Brutal Heat, Incredible Views | Bikepacking the Long Way to Carcassonne (Part 2)

Join me for part 2 of my 4-day solo bikepacking trip across southern France. Starting in Quillan, I take the scenic but challenging route through the Gorges de Galamus to get to Carcassonne. The heatwave conditions saw me having to endure 41°C heat and at times I wondered if taking the scenic route was the right decision. But I think the footage speaks for itself.

After an unforgettable overnight stop exploring the medieval Cité de Carcassonne, I set off back to Toulouse but not without a routing disaster and another day riding through hot temperatures.

Expect epic mountain roads, medieval history, and the raw highs and lows of summer bikepacking in France.

What a ridiculous place to ride a bike. After 2 days of riding through scorching heat, I had finally reached Keon. This was the halfway point of my bike adventure. Now comes part two where I have decided to take the long way to Carasson. Look at my view. Mountains and vineyards. This meant heading completely in the wrong direction. All because I was chasing the experience of riding through the gorge de Galamoose. It means adding a lot of extra kilometers to an already hot day. Today will be 115 km. And to give you an idea how much it is, the garment is reading 41°. But you know what? I have no regrets. These roads, this route, it was absolutely spectacular. Even if it nearly did finish me off. 10ks to go and I’m broken. [Music] Okay. Uh, day three of the ride. All packed up. Had a great breakfast. Leaving the hotel. And today is a big day. I’m pushing from Keon to Carcasson. Not the direct way. I’m going by the Gorge de Galamoose. Fans of this YouTube channel will know that when I did this ride in reverse with my awesome husband Steven last year, we wanted to do the gorge to Galamoose. And unfortunately, it couldn’t happen. So, I’m putting that right this year. I’m taking it on my own. Means an extra long day and a bit more climbing and it’s a hot one, but you know what? I’m up for it. It’s4 to 9 in the morning, so we’re leaving not too late. And yeah, let’s see what happens today on Eva. Always love these treeline boulevards leading into a town. Seems to be very typical of this area. And uh again, not a cloud in the sky. Those beautiful bowler mountains all around me. Time to go through that awesome gorge from yesterday. Leier lease. Awesome. Look at that super rock formations. Super headwind. Really difficult headwind. Headwind’s so strong. I thought I was going to get blown backwards. Oh, gorge is amazing. You can hear the rushing board river there. Rock just hanging on to the side or the trees on the side of the rock. A really stunning bit of nature to be riding through. I traveled through this gorge in the other direction to get to Keon. Now going the other way, it was slightly uphill, but I was very thankful for the shade. Absolutely mega. Really nice in the shade, too. Traffic sort of comes in waves, so it’s not too bad. Um, which is good. See, there’s a solitary road cyclist there and uh nature towering up above and towering overhead. [Music] Just pulled off the main road for a little bit to appreciate the lovely Odd River at the village of Summer Liss. I think it’s called Satan Lease. It’s a big cutting from the Odd River here. It’s beautiful. Through the gorge and stayed on this fairly main road. It’s a little bit busy with traffic, but the road’s pretty wide, so cars can pass nice and easy. And on this climb that went just a casual grind and it’s a coal. So there you go. Always a bit more satisfying knowing you’ve climbed a mountain or a coal a mountain pass. It’s fairly small. 514 m. I think there was only 150 m of climbing. But on the hot sun with a bit of a load, it felt it. On we go in the village of La Praell. And I nearly missed this, but look on top of there. It’s one of the chateau, one of the Katar Castles. Amazing. And uh this village is beautiful. There’s a small little river. Right across from me is an art gallery. What a view for inspiration, right? So that is the Chateau de Puuren, one of the Katar Castles. And we are in the Qatar Pyrenees. Beautiful. And then this is the village of La Praell. Gorgeous. And there’s my machine. As I said before, this is a bit of a main road and busy at times. Uh it’s nice and wide. I’ve just had a nice descent and I have been descending. So, we’ll see how we go. Leaving the apartment, the lord behind. And now in the Pyrene oriental next apartment vineyards winery vineyards here wind farm mountains dead straight road that’s the main road but I’ve just discovered there is actually a really awesome cycle route which seems to track along it. My route seems to be on the main road, but I’m going to take a hunch that this is going to lead me on to close to where I want to be anyway. And uh I guess it’s part of the bike adventure. Again, beautiful mountains and look at the vineyards here. Not a bad location, is it? This cycling infrastructure is amazing. Wow. Such smooth ashfeld. Just beautiful. Ah, too good to be true. Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re on a gravel bike. Do it. It’s totally doable. And it is. But I actually don’t have that many. I’ve only got a puncture repair kit. No spare tubes. Cuz I’ve been meaning to buy some. And with a heavy load, I just think I need to stick to the ashalt today. A little bit unadventurous. [Music] Time to turn back and get back on the main road. Sometimes you got to try these things to realize whether they’ll work or not. Messy, messy. I’ve grown messy. Filling up my bottle. Filling up my energy. Just stopped for a cafe in the village of S Paul. Beautiful cafe there. The lady here is really lovely. And then across the road is a bisqueti that makes their croconte on Paul. So it’s a natural uh it’s a biscuit from the region. So I got myself a little packet and uh that’s where I’m going. That’s the hermitage at the gorgeous. After being on the busy main road for the first oh 33 34 km of the ride, it’s so nice to just be on a quiet road into the countryside. Look at my view. Mountains and vineyards [Music] and no cars for the moment. Hopefully it stays quiet for a bit. About a kilometer into the climb from the small village. This climb goes for about 4 km. But look what I see back in the distance. Snow cap mountains, vineyards, trees, rocky peaks and snow on the big peaks in the distance. And I got a beautiful windy road all ahead of me. And yeah, you can sort of see twists and turns. [Music] I love discovering places like these almost by happening. turning a corner and turning my head and seeing a view like that one over there. Pretty awesome. [Music] So, there’s the villages where I’ve climbed from and see the vineyards that I was on the quiet road and I’m only a few kilometers on this gorge. It’s going to get even better than this, but the views are incredible. [Music] France, you are ridiculous. Look at that. Can you see it? The Hermitage de Galamoose. You can actually walk down and access it, which is amazing. You can see a white van on the road where I’ll be heading. And this is the gorge. And there’s people who have been canyoning, which is pretty cool. But yeah. Uh, so the Hermitage de Galamoose. I will run some B-roll of this awesome area and tell you all about it. The Hermitage de Galamoose was carved into the rock face way back in the 7th century. Tucked deep into the limestone cliffs, this ancient chapel has offered refuge to hermits, pilgrims, and travelers for over a thousand years. It’s nestled within the breathtaking gorgeous, a dramatic canyon which was carved out by the river Agi and slices right through these limestone mountains of the Corvier’s range. Today, the Hermitage is still open for visitors and there’s actually a hiking trail which will take you all the way to the sanctuary. Von Von, violent winds. Hopefully not. It’s a little bit breezy, but I’ll be taking it pretty easy, I think. I was looking forward to taking the road through the gorge. It stretches over 2 km long and those cliffs, they go up to 150 m high. Kind of ridiculous this road. It’s everyone is taking it very slow cuz uh if cars meet, there’s only certain places where you can pass. And people are walking as well. You can see it’s pretty deep. If you get vertigo, don’t look down. I don’t even want to guess how deep this gorge is, but definitely over 100 m and uh it towers above us as well and winds on for a little bit yet. What a place to go bike riding. I tell you what, I’m so happy to be on a bike and not in a car. It’s going to be interesting to see how these two cars get past each other. But yeah, whether you’re in a moto or a pushy, that’s the way to do it. I have just ridden past both cars and there is zero chance that they can pass on this stretch. So, I don’t know what they’re going to do, but yeah, it’s uh I’m glad I’m not in that situation. And I’m going to keep going. [Music] It gets better. There’s another car. So there’s two cars. Look at this. This way. Where is in this? Yeah. No, on the corner. Yes. On the corner. But this and this little black car is from the UK. So the driver is on the other side as well. Not good. No. Look at this gorgeand. Okay. Spectacular. Sneaky cold number two, cold deankerel. Again, not very high in altitude, but beautiful views either side. It’s the way I’m going. I’m climbing for a while. Been being in the beating sun for ages. So, bit of a shady forest road is uh well well needed. Been [Music] [Music] climbing in the heat for ages and sort of feel maybe I’m on a plateau. So maybe it’s time to descend. Hot colder Linus. Didn’t think I’d ever see the top of you. I know it’s only 667 m, but it’s a very hot day. Anyway, that’s the direction I’m heading and the road will go downhill. And this is how I feel about it right now. Yay. All of a sudden, the countryside’s changing a bit and you can see farmland again. Just spoke to a lovely French cyclist who lives in a town I’ll be going through and he has worded me up on the good fountain to get very fresh, good, cold water from. And I am stoked for that. Still descending. Beautiful views. According