A trip on the Canal du Midi, Summer 2024

In September 2023 while Garry, Amanda and Graham were staying at Bill and Mary's we decided to phone Hugh and suggest we went on a barge holiday together.  Within a week Hugh was on the case.  A 12 berth boat from Le Boat (more...)  was booked from June 1st till June 8th.  On May 31st Hugh and Jane flew from Birmingham to Toulouse, Bill and Mary flew fom Heathrow to Toulouse and the rest flew from Gatwick to Montpellier.  Trains took us to Bezier and then a taxi was needed to get to Port Cassafières where there is a Le Boat base.  Hugh had arranged for us to stay on the boat on Friday night instead of staying in a hotel.  The Canal du Midi (more...) is a fantastic piece of engineering completed in 1681. It is two metres deep and on average twenty metres wide. It does not look like a good place to swim.   

 

We arrive on Hayling Island at 8:50am. Emma admires the dogs and the views and then returns home. George and his Mercedes taxi arrive about 9:30am and drives us to the Gatwick South terminal. We struggle through the new self checking hold luggage and proceed to security. Liquids have to be in transparent plastic bags and clearly visible. We sort out the problems and select some duty free gin - £12 a litre. Paying for it is another technology nightmare but a kind lady helps us out. We find a place to sit in to have some liquid refreshments. Beers for the boys and coffee for the lady. A pizza is ordered to be shared by all. The departure time of the plane is checked and found to be in twelve minutes time. We hurry to the gate and are the last people to board. The flight takes off twenty five minutes late. We land in Montpellier at 4:20pm and queue for a taxi. One arrives. We ask to be taken to the station. There are two but we don’t know which one. We are driven to the one in the centre of the town - St. Roch. It is the right one. We buy a ticket for 3 old people to Beziers on the 5:28pm train to Perpignan - 31.15 euros. We descend to voie F. It is a 45 minute trip which takes on the seaward side of the large Etang du Thau. At Beziers we take a taxi to Le Boat at Port Cassafières. When we arrive we are greeted by the others who have started their libations in the restaurant. Hugh shows us to our rooms on the boat. We unpack and join the others for the meal. The majority have moules and frites. We return to the boat and fail to get the wifi to work. We retire to our rooms. There is no soap!

Graham awakes about 5:45am. Hugh makes us tea at 7am. Mary makes bread and butter with cheese or strawberry jam as the oven doesn’t work as a toaster. Graham sorts out the WiFi. A technician comes at 9:15am to sort out the oven and the leaking shower in the captain’s apartment. The oven cannot be fixed and there is no replacement. The technician drives the boat out of its mooring onto the Canal du Midi. It’s a fine day. We take it in turns at the helm to get used to steering the boat. We stop at Villeneuve de Beziers to buy provisions. Bill guards the boat. Graham and Garry visit the nearby cafe for a grande pression. The shoppers return and decide we should have lunch at the pizzeria sampled by Garry and Graham.  We successfully get through our second lock and make our way to Beziers and a flight of seven locks climbing 32m. At the top we watch an immersive movie film about the history of the canal and some had English versions of the audio. We return to the boat and travel a bit more before tying up at a bank with two mooring posts. The G&Ts are handed out. The meal is prepared. The BBQ is difficult to start but eventually the gas burner is lit and stays alight. Hugh cooks the pork chops to perfection. New potatoes, asparagus and salad accompany them. The washing and drying is performed with gusto and several depart for bed. The remaining play a game called Bananagrams, which appears to be a solitaire version of Scrabble. We retire at about 10pm.

Garry delivers tea at 7am. We leave shortly after 8am and make our way on the deserted canal and dock in Colombiers thanks to some wonderful reverse steering by Garry. The ladies go shopping whilst the two 400 litres water tanks are refilled. After the return of the ladies we traipse up some steps to a boulangerie for cafe and croissants. We return to the boat, cast off and make our way to the Malpas tunnel (more...). We park and walk to where we can see the Etang du Montady. We go through the tunnel of Malpas and arrive at Capestang but there are no parking places so we continue until we find one. We stay for a couple of hours, have lunch and a siesta. We untie and make our way to Argeliers. We find a place near the town where we can moor. Hugh and Amanda walk to the nearby relais to see if we can eat there tonight but discover we can’t. We stay on board and eat steak, asparagus and egg salad. After the meal we try to play cards. At 10:15pm we retire.

