Quai de Lucien Lombard, Toulouse

This photo in Toulouse was taken one afternoon last week as I walked beside the Garonne along the Quai de Lucien Lombard towards the Pont Neuf. It was the first really sunny day for over a week and many people sat on the quays enjoying the sun as it shone in the hazy sky of late Autumn. A romantic young couple caught my attention.

The Garonne is one of France’s principal rivers, flowing 575 km from its origin in the glaciers of the Pyrenees, on the Spanish side of the border. It ends its journey in the Bay of Biscay estuary, La Gironde near Bordeaux, where it meets the Dordogne. Passing through Toulouse it is too shallow and bedevilled by treacherous currents for boats, and so its broad surface is often very tranquil, devoid of all traffic except the occasional rower or police launch. I saw the rather strange sight today of a man propelling himself along in the middle of the river while standing on a narrow kayak.

The graceful Pont Neuf was built between 1544 and 1632, and inaugurated in 1659.

(guest post by photographer Andrew McRae)