A long day. I almost hesitate to post. We got up just about 6am and had coffee and croissants. Then packed up the tent, and checked out by having our wrist bracelets cut off. Then we casually biked into Bèziers and arrived about two hours early.
So coffee again. Then buy a baguette sandwich for the road and wait for the track to be announced ( typically 20 minutes before it arrives). This resulted in is having to remove our bags and carry the bikes down some steps and then up some others in about 84 plus weather.
Then the first uncertainty. We asked the platform lady which cars would have velo sections. She told us and then said do you have a ticket for your velo. Uh, what? The velo is included I said. (We got down here with velos and no charge and Doug said intercite is always free.)
Plus I purchased tickets for a train with bike slots, the ticket site never asked me to pay additionally for one. (Not all trains carry bikes so you have to go with the times available).
anyway we threw our bikes and bags on and as I was loading the last pannier and Doug was hanging the bikes (platform officials are blowing their whistles) this unpleasant young lady scowls at me, and aggressively asks me I have a ticket for the velo. I say yes, included. She looks at it and says no. Then gets loud and unpleasant in front of all passengers and Doug just says what? isn't it gratuit on intercity?? Why was it included and gratuit from Paris to Bordeaux? And she say no it never is absolutely not! So we pay 40 euros for two bikes. She tells us we must pay for our bikes on the next leg, (Bordeaux to Tours at the gîte-ticket office- and I am thinking bs, I could have gotten a better ticket if I had known there was a charge for each leg) The normal cost and we sit after she kicks out two people in our seats. She made an announcement over the loudspeaker too that all velos must be paid for always. It was an uneventful if hot ride. Another cup of hot coffee and i read most of 5 quarters of an orange.
Next segment later....there is more.....
continuing
at Bordeaux Doug waited for an hour in line to learn that we had been sold tickets for a train that didn't really exist or rather the actual train didn't take bikes. But we got revised tickets(Doug said the guy was very nice and helpful, and as it was the last train if the day we were determined to shove our stuff anywhere we could) for the real train and were told to just get on with our stuff and explain to the controllers if they argued with us. The train had two bike slots, exactly what we needed.
Due to very hot weather ( 97 plus, the train was terribly hot and stuffy and it was an almost 4 hour ride. The trains were all running an hour slow to reduce pollution because the Ir was hot and still.
we arrived in Tours after 8 pm and slowly pedaled to a nearby campground where we slept very well.