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| Clearing the lock |
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| Reflections in a green cathedral |
Di and Ant got their wires crossed and so instead of doing the barge trip in 7 days - we had to get to Port Cassafieres in 6 days and we set off from Castlenaudry after stocking up at the local supermarket with provisions determined to get through 64 locks and 157 km within the limited time. It's difficult to pace the trip because it's never possible to gauge how long it'll take to get through the locks. Sometimes one has to wait for the upcoming boats to clear the locks, sometimes there are as many as 3 locks in a row - and in the case of the locks at Beziers called the Fonserannes Staircase - 7 locks. The last time we went on this trip was over 20 years ago - and we definitely felt the toll of the intervening years! But Conal and I leapt off the barge, pushed and pulled, coiled and attempted to lassoo - and tried to improve our imperfect skills. We were the oldest on the canal by far and provided much amusement to the tourists and the locals who come out to watch people making a mess of things. And we did mess up on numerous occasions. We laughed until we wept at the spectacle we must have made of ourselves. It was a heap of fun - although the last day was too hot and the sun too relentless for my liking. But we made it and it is the most idyllic trip so worth every minute of nearly falling in the canal, the twisted ropes, the barge caught broadside in the canal and once almost taking an entire restaurant with us! At times we did it like professionals though...
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| Lock keepers house |
The countryside we passed through is sublime - and thank goodness for the shade of the beautiful old plane trees that line the banks of the river. The Midi is the brain child of Pierre Paul Riquet and was made possible by locks designed by Leonardo da Vinci. Riquet must have been passionate to overcome the many obstacles that he had to face but he made it his life's work, sourcing water from the many rivers in the area. The project was started in 1667 and finallly completed in 1681 sadly just shortly after his death when the canal was finally filled with water. The construction is complex with spillways making provision for floods, acqueducts that contain rivers and it must have been a constant battle not only of problem solving but fighting off his detractors. Of course originally the barges would have been horse drawn so tow paths line the banks that now are perfect for cyclists and we also took the opportunity of cycling ahead of the barge under the dappled shade.
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| Mind your heads! |
Our route took us through the ancient town of Carcassone and we caught a little tourist train up to the old fortified city, dating back to Roman times and renovated at the end of the 19th C. It's become a real tourist trap inside the walls of the old city with lots of lovely shops providing all kinds of beautiful clothes and souveneirs and we wandered through the city trying to imagine what it must have been like in the 3rd & 4th century AD before the age of consumerism.
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| Di encouraging us |
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