Day 11 October 7th 2012 - Fontbeauzard to Carcassonne (Total 71 miles - Running Total 741 miles)

Despite my negative depressed state of mind yesterday, I awoke this morning after a good night sleep with a much more positive attitude and especially as a result of knowing that I would not have another tedious day on the Canal. It was Sunday and that meant that the otherwise busy roads out of Toulouse and to Carcassonne were much quieter. Today, was also the first time during the entire ride that I had the assistance of a strong tail wind rather than the head wind which had hampered me for so long. This combined with relatively flat countryside made for some pretty fast cycling once I had negotiated the network of roads to get out of the suburbs of Toulouse. I never got to see the city centre but if it was anything like the suburbs, I'm glad I didn't.

Progress was very good and by lunchtime I had broken the back of the ride but then the sat nav asked me to negotiate a road which was not there. Even after losing the best part of an hour trying to figure out another route, I was back on course and once again eating up the mileage once again, arriving in Carcassonne in plenty of time to enjoy a hot bath, to change and to go out and explore this fascinating beautiful fortress town. This was a great day and for the first time I was confident of reaching Barcelona despite knowing I had some tough days to come.