to that sign, this is near an observatory to do some bird watching. Pyrenees vultures. Not seeing any here, but yeah, pretty. I’m a big believer in that sometimes the strangers that you have a passing conversation with on these bike adventures really shape opportunities. And I was at the top of a climb and an old French guy on his road bike was there and he was asking me where I was because obviously solo woman with panas where are you traveling? Anyway, he lives in the house there with the green shutters, the bright green shutters, not the pastel green ones. And I said, “Do you know anywhere where there’s water?” and he said, “Come to my village, pass my street, climb a little bit.” And this fountain has the purest water and it’s very refreshing and it’s very good. And I have to say it’s been an absolute gem. But the real part of the local knowledge here is that my route wasn’t going to take me this way. And also, if I read the road signs, it was root bar deviation into D forbidden to travel. But this gentleman said, “Ignore the signs on a bike. You’re okay.” And I probably I came across I had a fence that I had had a rock crawl through. But I’m so stoked. So this is Ren Laban. The water is the freshest. And I’m so happy to make it here. That fountain stop at Ren Laban was a true lifesaver because I had totally run out of water and I was still a fair distance away from Carcasson. Well, I am at Alier Laban. I was here last year with Steven when we were coming and doing this loop in the other direction. It’s very hot. The garment is reading 41° in the sun. I could believe it. Uh on the road I met another solo female traveler, Adele, who lives in Bordeaux and is doing a big loop down through the south of France, hit the Mediterranean and we’ll come back up. So it was really cool to see her and swap uh experiences as well. But yeah, 35 km to go. Not much climbing, but it’s very hot. So it’s a pretty taxing day all up. I’ll be pretty happy to get to the hotel. This road is technically closed, but I don’t know how long for. And I’m so tired. I just think I’m going to try it anyway. Um, generally on a bike you can get through. Just stopped in the shade. I’ve got 23 km to go, which isn’t much, but today will be 115 km. And to give you an idea how it is, the garment is reading 41°. I’m so hot. Um, got about half a bottle of water left. I’m flagging, but I’ll get there. I think the other thing is I was on a fairly main road for many, many kilometers, and that’s always extra draining. All the French drivers have been phenomenal. No one’s done any close pass. There’s no aggression or anything like that, but just there’s always that thought in your head. You’re on a road you’d rather not be on. So, be happy to get this ride finished. Definitely in wine country. Rolling vineyards as far as I can see. Nice headwind cuz you know the last 20ks have got to be the hardest, right? Even as tired as I am, I always always stop to appreciate the wild flowers. Poppies are popping as are these white daisies. Butterflies flitting about in the barley crop. It’s tray hot and I’m just looking forward to finishing up. Oh, just trying to get it done. 10ks to go and I’m broken. Well, I got commuted. My route was sending me over every single dirt shaman possible. I kept ignoring it cuz this close to Carcass and I just want to get there. So then I chose the main road, which was actually not so bad. Now it’s busy. And of course, I just did the steepest climb of the day right near the end. But look at this. There’s the Citadel in the distance. That’s where I’m headed. Oh gosh. Get me to Carcasson. Oh, Bonsw showered. Feel humid again. Sort of. But I think I’m a bit dehydrated and um really tired from a day riding in the heat. But I’m in Carcasson. So need to show you the citadel which is here. Look at that. That’s even just a small little microscopic part of it as well. At the moment my uh gosh, I’m so tired I can’t even think of the words. My priority right now is to find some good food. I’ve just spoken to the person at the hotel who’s told me where to get the best pizza in town. So, that’s where I’m going to go. He said big pizza and that’s for me. So, let’s get me fed. I’ve been to Carcasson a few times and it doesn’t matter how many cuz it’s still always impressive. What a place. [Music] Crossing the river or since the 14th century, the Pont view or old bridge once connected Carason’s lower town to the fortified citadel above. Today, it offers one of the most breathtaking views of the site de Carason with a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the best preserved medieval fortresses in Europe. With 52 towers and nearly three kilometers of double thick walls, the Citadel has stood guard here for over a thousand years. [Music] Bonjour from the Citadel at Carcasson. I’m doing what I normally do, which is getting out early in the morning. There’s no one really here. Car literally just drove over the old uh drawbridge behind me to open the citadel up a little bit. But beautiful early morning light. Bird song. Give this place I