Beziers: 43°19’48.1″N 3°11’50.7″E  to Villeneuve les Beziers: 43°19’02.6″N 3°16’52.3″E

We got up early this morning to take the 7 step locks down to the next level of the canal.

PHOTO SHOWING THE VIEW FROM THE TOP OF THE 7 LOCK STAIRCASE

 

PHOTO SHOWING THE VIEW UP THE 7 STAIRCASE (COPIED FROM INTERNET SOURCE)

There were only 3 boats waiting to go down (including us) so we all fit into the same lock and descended together. The entire process took less than an hour. The group of locks would lower us a total of 71 feet (21.5 meters) over a distance of 300 meters.

GRAPHIC SHOWING STAIRCASE LOCK ARRANGEMENT COPIED FROM WIKIPEDIA

PHOTO SHOWING REPLICA OF GREEK ROWING SHIP AT LOCKS TAKEN IN 1992 COPIED FROM WIKIPEDIA – THESE GUYS MUST HAVE BEEN TOUGH!

Once we reached the bottom lock we turned to starboard & headed along the Canal du Midi for a few hundred meters & then we tied the boat up there while we headed off on a tour of the city of Beziers.

We started our tour on the local train!  It must be very popular because every time it went by it was full of people – le cash cow!

The train took us through several interesting parts of the city & then dropped people off near the city center where you could explore on foot for awhile & then re-board for a ride back to the starting point.

 

PHOTO SHOWING CITY ROUNDABOUT 

We had some great views of the old city buildings and parks on our way to the drop off point.

After we disembarked we went to the local market to pick up some fruit & vegetables & then Barb & Bruce headed off in one direction & Cath & I in another – ready to meet up again at the “train station”.

PHOTO CATH & BRUCE SHOPPING AT THE MARKET

Beziers has a very nice park in the city center with a very wide & long boulevard between two streets. This area is very much like La Rambla in Barcelona. While we were there the park area was full of vendors selling crafts, souvenirs, small antiques, etc. There were also several cafes in the park & on the streets on each side of the park.

PHOTO SHOWING CITY BOULEVARD PARK

Cath & I stopped for a rest, a coffee & a crepe at a small cafe in an adjacent park.  This park was interesting because it was full of giant oversized flowers that would light up at night.

PHOTO OF FLOWER PARK

A few minutes later Barb & Bruce found us & also stopped for a drink & a Nutella crepe.

PHOTO OF BARB & BRUCE ENJOYING THEIR CREPES

PHOTO SHOWING MURAL PAINTED ON THE END OF A BUILDING
We wandered back to our train station & waited to re-board. Many more interesting sights to see on the way back.

PHOTO SHOWING DANCERS IN THE FOUNTAIN

Beziers was a ver interesting & attractive city. We would have loved to stay longer but we needed to be moving on. We cast off around 3:00pm & arrived at Villeneuve les Beziers around 6:30pm. The section of the town near the canal was very old & well maintained. We would explore a bit more tomorrow.

Cheers!

Pont de Pigasse: 43°19’00.9″N 2°58’28.5″E to Beziers:  43°19’48.1″N 3°11’50.7″E

We got an early start this morning as we had a fair distance to travel.

PHOTO – MAGNIFICENT TREES LINE THE BANKS OF THE CANAL

Our next stop along the way to Beziers was at the town of Capestang. The visitor center there was very impressive and there were lots of mooring spots along both sides of the canal. If we were traveling this way again we would most certainly stop there for the night.

 

PHOTO ABOVE – CANAL FROM THE  BRIDGE AT CAPESTANG

The commercial center of the oldest part of the town was only a 10 minute walk from our mooring so we went to the grocery store there and picked up more supplies for our journey.

The next highlight on our journey was the Tunnel de Malpas, a 160 meter long tunnel carved through solid rock. Excavated in 1679 it is very impressive. It was the first canal tunnel of its kind in Europe.

 

 

 

PHOTO ABOVE  – APPROACHING THE TUNNEL ENTRANCE

PHOTO ABOVE  – THE FIRST SEVERAL METERS OF THE TUNNEL ARE LIKE A HONEYCOMB

It was good to see that there was light at the end of the tunnel!

There were many interesting things to look at on this part of our journey but unfortunately we could not spend as much time exploring as we would have liked to because we wanted to take the 6-step locks down at Beziers the next morning and we had no idea as to how busy the locks might be.

We arrived at Beziers around 4:00pm and were able to get a good spot in the lineup for boats going down at 8:00am. Now we can relax for the rest of the evening.

PHOTO ABOVE  – THE VISITOR CENTER AT THE TOP OF THE LOCKS WITH A PROJECTION ON THE END OF THE BUILDING

 

Tomorrow morning we will be headed downhill. Hopefully it will be a smooth descent.

Cheers!

Roubia: 43°14’53.9″N 2°48’19.3″E to Pont du Pigase: 43°19’00.9″N 2°58’28.5″E

After supper the night before Catherine, Bruce and Barb walked into the little village to check it out. Cath took the photo below of a house close to the canal that had a sundial on it.

