Cruising Canal du Midi

We were all early for our 5:56am train. None of us keen to miss it. Mark, Michelle, Steve and I got off in Narbonne for a regional train to Lezignan. Georgina and Lucas stayed on the train to Carcassonne and the next leg of their trip and we are seeing them again in Barcelona.
I had prebooked a taxi to pick us up at Lezignan. The driver was waiting at the door ready to drive us to the boat harbour in Homps. It took a little while to get all sorted with the boat and on our way. We are the boat company’s first booking of the season and are on the boat for 5 nights. Apparently the main season doesn’t really start until Easter.




We bought some groceries, got driving and lock handling lessons, picked up our push bikes and were soon on our way. On board there was a substantial basket of regional goods as a ‘welcome aboard’ gift. 1 x bottle of red wine, 1 x bottle of white muscat, jars of; honey, cassoulet, mustard, olives and terrine.


While this was appreciated, we were later to discover there was no dishwashing liquid or dish cloth was on board. An annoying discovery after Michelle cooked a delicious roast pork.
After a bit of lobbying by the boat company we decided to change our initial plan of going Homps-Carcasson-Homps. They offered us a one way journey in the opposite direction. After much back and forth discussion weighing up pros and cons we decided to take up their offer. So we are on our way to Port Cassafieres and it means no doubling up. We actually think we will go past it into the Etang du Thau which is an inland lake near the sea and be back at our drop off point.


Here is Mark strolling through one of the towns. It was VERY quiet here. Barely a sign of human life.


Canal du Midi is lined for most its length with Plane trees. It certainly felt like driving down a leafy street in Melbourne at times.


Here I am taking my turn to drive and ducking to get under and through one of the many narrow o arched bridges.


We spent our first night near Argens Minervois, the second at Capestang, We stopped at le Somail which was recommended. We enjoyed a good bike ride around town but basically nothing is open. So much for fresh bread!


There were a couple of times where the canal crossed over a river. It was very surreal to be as if driving a car over a bridge but actually to be on a boat, on the water!


See snails.
We had better luck at the Capestang weekly market.


A huge wok of buddling mussel soup. Smelt delicious but at 8:45am it just felt too early for my stomach. So we added fish, cold meats, salad, and pastries to the pantry just to be sure we didn’t starve.



We also made a stop at one of the many wineries on the way. The boys went in to see if it was open. When they didn’t return after 20 mins we figured it was open and they were having fun. Their report back was hilarious. The woman at the winery had no English and they no French. Hearing their description they realised they sounded like an American Indian in the old movies .. something like... “We travel... long way... many moons (Big arms waving included) across water... on a plane... on a boat... etc! They then spotted a world map and proceeded to point out the wine regions in Australia and explain why they don’t make wine in the north. Anyway.... they walked away happy with 8 bottles under their arms and delighted with their achievement.

We have been preparing all meals onboard and the facilities are great. There is a double bedroom with ensuite at each end of the boat with a separate kitchen and lounge in the middle.



We passed our final port of Port Cassifieres late afternoon of the 3rd day and on recommendation of the boat company headed toward the Etang and Marseillan.


A village we passed. As we had been going along Steve had taken on the job of leaping ashore to catch the ropes and loop them around the bollards. This was no easy job as the shore was often uneven or steep banks. At times with long grass which made it difficult for him to gauge where the ground was.


There is a famous section we had to pass through. It is a series of 7 locks in a row going down a hill. As it turned out tying our large boat to the shore took considerable strength. So the boys took this role while Michelle and I manoeuvred the boat in and out of the locks. For the 7 consecutive I ended up at the helm.


We gathered an audience as we slowly came down the hill. It was quite a challenge for us all and when we finally got the the bottom there was a group of teenage school kids watching. Michelle and I put a arm in the air and shouted ‘Viva Australie’! The girls of the group shouted ‘Viva la Damme’! So I guess they were proud that it appeared the women were handling the boat. The reality was the boys had to hold it in the locks via the ropes while the water surged out to lower us.


This was taken as our canal went over a road! You can see the cars coming through a roundabout to pass under us. Crazy!


A very cute little car we saw in Beziers. While this town was the largest and we were able to do some laundry and post a weblog in a net cafe, it didn’t have a great feel and we were happy to soon be heading out.