was.

There's a very great deal to be said in favour of La Belle France. Not least the fact that they don't tax wine. I bought a really nice bottle of Lalande de Pomerol today for €9. £25 at home, easily...