don’t know an hour and a half and it will be heaving. So if you’re in Carcasson for sure come and visit the citadel during the day, learn all the history properly. But do yourself a huge favor. Give yourself a gift and come to this beautiful citadel in the early morning where all you have to hear in the background is the song of chittering birds and you’ve got this beautiful light. Just walking over the old drawbridge. Back when this was a protected citadel, this was a moat. So there was water all around here. It’s nuts. Kakasan is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It has protected listing. There are reparation works happening, but it has it’s immense this place. Step inside the city Darkason and you’re actually stepping back through more than 2,000 years of history because this fortified citadel has seen Roman legions, Visigoththic kings, crusader armies, and medieval merchants all pass through its gates. All of these shops here pretty much function for tourism now. But it does make you think back in the day in the centuries this was just a city and the citadel and the rampetss and the moat protected everybody who was here as well. There’s been some huge wars of religion fought over here and battles and crusades. Uh outside yesterday I saw along the wall all these uh cool I guess animated paintings that have been um put up as street art sort of depicting different knights and soldiers who fought through here. But yeah, every everywhere in the city is like a new alleyway to explore. And like I said, while everything now is 100% focused on tourism, there is an element of it also sharing the history of the area as well. And yeah, it’s a beautiful place. Today’s ride takes me through the three places who lay claim to Cathol. So Carcasson, Castle, Nordri, and Tuloose each have a slight variation. Each say that theirs is the best. You can actually pay for a ticket and go in the ramp parts, which I 100% recommend on a day here in Carason. It is well worth it. And a full walk around the ramp parts actually takes quite a while. You can get guided tours like everything. There’s also the option to purchase a self-guided tour. So just a headset that you wear in the language of your choice and you learn the history as you walk around the area as well. After centuries of decline, the citadel was actually nearly demolished in the 1800s. But thankfully, instead it was saved and meticulously restored. Okay, day four, final day riding to Tuloose. About to head off. Had a little mechanical to deal with. My seat was loose. No idea why. And uh I use the Let me see if I can balance my bike so I can show you. I use the Red Shift suspension system. So, have to pop this cover up and uh tighten two bolts, but seems all good. So, uh off to Tuloose we go. Let’s see how we go. It’s going to be a hot day. I’ve got the sunscreen on, food, and water. Drinking lots will be the order of the day after yesterday. I think I nearly got heat stroke yesterday. And um the final 30 km is along the canal. So, at least it should be shady there. Ona, let’s go. First few kilometers done and happy to have cleared the city of Carcasson. I never have footage of getting out of the cities because you just got to keep your wits about you. There’s more traffic. But now I’m in beautiful countryside and it’s going to be hot. Some vineyards for company. A little bit of a lumpy day that’s going to finish on the canal. A little bit of cloud. And I’m hoping that will just build and maybe shade me from the hot sun. Me and my shadow for company. Fields looking beautiful in the sunlight. Now, at this point in the ride, I was really loving life. I knew it was going to be a hot day, but I was riding through spectacular countryside with wild flowers in the fields. The sky was beautifully blue and I had no idea what was about to occur. Been climbing steadily last couple of kilometers. I mean five and 8% enjoying the fact that it’s shady and that bird song serenating my squeaky pedal. No idea when I top out on this. hopefully soon. That sickening feeling when you realize the route you’ve been blindly following on your GPS is not the one you’re meant to be following and you’re way off course. Oh my gosh. Oh, that’s just Oh, stop. I’m nowhere near where I’m meant to be. Oh crap. Time to adventure this wand to Tuloose. Oh, finally finished. Well, it’s not really the end of the climb, but it’s the end of that little road. And now I’m navigating old school. I’m going to head to Montreal. Montreal and then Bram and then continue on. At least I’m rewarded with a spectacular view. I’m not sure how well this will come up. There’s a big massive cathedral just about there. Um, bird song’s nice. [Music] Sometimes the adventure finds you, right? Anyway, here we go. Not sure how much of this you can make out cuz it’s a little bit hazy, but the Pyrenees mountain chain is there in the distance. Some snow covered peaks. And it’s funny to think that well three days ago I was over that way climbing out to those and I’ve done a big massive loop all the way around. So anyway, we’re