Canal du Midi

Following a change in RWC timelines we found ourselves with a gap of 13 days between pool and QF matches. As the latter were in Marseille some activity towards the South of France was appropriate and the canal du midi seemed like a suitable bucket list option. This proved to be the case with most of the chateau crowd shouting “pick me, pick me….” The result 19 aboard two boats.

Here we are shortly after the start of our first full day aboard.

We were extremely lucky with the weather – high 20’s low 30’s for the whole week and not a breath of wind. Just as well as steering these large high boats had a few challenges – low bridges being one aspect.

So a skipper and navigator/look out were a good idea.

We wanted to make sure all who saw us appreciated our origins.

The calm weather resulted in many reflective shots – here are a couple.

Our trip was West from Homps to Port Cassifieres with a side trip South down the Canal de la Robine to Narbonne. The first section of locks off the Robine canal are particularly attractive – we also operated them (albeit a button pushing exercise – unlike England) so that added to the activity.

Also, unlike England which has straight locks these have a bow in them so wider boats can partially berth alongside one another. Best not to watch when our sister ship follows us into the lock….

One of the locks was also ingeniously designed to include a dry dock.

Less ingenious was an old bridge in the centre of Narbonne that has just been closed for fear of collapse. This prevented us from mooring outside our planned restaurant and necessitated a short walk into town and around the bridge. No one knows when the bridge will re-open. Nancy (my cousin who lives in Narbonne) thought it could be years before they even sorted out who would have to pay!

Needless to say the walk was worth it with a wonderful meal at Restaurant En Face. No unhappy punters here!

Of course most evenings required an apperitif before dinner and where better than on the top deck in the sunshine.

In 2007 the peace and tranquillity of the chateau in a remote part of the country was abruptly halted on Sunday as the locals went out hunting. 2023 was no different with Sunday at Gaudras also being a noisy affair. Despite the noise it was rare to see a shooter. That all changed on the CdM. Here are a couple of likely lads getting in a bit of exercise presumably before returning home, changing and heading to church.

The shipping highlight of this voyage revolved around Bezier. First there are the Fonseranes flight of locks. There are 9 in total although we only went through 6 as the remainder were to access the river Orb and are no longer in use.

Second at the bottom there is an inclined lift (the Pente, d’Eau de Fonserannes) for vessels up to 350 Tonnes. It was built in the 1980’s in anticipation of increased traffic. Unfortunately, the increase did not materialise and in the 1990’s it was abandoned.

Third is the Orb aqueduct that carries the Canal du Midi over the aforementioned river. It is in a wonderful setting.

At 240 metres long (7 arches) and 12 metres high it is a large structure and opened in 1858 as traversing the Orb due to changing water levels was unreliable. Sound reasoning so far but what seems to be a complete overkill is its width at 28 metres. This includes galleries either side of the actual waterway that are more that the width of the waterway. Apparently, they are for maintenance purposes. All that said it is a very elegant structure, which was fortunately not damaged by our sister ships traversing.

We spent a day in Beziers which is a particularly attractive town. The gardens include many interesting plants and sculptures.

Whilst in the town the theatre is a standout.

In addition to physical structures, you can do a separate walk to take in many wall paintings. Some were brilliant with this one suggesting the painting was still underway.

Finally, of course there is the often seen shot of the cathedral (1130 and 80 years before Notre Dame) with Pont Vieux (of a similar age) in the foreground. (I can vouch that the view from the bell tower was stunning and took a long time to appreciate - just as well as recovery time from the climb was also protracted!) What is unique to this shot are the two little dots walking across the bridge..

And with that we made our way to Port Cassifieres where other than managing to persuade the local restaurant to open up for 21 people there was nothing report worthy.