A cycling holiday along the Canal du Midi

Loved all of the cycling - despite short distances, heavier bikes and heat did make it hard work in some places. We swapped starts of day two and three around so we could get to the market at Olonzac (on Tues) - and that was worth doing. If you are not used to mountain biking - some of surface on the Canal may be a bit trying. Perhaps worth a bit of off-road practise before going if you are used to smooth tarmac. Great combination of routes giving access to some really unspoilt French countryside and villages. Favourite - the descent into Cruzy with view of church from above.

We had anticipated the cycling along the canal would be the best part of the holiday but actually enjoyed the quiet country lanes and the hills around Minerve far more than the towpaths. In parts, the towpath was VERY challenging with tree roots, very large stones and ruts, also very muddy after a couple of evenings' worth of rain. It was very difficult to actually cycle in places on the canal which spoilt the routes a little; we wouldn't recommend the first half of the holiday for this reason. However, we highly recommend the rides around Minerve, the cycle to Narbonne from Cruzy and the ride into Gruissan from Narbonne on the final day. Beautiful!

HIGHLIGHT: The ride to Minerve. Well worth getting the E Bikes making the journey well within our capabilities.

really enjoyed this relaxing and beautiful trip 

The cycle ride to Minerve was great and quite a challenge. We thought we might not do it but Thomas at Le Jardin d'Homps persuaded us. It took us 9 hours. We're not that experienced cyclists but it was well worth the pain! Funny little cafe in Minerve with stuffed animals and friendly owner. We enjoyed Narbonne, an attractive place, and ate at Le Meli-Melo, friendly staff.

Don't miss getting to Minerve - it is amazing and totally unique.

Staying at Le Jardin De Homps was an absolute dream and a great privilege.

The cycle trail from Narbonne to Narbonne Beach (16km each way) was a delightful afternoon's side trip.

As is sitting in Narbonne central square watching the local boys ride past on their back wheel - obviously the way you are supposed to cycle in this pretty city. Don't forget to climb the tower there for a wonderful view.

A visit to the Narbonne Market at 12 midday (until about 2pm) is full of excitement!

Overall, a really wonderful holiday, thanks to the Inntravel team.

Brilliant holiday. Great way to see the real France. If travelling with Ryanair check their luggage policy carefully. Travel light if possible due to no lifts and many stairs to climb in some places.

Very well organised holiday with some excellent accommodation. It was amazing to be able to stay in the medieval city of Carcassonne.  With excellent weather, we also enjoyed a swim at the lac de la Cavayere, a half hour bus ride away. Le Somail was a lovely place on the canal to stop for lunch.
Would definitely consider another Inntravel holiday. 

This was a really lovely varied holiday that took us around an amazing assortment of villages, towns and countryside. As lovers of the countryside as well as museums and galleries this was a perfect holiday. Each day was different and unique.

Wonderful experience.  The Jardin d'Homps was a superb oasis. Minerve well worth the visit and electric bikes were fantastic.

We were unlucky with the weather on this holiday - 65mph winds, temperatures of less than 10 degrees and driving rain in mid May had not been factored in to our planning. Inevitably, this affected our view of the holiday, and certainly made some bits of the towpath less easy to cycle than they would otherwise have been. But it was a good holiday nonetheless. The accommodation was all excellent, apart from Cluzy, which was only just acceptable. In particular, Le Jardin d'Homps was really lovely - the owners couldn't have done more for us, including lighting a fire to dry us off! The bikes were of good quality, and Mellow Velos were most helpful when we had one small query. The provided directions were excellent, too.

The towpaths are not of consistent quality - they can be uneven, narrow and bumpy (and with the weather we had, very muddy!). In places, we opted for quiet country roads instead, just to avoid some more bone shaking by the canal. Beware too stretches where there is gravel - this can be perilous.

