The Cathar Trail - Anyone Got Any Info

[slugwash]

My big bikepacking trip of 2012 was going to be another solo attempt at the Tour Mount Blanc. However, my regular riding partner has now been released from his looking-after-new-born-kids sabbatical of the last few years and is back on the bike touring circuit. The TMB might be a bit too demanding for a currently out of shape fortysomething, new parent whose more used to changing nappies than gears so he's suggested the Cathar Trail in Southern France for a September bike trip.


The rough plan is to get down somewhere near the trail (Toulouse, Perpignan, etc) and do the trail, either East-West or vice-versa then use the flat Canal du Midi to quickly hoof it back to the start and return home(both family men with limited time).

Getting to the start's a faff, I'm going from Devon, he Brighton. Personally, I'd rather do a ferry train trip and meet up in France rather than fly, but logistically they're time consuming and difficult. We've also considered http://www.bike-express.co.uk/ though the bus timetable for mid September doesn't quite fit in with our ideal dates.

So, a couple of questions....

Has anyone done this trail or know the area?

And, if so did they get there from the UK?

Also, I get the impression from googling 'Cathar Trail Cycling' that the path/trail is not particularly technical or rough. And we'd quite like to do it on road/cyclocross bikes (with thicker tyres - 32s rather than 25s). What d'yer think?

So, any knowledge on the French train network, experience with bikeexpress and info on the trail itself greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Rich


BTW, cooking on meths, Snugpak Travel Lite, Alpkit Wee Aeric and one change of undies if you're interested ;-)

[Ray Young]

My very limited expereience of putting a bike on a train in France was 25 years ago, I wasn't to know it but my bike didn't travel on the same train as me and turned up three days later. I later found out that they saved bikes up until they had enough to make it worth their while and then loaded them all into the guards van. Might have changed now but worth checking out. The train was great though, one train from the north east of France all the way to the Spanish border, no changing trains, no delays and great service on board.