Another long ride today – at 102km. We set off in the rain and rode in it for 3 hours until midday. By that time we were at Cazoubon. Kris broke a spoke and fixed it in the rain – I feel I jinxed this by blogging about not breaking spokes the previous night. We were soaked through – it was lovely when the rain stopped and everything was fresh and you began to dry out.

We are back in the grape growing region and passed a few wineries where you can buy wine direct and in bulk (at one we saw someone bringing their own containers and filling them).

In the afternoon we passed through Barbotan-les-Thermes – it looked like a lovely holiday resort with a la ke and thermal baths but alas we were committed to reaching Condom. Next we passed through Montreal (no mention made of Canada) and then onto Condom. Beautiful farmland a bit like the Western Cape with rolling hills.

The French name Condom has absolutely no sexual connotations (in French) at all – Kris managed to refrain from cracking any jokes at tourist info.

Condom has a beautiful Gothic Cathedral with flying buttresses, and a nice inner town. However the road directly in and out was not well maintained and the motorists were inconsiderate. The tourist office was very helpful and we found a Chambre de Hotes about 6km out of town (near the small town of Caussens). It is in a wonderful rural setting, in a converted barn next to the host’s home. It is private and we have plenty of space – with the sleeping area upstairs. There are also four beautiful long haired cats.

We were very tired and dirty when we arrived from riding in the rain and had to spend some time cleaning the bikes and panniers.

Our hosts, Colette and Jean-Marie were very friendly and made us a welcome coffee on arrival. Breakfast the next morning was a treat – including a home baked cake! We had an interesting discussion with Jean-Marie over breakfast about the different languages in France and other such matters – as he speaks very good English.

Colette does patchwork as a hobby and there was a wonderful piece on the dining room wall – also one in our bedroom with chickens on it that I really liked. Her blog (with pictures of patchwork pieces) is at http:coudlette.blogspot.com