Having cycled on a number of occasions in Austria, Switzerland and Germany - we were all agreed that they are better organised for cyclists than the French appeared to be from this holiday. But we had a very good holiday! Thanks to Inntravel for all the organisation.

Our highlights were the challenging and very wet cycle to Minevere and the sunny cycle to the sea at Gruissan our final day. The accommodation at Homps is excellent. We found some lovely restaurants and enjoyed all of the cycle rides. The canal was not difficult to cycle along and as has been previously said there is usually a small lane next to it. We hired bikes on our first day and had a look at the start of the route . 

Our journey was a wonderful experience from begining to end, with so many opportunities to immerse ourselves in the culture of this beautiful region of southern France. Mellow Velos and the accommodation (particularly in Carcassonne, Homps & Cruzy) were all excellent - we met so many lovely people along the route, who added to the richness of our experience. 

We really enjoyed our cycling adventure and thank you so much for putting together a great itinerary. The bikes were great though the odometers were a bit temperamental and didn't seem to relate to your notes - being 15 per cent out but we coped ok. We loved all aspects of the route and it was good to get into the countryside from time to time. We were very lucky with the weather. The hotels were superb. The Hotel Le Donjon Les Ramparts in Carcassonne was a highlight and the Le Jardin d'Homps amazing - especially with the swimming pool. It was lovely to have a welcome glass of sparkling wine there. We also enjoyed sharing the evening meal with the hotel owners at Cruzy. The Hotel La Residence in Narbonne was also enjoyable. Everyone welcomed us and it was a really great experience. We would definitely recommend Inntravel!

This was our 3rd cycling trip and we will definitely be booking a 4th. The organisation and attention to detail is superb and makes for a stress free leisurely cycling holiday, exploring places we would not cycle to otherwise, given the amount of research into a area needed. 

It was a wonderful holiday. Almost too many highlights to mention. The route was fascinating; perhaps the highlights being the visit to Minerve and the cycling along the side of the Gorge de Cesse, but just cycling through a countryside throbbing with cicadas and bird song was always wonderful. There is 1 hard climb out of Bize-Minervois but it's manageable (1 of us got to the top en velo, 1 of us pushed the bike) but it's worth it for the long descent (one of many such). Homps was perhaps our favourite place - lovely guesthouse and people and the restaurant En Bonne Compagnie was one of our best meals. But at Cruzy our hosts were delightful company, their cooking excellent and we got the chance to really practice our French, which in some ways might prove the most lasting memory of our holiday. We would pass on 1 tip: you don't always have to cycle along gthe Canal du Midi...it might feel like heresy to say so but the canal is loveliest in smallish doses. It is also pretty bumpy. There is often a good tarmac road running alongside (e.g. pretty well all the way from Homps to Le Somail), very quiet (+ French motorists when they appeared gave us ample room). You also often get better views of the landscape from the road than from the towpath which has trees and banks on either side. I'd suggest Inntravel be a bit more forthcoming in suggesting that this could be an alternative.... 

The best part of our holiday was staying at Le Jardin d'Homps where the hosts went out of their way to make our stay memorable.

We enjoyed the first day exploring Carcassonne, although boat trips along the River Aude do not operate on a Monday.

The first day cycling along the quiet lanes to Homps was very memorable, especially through the Etang de Marseillette orchards.

The hospitality we received when we arrived at Le Jardin de Homps was exceptional, including a glass of prosecco brought to us in the swimming pool as we cooled off!

Our personal highlight was to Minerve which we were in two minds about doing. We were glad we did it although the high temperatures on the day made the hills really challenging for us. We were so pleased we managed to do it though. However we did a shorter route than the one supplied. Le Jardin d'Homps was a joy to stay in and the fact it had a swimming pool was a huge bonus after the long day in the sun. They were lovely hosts.

We enjoyed having a day to explore Carcassone before the cycling began.  As was made clear in the notes, the trip to Minerve was a challenge, especially the first section of the return leg, but worth all the exertion. The joy of this holiday was the mostly traffic-free routes along the canal.

