This trip may well work out a couple of hundred miles shorter than last year's 1,000 miler (St Malo to The Med), but this year has been far tougher and, effectively, longer. The only real hills we had to cross last year were those of the Dordogne. After that we followed the flat paths along the canals of the south, the a Lateral Canal to Toulouse and the Canal du Midi thereafter. Whereas this year it's been up and down all the way. The good news is that we now feel very strong and don't mind climbing at all. You just get in the right gear and tap out a rhythm. Mile after mile. Ever up. Yesterday, for instance, I was happily climbing for well over half an hour whilst conducting a conversation by text with my wife, Jenny. (She probably thought that, at the time, I was comfortably ensconced in a cafe somewhere!)

For the past couple of days the main crop through which we have cycled has been maize/sweet corn. There must be thousands and thousands of square miles of it. I find this strange because the French don't eat the stuff (with the possible exception of on Pizza a la Mexiccaine). They must either export it all or feed it to cows and pigs. Anyone know? There's also a helluva lot of donkeys in the Pyrenean foothills. Why? Do they eat them? Probably.
Nearing Limoux the crops have changed from corn on the cob (and sunflower) to grapes. Much more sensible. The donkeys have largely gone too.
The harbinger on the Languedoc has (I'm afraid) been the gradual appearance of English voices and Dutch cars. These have been conspicuous by their absence since leaving Bayonne. Coming into Limoux, for example, we saw for the first time a board outside a bar proclaiming "Pub Grub". Sad.

Spoke to a German cyclist today (a student of metalwork) who was cycling on his tod down through France, across the Pyrenees, thro Spain and over into Morocco, before returning back over to Iberia and flying back home to Dresden from Portugal. He reckoned it would take him seven weeks. He seemed a nice lad. We met him in Pamiers and he was keen to chat to us. Good luck to him.

Limoux is much a smaller town than I thought considering the historical weight of the city (particularly wrt the RC Bishops of old).
The western aspect of the famous cathedral is totally obscured nowadays by a tacky modern building. Just as well though coz that tacky modern building is the Logis de France hotel in which we are staying. We can almost reach out of our window and touch the cathedral.
We sat out in the central square in the evening watching some very energetic salsa dancing whilst we ate. A very warm evening.

Spoke to our partners back home last night. Both are suffering I'm sorry to say. Simon has a bad cold. Jenny has a nasty rash and prickly eyes caused by an allergic reaction to something (she's supposed to be flying out to meet us on Friday). Hope they get well soon.

Bring back Clem! All is forgiven!
Only a short journey planned for today: Limoux to Carcassonne.
Two problems...
1. I let her plan the route again (Why oh why, I hear you say). More or less it was a case of simply following the river Aude, using the smallest roads possible. Easy. So we cycled out of Limoux and after just one Km ( I didn't want it to go on too long) I stopped and said to her - how do you know this is the right direction? No problem, says she. We just need to keep the river on our left. Pointing out the bridge, I said "you realise that there are two ways of keeping the river on your left, don't you". Doh!!! Turning around, we crossed the bridge and pedalled merrily towards Carcassonne (river on our left. Plus other small indicators that I'd clocked earlier, like the position of the sun and the direction the river was flowing).
2. (And the reason I'm typing this blog on the 1601 train BACK to Limoux)....After clearing our rooms each day, JC goes back in for 'the final check'. Good practice. Unfortunately this rigorous check did not include spotting my Kindle which was sat on my bedside cabinet. So back to Limoux to retrieve the Kindle , and my iPhone charger (which I'd yet to miss).
We seem to have settled into a routine of (unintentionally) causing ourselves problems which we then overcome. All good fun.

We've found the whereabouts if the only curry house in Carcassonne, the Taj Mahal. Only two reviews on Tripadvisor: one 'Poor', the other 'Excellent'. We will go tonight and make up our own minds. And, no doubt report in tomorrow's blog. I'm really looking forward to it. Proper food. (If not too good then I've still got Mr Jangut's curry to look forward to. Hint hint!)

Currently very warm. Around thirty degrees.

Tomorrow is a fairly long stage. Fairly flat out if Carcassonne, then over a reasonable climb from Bize Minervois up to Villipassans. Followed by a nice decent into St Chinian. The latter part of the route follows that taken by the Tour de France only last year, 2011 and watched by me and my friends The Knowles'.

Looking forward now to sitting on a seat that's more than three inches wide. And less sharp at the front.

(Haven't found any Butcombe anywhere!)

A bientot!

(I've had no luck uploading some 'action' video to the Off Exploring website. I'll try to upload it to FB tonight)