 

We had a peaceful night’s rest at our mooring spot just past the bridge at Roubia. We woke up and found we had a new neighbor – a local fisherman on the bank beside us. He even caught a few fish before we cast off.

 

Our next stop was at LeSomail, an active little village on the canal with numerous restaurants, a grocery store on a barge, and a very famous bookstore.  There was also a very nice visitors center that showed a short video of the history of the Canal du Midi

PHOTO OF THE BOOKSTORE

 

PHOTO OF THE CANAL LOOKING TOWARDS THE BRIDGE

PHOTO OF THE CANAL FROM THE BRIDGE LOOKING TOWARDS OUR NEXT DESTINATION 

It was easy to understand why people like to visit this village  It doesn’t matter if you come by boat, car or bicycle there’s lots to see and enjoy

 

Cheers!!

.

Locaboat Charters – Argens, France – 43°14’24.2″N 2°46’07.7″E

 

Locaboat, Argens, France (photo copied from their website)

Well, the big day has finally arrived. Catherine & I have been talking about doing this for several years & we were all set to go & then Covid-19 put a halt on those plans. About 1 year ago we started talking with our longtime friends Bruce & Barb about doing a cruise together & our plans began to be firmed up.

There are so many choices to cruise the canals in France – literally thousands of kilometers of canals & locations to choose from. We ultimately decided on the Canal du Midi because the weather was likely to be better in the south of the country at this time of year & the route we ultimately chose from Argens to Lattes has fewer locks – only 19 in total. We will travel approximately 175 km over the next 7 days

 

Locaboat has many different sizes & configurations to choose from. Our little boat has a unique design because it has no dedicated bedrooms but it offers a lot of living space. The photos & graphics below (copied from Locaboat’s website) show the boat & its interior.

This model of boat is the “Evolution”. The name is well chosen because the interior space is all on one level. The forward living space has an inside helm and the seating area also converts into a double bed. The aft living space is where the galley and dining area is and at night it converts into another double bed sleeping area. In the middle of the boat there is a toilet on the port side a shower and sink on the starboard side. In the evening the two sections of the boat can be closed off with sliding doors and the bathroom area essentially becomes a Jack and Jill for passengers in the front and passengers in the back. One could say that this is a transformer boat that kids would get a kick out of seeing the rooms change from one function to another.

Above – Day use mode

Below – Sleeping mode

 

There is also lots of room at the front of the boat for outside seating and similar exterior space in the stern area. Also, the boat has a fly bridge with the outside steering and control station.

I was also very interested to learn that the boat is constructed out of steel & that it has a diesel-electric propulsion system. The boat is equipped with a diesel generator that provides electricity to an electric motor that drives the propeller & thrusters. The generator also provides 220 volt power to the boat’s appliances – electric oven/microwave combo and two element induction electric stove top.

The boat is equipped with an electric bow thruster, a stern thruster and a combination joystick thruster control system that allows you to easily dock the boat. You can use it to go forwards, backwards, sideways or even spin in a circle! To me, this is the future of boating & if I was to ever own a boat again this would be the propulsion system setup that I would want.

The Locaboat staff gave us a good tutorial & “driving” lesson & then we were off on our own. We headed for the first lock which was only about a kilometer away and it would be the only lock we would encounter for the next 57 km. It was late in the afternoon by the time we left the Locaboat Marina so we just traveled through the first lock to a small village and tied up along the canal for the evening. We only went about 8 kilometers on our first day but it was exciting & very satisfying.

Bruce & Cath handling forward lines in the lock

 

Barb has got the stern lines under control.

I was happy at the helm & our long-awaited adventure is finally underway!

Cheers!

 

43°16’09.3″N 2°43’10.5″E – Homps at La Maison des Palmiers

We are getting close to the day when we will pick up our charter boat! This morning we picked up some groceries in Carcassonne to provision the boat & then took a taxi to our “next” hotel in the village of Homps.

We decided to spend a night in Homps for two reasons. The village is just a short taxi ride from there to where our charter boat is located AND purely by coincidence, there is a well known restaurant there that Catherine’s aunt Midge dined at a number of years ago when she was on a tour of this area of France.

La Maison des Palmiers, the guest house/B&B Inn where we stayed is located right beside the restaurant we wanted to dine at. 

PHOTO OF LA MAISON COPIED FROM GOOGLE SEARCH – I lost my photo  

This Inn is owned & operated by a really nice couple originally from England. It is not a fancy place but is beautifully decorated, clean & comfortable. We highly recommend it to anyone looking for a place to stay while they are in the area. 

Catherine was especially pleased with the house cat that dropped in to check that we were happy with the room. She was really “taken” with this kitty so I’m surprised that I haven’t since found it on board the boat with us.

We had a wonderful meal that evening at the restaurant “En Bonne Compagnie”. 

It was fun to dine at a place that also had special memories for someone close & dear to us. Cheers Midge!

The meal was certainly memorable for us as well.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we go to the village of Argens to pick up our charter boat!

Only one more sleep!