A very pleasant holiday with some excellent accommodation particularly at the superb Le Jardin in Homps. Although we appreciated the scenery around the Canal du Midi, many of the towpath sections are real boneshakers so whenever possible we diverted to small roads which were very quiet in May.

General:

Lovely holiday as always with beautiful and varied routes and vistas.  Wild flowers and trees were particularly lovely at this time of year.  Wind was a bit troubling on last day and this seems to be typical of the region.

Arrival:

Restaurant L’Alais at Carcassonne was good.

Day 1:

Restaurant L’Escargot at Carcassonne for lunch was not so good – we had tapas which was poor value, with some dishes a bit tasteless or covered with sauces we didn’t like much.  Service was also quite slow and indifferent.

Note to someone: castle says it closes at 6.30 with last entry 45 mins beforehand.  We went there at 5.45 and they would not let us in. They said you need more than 45 mins to tour the castle and that in fact they start shutting off some areas from 6pm.  As it happens, the castle does need way more than 45 mins (but that ought to be customer choice).  We were advised to complain to the Minister of Culture (which we will not be doing).

Restaurant Le Jardin du Carcasses was very good and very good value.

Day 2:

Restaurant Les Terraces de la Cite was good for lunch as you said.  Big helpings, quite good value.

We ate at Restaurant Bistro Gourmand recommended by our hosts. This was good and had different fare from elsewhere which was a nice  break. Good value.

Day 3:

Aigne is very charming with its snail-like design. Might be worth making more of this in the instructions.  We had a delicious baguette with tasty, tender jambon at the recommended restaurant in the square. We were late for lunch, they were very accommodating and friendly.

We also think the instructions should advise clients to go down to the river bed at Minerve to look at the pont naturel.  This could easily be missed otherwise.

Note that the path after the turn left after green bridge instruction on the final stage of the route back to Homps is very bumpy and so we had to walk.

Restaurant En Bonne Compagnie at Homps was very good (I thought my fish was delicious) but also a bit more expensive.

Day 4:

Lunch at Grillade du Chateau at Ventenac au Minervais was absolutely excellent, tasty, fresh, large helpings and amazing value – three courses for 12.90 euro each.  Also a lovely location.

Day 5:

Cruzy – we took 15 minutes to explore the inner part of the town where there are notices telling you about the history and the buildings.  We thought this was well worth it and so think it would be good to mention this in the instructions.

Narbonne is lovely – a delight to arrive at

Restaurant En Face was very good.  Friendly service, lovely food and good value – we had the 23 euro menu where a starter option was six oysters.

Day 6:

We ate at Restaurant En Face again and similar experience.

The last day tour was great but very windy.  

Superb way to be in South of France. Inntravel made it so easy to arrange and their chosen colleagues on site were so good. Vince who brought the Bikes and did the transfers was lovely and so kind. We liked that everything was thought through and Inntravel staff so very helpful when we added my son to the booking. The hoteliers in Homps went above and beyond in their care for us and even got up at 5 am to provide breakfast and ensure the taxi arrived. Good to be with such an experienced travel company. Great to be getting manageable exercise and fresh air every day - great contrast from our work.

We have just completed three separate walking and cycling holidays in France and Spain with InnTravel which we so enjoyed.  They were the perfect blend of activity and sloth in areas of great historical and cultural interest.  Being of mature age, we found the concept of staying two nights in one place a great one, allowing us independence and flexibility as to how to spend the second day. Also we very much appreciated the way the holiday details were put together and presented.  Our satisfaction with our chosen tours is a result of InnTravel's knowledge and experience of what makes a great holiday. Thoroughly recommend their services and will be booking with them again, when we are next in the northern hemisphere.    

[INNTRAVEL NOTE: These customers followed a stay in Paris with our Paths to Rocamadour walking holiday, then did our Canal du Midi cycle and finally our Collioure to Cadaqués walk.]