Mary delivers tea at 7:15am. The showers are working today. We leave early and make our way to La Somail. We travel along a tree lined route to the junction with a canal going to Narbonne. Nightingales are singing everywhere and kingfishers flit from tree to tree. We moor near La Somail and walk into town over an old stone bridge. Nowhere is open. It’s Monday. France sleeps. We return to the boat. A baguette and pain au chocolate are bought. We have breakfast on the top deck. The boat won’t start. It turns out that the boat must be in neutral to start. The person who last moored the boat had not put the speed control lever into the upright position. We leave and make our way to Ventenac en Minervois. We walk a short distance to the Chateau de Ventenac where a very knowledgeable young lady explains in English the wines they have. We have a tasting of some of them. We buy 20 bottles in boxes which are piled onto a trolley and trundled back to the boat. The trolley is returned to the chateau and shortly afterwards the cartons do likewise. Lunch is partaken on the upper deck under the shade of the Bimini. Amanda books us into a restaurant for 7:45pm. We take a siesta. We move off at 4pm, pass through a lock and enter a Locaboat marina in Argens Minervois. After a G&T we walk through the car park past the tennis court and under the bridge past the cemetery and end up at La Guinguette. We have a very good meal and return to the boat. Some of us play cards and retire at about 10:30pm.

Mary delivers the Earl Grey tea at 7:45am. We depart the marina at 8:45am and make our way to the first lock. It doesn’t open till 9am. We are second in line for the lock. There is a third boat behind us. We pass through the lock and up behind the slow speed of the one ahead which appears to be a Belgian family with a mid-twenties son.  We pass through several locks including double locks always climbing higher. Garry performs a remarkable reverse parking into a Le Boat marina at Homps. We walk over the bridge and search for somewhere to have lunch. We choose La Peniche where three have escargots, three have soupe de poisson and one has a Mimosa, a sort of egg salad. Four of the party go on a shopping expedition and the other three are asked to continue imbibing outside by the canal. The shoppers return and the team rejoins the boat, unpacks the shopping and takes a siesta. We travel through several locks and at one we are unlucky. Two boats are in the lock and we try to get in but are forced to reverse out. We park by the bank and several go to look to see if we can get through before it shuts at 7pm. We can so we do. We moor shortly after the lock. The nearest village is Puicheric. We have barbecued pork, asparagus and potatoes plus a salad. This was followed by a Magnum ice cream. Some wine is consumed. After a joint washing up activity some are left to play cards. Hugh wins. We retire about 10:15p

Garry brings tea at 7:40am. It’s another bright morning, clear blue sky and 19C. Garry and Graham take the empties and rubbish to a bin by the lock. After breakfast we cast off at 9:10am. We head up the canal to a nearby lock. It’s just so beautiful, the scenery with the twittering of nightingales. There are bird boxes on several trees. Over a million trees have been planted along the canal. Graham has a turn at the wheel but tries to navigate past an oncoming boat but collides with a tree causing a small bleeding of the wrist. He is replaced at the helm to tend to his wound. After several more locks we arrive at Trebes in time to enter the lock at 1pm. Lock hours are 9am to noon and 1pm to 7pm between March 17 and October 31. In between the canals are closed for maintenance. Garry parks magnificently in a Le Boat marina at Trèbes and those who haven’t already had it have lunch. We fill up with water and electricity. At about 3pm a siesta is authorised till 5pm. It’s now 30C. Amanda goes shopping. At 5pm we leave Trèbes and go through several sets of locks. The lock keepers are generally pretty friendly but occasionally there is one who will ask if it’s your first time. We park near a bridge with a banner announcing Domaine du Mijane. We bang in the two heavy metal stakes into the ground to tie the boat to.  The evening meal is prepared. Crevettes and filets of mackerel are barbecued followed by chicken and pork. The meal ends with mini Magnums. A game of cards takes place. Hugh does not win.

Garry brings tea at 7:45am. We leave at 8:35am. It’s cloudy and 19C. The decision is taken not to stop for too long in Carcassonne. It’s a long way to the fortified town part. We travel through several locks and stop at Lalande as the lock closes for lunch. We have lunch. The sun is beginning to shine. We pass through several more locks and stop at Villesequelande where Amanda and Mary go shopping for the evening meal. It’s 29C at 5pm. We stop at Bram to take on water at a cost of 4 euros. We go past the lock at Bram and moor on the right side of the bank. We have dinner, mackerel fillets and pork pieces. We don’t discuss politics but we have a philosophical discussion about ‘Can anyone remember what we did tomorrow?‘. We listen to nightingales chattering to each other. We go through the lock near Bram and tie up for the night, The first course is mackerel followed by pork and cheese.   Mini Magnums follow later as does the game of cards. Amanda wins tonight.

