Visiting Albi Part 1 - Getting to Albi

We visited the town of Albi, France.  It is primarily known for being the location of the Toulouse-Lautrec museum and the Saint Cecile Cathedral.  Albi is located about 80 kilometers northeast of Toulouse.  The kids and I drove.  Dan bicycled.  Here is his journey as well as I can reconstruct it from Facebook and his humorously titled Strava trip, "Le Trek Toulouse - Toulouse-Lautrec."  Get it?  Because he started his journey in Toulouse and went to the city known for Toulouse-Lautrec.  Yup.

In a normal occurrence, Dan departed our place before I woke up.  This was probably before 7am.  I'm not sure.  Like I said, I was peacefully enjoying sleep.  Ultimately, it took him 5 hours to make it to Albi.  However, this wasn't 5 hours to go 80 kilometers.  No, this was 5 hours to go 80 miles.  Because bicycles are not allowed on expressways, he took a more "fun" route.  

Fun Times

After bicycling for a while, Dan took a break around 9:30am at Foret de Gresigne to take this picture of the beautiful countryside.  All of the countryside near us is beautiful.  

Break time. Lost in France.

Then he biked a bunch of elevation to take this hilltop view at the not-ironically titled, Le Panoramique, around 10am.  It is at Cordes Sur Ciel.  Ciel is french for Sky.

Hill top city view

On the way out of town, he captured another view of the city, which was tricky to get with the camera.  But still cool.  

Lord of the Rings come to life

Fortunately he was able to get a good shot of the sky city from a more distant perspective.

Cordes Sur Ciel

After some more riding, Dan arrived in Albi around noon where we met up.  

Albi

It took us a little over an hour to drive to Albi.  For Dan, we brought the bike rack so that he could hang out with us and get a lift home.  But 80 kilometers instead of 80 miles this time!