I’m writing this walking along the canal into Toulouse and wow, yesterday seems an age ago, I have to stretch back in my mind to recall it.

I start each day having forgotten the effort I put in the day before. The first 40 minutes are often sore as my muscles warm up, and then the next hour is a joy. At this point, it hits me I have many hours of paddling ahead of me. It’s hard to imagine that I’ll still be paddling in 5 hours time and it’s better not to. The pain isn’t intense, but the challenge is to not let the duration overwhelm the mind. Just keep going, time will pass. True, I don’t have to paddle, but if I don’t, I won’t go anywhere.

I paddled a few kilometres into Moissac where I sat and blogged by the canal while eating bread, cheese and you guessed it, a pastry (which was eaten first). The humble apple really takes centre stage in the tart aux pommes, it actually feels quite healthy. Forget about the no doubt copious amounts of sugar and butter! Blissfully buttery apple sits on a bed of crumbly, cake-like pastry that leaves a taste of caramel lingering. Best eaten with a utensil.

A highlight of the day was seeing a ragondin (coypu in English). It was perched on the bank but swam off before I could take a photo, its tail snaking through the water like a big rat, which I suppose it is. Introduced from South America for fur farming in the 1880s, they are now a rampant pest. Dede later told me to be careful, as they can give a nasty bite.

I was just at a lock eating pears off a tree growing in the hedge when to my surprise, a man on a recumbent bike called my name. This was Dede, who I was staying with that night. He cycled with me for the 10km to his farm, guiding me through the locks of Montech. At Montech there is a cool piece of engineering – 2 railway locomotives pull barges up an inclined plane.

I arrived at Dede’s canal-side farm which was a wonderful place. At some point, the old farmhouse had been vastly extended by, as his Dede’s friend Manu put it, the mafia. There were stables, shutters with peeling paint and a lovely old barn where a van the police had taken off the road was parked. Also, a workshop where Manu fixed up bikes, and piles of bike parts everywhere. Beautiful mess and character everywhere!

Dede lives a simple, amazing life. He is passionate about horses, donkeys and mules and has travelled all around France with them in the caravan where I slept. I had a great stay with Dede and Manu, so if you’re reading this, thanks guys!

I don’t think Dede would mind me saying that his house is simple and basic. But why would he sacrifice his lifestyle to wake up somewhere more comfortable and tidy when he has everything he needs? Indeed why would anyone? There’s much to be envied in Dede’s community centred, freedom filled, and eco-friendly lifestyle, and his spirit shows it.

But maybe I’m being naive. Most people are struggling just to live or perhaps enjoy comfort, or enjoy their jobs, or don’t want a freer lifestyle.