still climbing on this road. Feel like a descent’s coming up. I’m descending from my route miscalculation and the views are mega. A good reward. For those of you interested in hiking, this is the Shiman de Pont Piranium, the Jia 78, which is uh the Camino route. Uh this route actually goes through my village and it’s 1,248 km to S uh well, I would imagine that is to Santiago de Compostella. Yeah, that is the big cathedral at Montreal, which is why it’s very much a way a place on the pilgrim trail. And uh this is a field of newly planted sunflowers. So in just a few weeks, this would all be yellow. It’d be quite impressive. And uh the rye or barley maybe wheat growing blue sky day descending down into Bram. Feeling a little bit more settled now. Sometimes root miscalculations can get in my head, but um it’s been nice roads, maybe a bit of serendipity. Let’s get to Tuloo. Stopped in Bram and having a little early lunch of a veggie pizza. Looks good. Just I’m not even in a little park. I’m just in a on a chair in the shade. I’m going to take some time out now and plop a new route and see how we get to Tuloo. When you do enough of these bike adventures, sometimes you realize that when things have gone wrong, the best thing you can do is take a time out, stop, and eat something because there will always be a solution. Made it to Castle Nudrey. This is actually the canal Demidi that I’m on now. And I could take this all the way to Tuloo or I could sort of divert inland a little bit as well. Uh the canal a little bit further on from here I think for about another 10 or so km is actually dirt. Um not bad dirt but just uh non-paved service. Castle Audrey looks very nice. I’m weighing up options. I think I have about 60 km left to get to my destination today. It’s very hot so I’m just enjoying a few more minutes in the shade pondering options. I decided against the easy option of just taking the canal route back all the way to Tulus and instead plotted a route which would wind me through some more of the countryside. You see so many of these huge abandoned empty buildings. This would have been a farm estate, but yeah, you just think what must have been. And they’re huge. Church and a cemetery straight ahead of me. I’ve had some lovely riding out of Castle Nordri um on very very quiet roads which has been very welcome and sort of up a bit down a bit up a bit down a bit in the countryside. So that has been really really enjoyable actually even in the heat dare I say it. The big tip for the day is just keep chugging the water down. In fact, there’s a cemetery up ahead. And I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it on videos before, but cemeteries are a fantastic water source. Uh, in France, there’s generally a tap hooked up to the municipal town water supply at a cemetery. And now we’re back along the canal. 2 hours probably to get to Tuloose from here. Shade is very, very welcome. [Music] And uh yeah, feels like it’s been a big day, which I think is really testament to how much the heat really saps it out of you. I refilled my bottles at the cemetery. And I made sure to pour the old water out to refresh it with really nice cool water. So that’s a tip if you’ve never done that before. But yes, loving the beautiful green serenity of the canal right now and the beautiful bird song. [Music] I bought this at the Bingerie and have had it on my bike as a little carrot for when my energy is flagging. I think I got 34 km or something like that to Tuloose. Now it’s time to have this Portuguese tart. Just under 10 km to go to the finish. Coming in towards Tuloose. All the people who live on the house boats more here. [Music] This canal requires constant pedaling. And on a hot day when you’re tired, it’s hard work. Need a few rollers any day to the flat. [Music] Central Too on the way to the hotel. Free concert, busy streets. It’s always a bit of an adrenaline rush cycling through cities, but yeah, walking the bike’s the right idea. [Music] Made it to Tuloose. Had an absolute nightmare at the hotel where the owner insisted he would not have me and my bike stay. He even at one stage didn’t even want my pantiers in the room. Um absolutely ridiculous. Hotel Deose Arts. Never ever ever go there or stay there in Tuloo. Happy to say I found another hotel who is very very welcoming for bike riders as everyone should be. And this is what I love the most about Tulus. This beautiful, beautiful warm day. Everyone down by the Gon River with a picnic and a traveler, live music above me, but it’s just a fantastic vibe. And I’m celebrating. I got a kebab. And the kindness from strangers with the solo female traveler has not ended. Even though I’m off the bike, the kebab store owner gave me a free orange simply because I exchanged some French with him. Pretty stunning. And uh that’s where we’re going to leave it. 4 days to fa caron to loose. What a trip. I hope you enjoyed coming along for this 4-day mini adventure. If you did, please give this video a like and subscribe to the channel for more content like this. Happy writing.