Canal du Garonne - Bordeaux to Toulouse, best bits/ bits to skip / detours?

[EmilyW]

Hi

I’m thinking of cycling the Canal du Garonne in September from Bordeaux to Toulouse. I’ve read everything I can find on Google plus the Cicerone guide.

What I haven’t been able to work out is the relative value of different stretches of the route. I’m very happy to take local TER trains to cut out bits that might be less worth it, to free up time for detours that will show me a bit more of the region (and add variety to the trip, go into towns and villages: I found the voie verts in Normandy lovely but repetitive last year!)


If anyone has cycled this route I would really love to know stretches that you enjoyed the most and the least. I’d also love to hear about any detours (the Cicerone book has a few to start me off but again hard to work out relative worthwhile-ness).

I’d also like to add two days and go on to Carcasonne but the path surface sounds awful - any recent experience?

[bohrsatom]

The Cicerone guidebook is very comprehensive and will tell you pretty much all you need to know. As far as detours go, Auvillar is particularly nice and worth the short hop from the canal. There's a great view over the Garonne from just behind the mairie.

Agen, Moissac and Montauban would be good options for taking a break from cycling and doing some exploring.

In 2022 I rode between Bordeaux and Moissac, and a few years before that I rode the entire length. I recall the entry to Toulouse being a little dull so you could catch a train from Montauban (or another intermediate station) to Toulouse Matabiau.

[MrsHJ]

I did it all last year in the other direction (well all to La Reole at which point I switched to the George Lapebie which is I think the standard route).
It was a bit repetitive. I generally find that quite zen and use it to switch off from my job. To a certain extent I’d say it’s all pleasant but faintly missable and if I were you I’d concentrate on the towns I want to see. I’m going to check my photos and the maps now to see which were the particularly unexciting bits- i think I’m going to say the first stretch out of Toulouse was a bit blah.

These photos are what they mean by sameiness although it was quite nice after the ropey sections of the canal du midi- and it has the long avenues of trees that the canal du midi is now partly missing. For me overall the canal du midi was not as lovely as I had expected but maybe the weather wasn’t great and that affected me. The Garonne was nice but didn’t wow me although the towns were very nice-:I enjoyed my overall trip but I thought that this would be the real highlight and it wasn’t- I had more fun later on.

[MrsHJ]

TBH it’s only 260km and flat so most people are going to do it pretty quickly.

High points for me were Moissac and Agen and not so good was the route out of Toulouse- just not very exciting and a bit of traffic/mess but not dangerous. The entry into Bordeaux was nicer with good views. The roger lapebie is a bit of a climb (nothing major) from the canal so you might miss that but it was perfectly pleasant and you get to see one of those fortified towns at the start of the roger lapebie (end for you and I think you’ll have a slightly better combo as the incline will be on the voie verte).

I did do Carcassonne (I started in the coast east of narbonne and went to Bordeaux and then the Atlantic coast and then on up to Brittany) and the path was rough especially for you the bit into CastelnAudray. However they were working on it whilst I was there last May and there are lots of little d roads around so you can divert. The map shows the rougher sections. I used the chamina book, I’m a super lazy cyclist so I mostly stuck to the path and toughed it out. Carcassonne was nice but uber touristy- it’s clearly in the list of must see places and that meant it wasn’t as special to me as say Agen. Just my opinion though.

[bohrsatom]

Checking my notes we also took the Cicerone guidebook recommended detour to Bruch. Although not a particularly interesting place, we did enjoy the most amazing menu du jour at the Café de la Paix. For 14eur we had a tureen of soup with melon and ham, a huge portion of moules frites and a frozen tiramisu for dessert. It was one of those places that was empty at 11:58 but full of local workers by 12:15. If you're nearby at lunchtime (and its open) then pop in!

[simonhill]

Leaving Bordeaux you follow the river but are then directed onto the Roger Lapebie route. You can probably follow the river but on normal roads I think.

I rode the Roger path but left before the end to get lodgings. Dropped off the hills to the start of the Canal Lateral de la Garonne.

Reading the info boards at the start of the canal, a couple of tourists asked if I was cycling the canal and then said something about all the climbs. I didn't understand what they meant until I got on the canal path. There are frequent bridges which are high level so the path has lots of short steepish climbs for each bridge.

I got bored after a few hour or so. The path was very samey with canal, and trees and no other view. Also maybe partly because no canal traffic at that time - poss due to flooding on main river and transit not possible??

I dropped onto the road and much preferred that for cycling (real life, real people real villages and towns).

I was heading away from canal anyway and can only comment on that shortish stretch, but a few hours was enough for me. Sorry.

I would add I am not a great lover of segregated cycle paths, etc. Although I have cycled lots of canals in England and usually found plenty of things to keep me interested.

[ANTONISH]

Although I have ridden long distance canal paths I find that most cycle paths too narrow with poor sightline on bends - when I'm riding on such a path I ride on the side of the path appropriate for the particular country.
Many cyclists just seem to choose a side at random which is unnerving for oncoming cyclists when going round a blind bend.
I've come close to disaster on a couple of occasions in such circumstances.
As I've said in a recent thread we are intending to follow the canal Bordeaux to Narbonne but stick to roads as much as possible.

[thirdcrank]

...
Canal Lateral de la Garonne.
...

I've quoted this bit merely to point out that the thread title contains an error. ie The region is "La Garonne." as correctly written in my quote.