Saint-Girons / Foix The Vélosud

The route

After you’ve left Saint-Girons, this stage is almost entirely along a dedicated cycle way, in the form of a converted old railway line, the surface at times smooth, at times rough. It’s only as you arrive at Foix that you need to join roads shared with motorized traffic, but with provisions in place for cyclists, to ensure they can ride safely into town.

Points at which to take care

• At Saint-Girons: leaving town, take care crossing the D117 road in order to join a secondary road 100m further on. 
• In Foix: entering Foix, before and after the Quartier de la Gare (around the railway station), make sure that you keep to the laid-out cycle lanes running along the pavements beside the D919 road.

Link to a further cycle route

At Saint-Girons, you can join the famed Pyrenean Route des Cols by heading to Castillon-en-Couserans, 14km away via the D618 road (you share the way with motorized traffic and note that there are no specific cycling facilities in place).

Practical information

• Office de Tourisme de Saint-Girons    
• Office de Tourisme de Foix

Transports

SNCF French National Railways train stations

• Gare SNCF de Boussens (31), on the Tarbes-Toulouse line, to reach Saint-Girons and the V81 (stage 08) or then use a LiO regional bus (line 452).
• Gare SNCF de Foix: regional TER Occitanie trains (you can transport your bike for free on these), a stop on the Toulouse-Latour de Carol line.

BUS services

• LiO regional bus network, to reach Saint-Girons via line 452  from Boussens.
• LiO regional bus network, line 454 connects Saint-Girons and Foix.
  https://www.lio-occitanie.fr/horaires-et-plans/

Don't miss

• The Voie Verte des Pyrénées Ariégeoises, a greenway: comfortable, shaded, straight stretches along which to ride with ease, metal bridges taking you across streams, well-built sections smoothing out any rises… soon even with well-lit tunnels too – you’ll see here how the Vélosud cycle route makes the most of the former railway line built to connect Saint-Girons to Foix! 
• Rimont: at the level of the former train station at Rimont, you can leave the greenway to visit, just a short way off, 12th-century Combelongue Abbey, built entirely out of brick, in the typical early Romanesque style, even including some mudejar forms, reflecting the influence of Arabic architecture. 
• Castelnau-Durban: should it be time for a pause on your route, do branch right, via Rue de la Gare, to visit the village of Castelnau-Durban very close by. As well as admiring its long alley of plane trees that provide shade for the weekly Tuesday morning market, you’ll find a grocer’s, a café, regional produce on sale at the shop l'Échoppe, plus a reputed gastronomic restaurant, Chez Victor!
• La-Bastide-de-Sérou: one of the historic 13th-century grid-plan bastide towns built on the territories of the powerful regional lords, the Comtes de Foix, this one became reputed for its flour mills and forges. Today, note that there’s a bike rental and repair shop here, Arize 2 roues.
• Baulou: just after passing under a bridge, a little track to the left enables you to arrive rapidly at the visitor centre to head down to the underground river of Labouiche. Tours last 1hr 15mins, taking you 60m underground, and you board little boats that transport you 1,500m (almost one mile) along this rivière souterraine, offering the longest cave-river journey in Europe! 
  Vernajoul: built to enable trains to travel with ease along the Ariège Valley, the Viaduc de Vernajoul was considered a technical feat of engineering when it went up at the very end of the 19th century. Rising 35m above the valley, its 230m-long curve of masonry is supported by 14 rounded arches.