Hugh brings tea at 7:30am. After breakfast we untie and head for the first lock. No other boat can be seen. It’s cloudy and 19C. At Treboul we have to control the lock ourselves. At first the gates don’t open but eventually they do. After pressing a green button indicating we are going up-hill. The gates close behind us, the lock fills up and the front gates open. Magic! We manage a couple more locks on our own but one doesn’t work. We decide as it’s 12:06pm it’s closed for lunch till 1pm. We have lunch pate and cheese and bread with a glass or two of wine. We enter the lock shortly after one. Today we are very lucky. We see only three boats moving past us and no boats to share a lock with. We reach Castelnaudry at 3:30pm and tie up in the Grand Bassin at the Le Boat quay.  A man from Le Boat checks it over. The stanchion which collided with a bridge is repaired. The broken oven is not fixed. The shower in the captain’s boudoir is fixed. Hugh, Jane and Amanda go shopping. We have some pre-dinner wine. A boat with four Germans tie up by us after bumping into us. We barbecue steaks, microwave a piece of salmon. Five of us play cards. Amanda wins again.

Mary brings the tea at 7:05am. Somebody was snoring in the night. It’s cloudy. We pack up our bags and put the bed linen into blue plastic bags. At 9am we leave the boat and walk to the station. It’s shut. A historic train is waiting. We go to platforms B and C. Bill and Mary's train to Toulouse is at 9:58am. Ours to Narbonne is at 9:59am.  We hug and say our goodbyes. Our train stops at familiar places like Bram and Carcassonne. Nobody collected any ticket money. At Narbonne we purchase tickets for Monday. We walk through the streets to our Airbnb. We are greeted by Alain at 2 Rue Andre Chenier, The apartment occupies the top two levels of the building. There is a terrasse off the top floor. Hugh and Jane have the double on the lower floor. Garry and Amanda have the upper floor. Graham has the canope convertible in the living room. We wander the streets to find a bar brasserie, Chez Lulu, where we have coffee and beers. We wander down to the Canal du Robine and enter the magnificent market hall. We admire the wonderful displays of fruit, vegetables, fish, cheeses and many cooked dishes. We return via the Carrefour City with wine and bread. We have lunch and a siesta. At 4:15pm Hugh makes tea. We leave at 5:50pm to find the cathedral. We are too late. It shuts at six. We wander aimlessly looking for a place to drink rather than to eat. We find one and imbibe. At 6:10pm we make our way to O Juste. Our hostess. Julie, speaks good English and has a great sense of humour. We order two croque monsieurs for mains, a lamb dish and a cote de boeuf for Garry and Graham. It is magnificent. The bill is expensive - 308 euros. We wend our way home and play whist titty. Garry wins. We retire.

At 7am Graham makes tea for all. Hugh goes in search of croissants and returns with them. We walk to the cathedral. It has a massive choir and altar in the centre surrounded by chapels. We admire the cloisters and garden. We decide to buy 6 euro tickets for the archbishop’s palace with its art collection and tower. The art  collection is at the top of a long flight of stairs. It is a grand collection featuring North African paintings and porcelain from Moustiers. We climb up the dinjon via a circular staircase. Some reach the top while one rests in a large room. We leave the palace and search for a bar cafe. We are served by Ella, a 21 year old who speaks very good English and has a good sense of humour. We order beer and tres grand cafe. Ella suggests a place where we can eat tonight. We book the place for 7:30pm and make our way back to the apartment. We have lunch - pate, cheese, bread, wine and then take a siesta. At 4:30pm Hugh makes tea. We leave for pre-dinner drinks. It’s Sunday so not many places are open. We walk over to the other side of the canal and find a place. It is very windy. We walk to the En Face restaurant and sit inside. We select our food and have a delicious meal. The boss was born in Newport and moved to France - James George Wickenden. We return and play cards. Graham wins.

The alarm goes off at 5:40am. Garry makes tea. We pack up and hug and kiss Hugh and Jane. It’s a fine day and not very windy. We walk 10 minutes to the station. The train arrives early but will depart at 6:32am. It’s an hour’s journey to Montpellier. Nobody checks our tickets. Whilst walking to the taxis Graham stumbles and falls. We get into a taxi. Amanda has a good chat with the driver about the French election on June 30. At the airport Amanda’s suitcase is checked in. Boarding passes are obtained. We go through security and wait by a window. The plane takes off on time and lands at 11:42am. We take our time getting through passports and baggage claim. George is waiting for us. He selects the M23/M25 route home. Graham is dropped off at The Ship Inn, Langstone at 1:50pm and is picked up by Emma shortly after at the end of a wonderful holiday.