Lafrançaise / Montech La Vagabonde

Leaving behind the medieval bastide town of Lafrançaise on its promontory, La Vagabonde cycle route leads you across the Aveyron River via the submersible ford at Piquecos. You then ride through orchards stretching across the Tarn Plain. Montauban, designated a Ville d’Art et d’Histoire for its cultural riches, is one of the best-preserved, most significant of the grid-plan bastides, or ‘‘new towns’’, built across southwest France in medieval times. It’s a great place for cyclists to enjoy a rest. Montauban is known as southwest France’s second ‘‘ville rose’’ (‘‘pink city’’) after the regional capital, Toulouse. Pink to ruddy brick dominates in town, notably around the renowned main square, Place Nationale. Pink dominates too in the rooftiles of the fine merchants’ homes built on the back of the long-thriving regional trade in woad, for making blue dye. Also in the distinctive local brick, seek out the Église Saint-Jacques, the historic Collège, and the fine arts museum, the Musée Ingres Bourdelle, as well as admiring the Pont Vieux, the main bridge over the Tarn River. From Montauban, the cycle route proves untaxing, following the Canal de Montech. One curiosity at the end is the Montech Canal’s inclined plane, an engineering feat operating on cables, built to transport barges mechanically up and down a 13m drop, replacing the previous system of five locks in a row. A trail dotted with surprises guides you to the Machine, or engine room, for the inclined plane, plus there’s a barge turned immersive, playful exhibition space.