Trip Description: Dad takes us cruising on the Canal du Midi, October 4-11, 2008.
Why we did it: It started a few years ago when Dad (Ray) sent around an article that he found in one of his boating magazines about self-drive boat trips in France, this one on the River Charente. After a business trip to Barcelona in May 2006, we decided to check it out and did a mini-cruise (4 nights) on the Canal du Midi (closer than the Charente). Despite chilly temperatures and rain every day, it was one of the best vacations we’d ever been on (I like being in France and moving from place to place; he likes boats). Earlier this year Ray declared that he was paying for the boat, so who was in? Five of us besides him could make it: my brother Jeff, my sister Judi and her husband Steve, my husband Len and me.
Our plan: We went with Le Boat again. Len and Steve picked out the boat, called Salsa, that could sleep 10, with four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Compared to our earlier 3 bedroom/3 bath boat; we found this one much roomier. The kitchen was less cramped and had two refrigerators; the living room was spacious enough for six to have dinner and play cards at night, and there was a small ‘balcony’ out front that was perfect for getting away from the crowd with a book or just watching the countryside drift by. The boat was also easier to drive from inside the cabin while having a second steering wheel on the top deck (the preferred location) for piloting. We opted to pay a little extra for a one way cruise and chose the Castelnaudary to Port Cassafieres route (157 km, 64 locks and an estimated 35 hours of cruising time). We all planned to meet in Toulouse and then rent cars or take trains to further destinations on the other end. We had one week to spend on the Canal.
15 locks in three hours: It was amazing that we all made it to Castelnaudary pretty much as scheduled. Judi and Ray (Steve was unavoidably delayed and would meet us somewhere on the Canal) had spent a night in Toulouse and taken the train that morning. Jeff had missed a connection, arrived late and taken a different train. Len and I with a flight that didn’t match up well with the trains had splurged on a taxi. We all ended up in the office of Crown Blue at Le Grand Bassin in Castelnaudary at about the same time. Three of us hiked to the grocery store with knapsacks to stock the kitchen while Len and Dad had a boat-handling refresher course. The stretch between Castelnaudary and Carcassonne is lock-heavy, with 18 locks – nearly a third of the amount we would be traversing. My plan called for us to make Villepinte before the locks closed at 18:00 so that we could try out a restaurant I had read about. This meant doing 15 locks in 3 hours. Otherwise, we’d be cooking on the boat and after a long day of travel, that wasn’t our first choice.
Working the locks came back quickly and we were glad we had remembered to pack gloves for handling the often slimy ropes. Going downstream means you jump off the boat – one at each end, wrap the rope around a baluster (but don’t cleat it or mayhem will ensue) and hold the boat to the side of the lock as the water level decreases. If you are in a series of locks, there are handy bridges that let you walk the ropes down to the next level where you repeat the process. After being stuck on the bank, however, having to be picked up after the lock, we learned the trick of staying on the boat with the rope looped around the baluster. Then a person on the top deck would give the rope a flip just as we were ready to leave the lock. If the rope didn’t flip off, it had to be pulled. The art of flipping earned cheers and was really how we met The Germans. We cheered loudly when one of their crew executed a neat flip. At a subsequent lock, they handed us some chocolate from Luxemburg.
Well, we made it to Villepinte, but it was close. Just as we cleared the lock named La Criminelle, the two women in charge closed it down, leaving the waiting boats no choice but to spend the night. But, the friendly eclusier at Treboul, just a kilometre down, waved us in and even gave us directions to the restaurant. It was a pleasant walk into town, where we sat in the lobby of the charming hotel waiting for the restaurant, Aux Deux Acacias, to open at 18:30 (no early bird specials in France!). Of course, we had the cassoulet which was hearty and delicious and then walked back along the deserted road to the boat (flashlights would have been a good idea!).
Carcassonne to Trebes: The next morning was misty and cool. We rode our bikes back over the canal to a farm called La Masquierette that we had noticed on the walk to town the previous night. The owner opened up his small farm shop and sold us a jar of ratatouille, baguettes and some local wines. Once back on the canal, we stopped at Bram and strolled into town (they have an excellent walking path into town so pedestrians don’t have to brave the narrow roads). Bram was pretty quiet on a Sunday morning, so we headed back to the boat and looked for a sunny spot to eat bread and cheese and ratatouille (with wine, bien sur!). At Villesquelande, we biked to the wine cave that was advertised, but it was closed. Our goal for today was Carcassone and we pulled into the port at 17:45. Len displayed his boat-handling skills by backing our large vessel neatly into a spot next to our German friends who gave us a warm welcome. It costs 23E to spend the night in the port, but they had a decent bathroom with showers, plus water and electricity. This was our coldest night so having the heat on was a must. We wandered the town to view the medieval fortress on the hill then looked for a place to eat dinner (I wanted to try Chez Fred, but it was closed on Sundays). We ended up at the Cafe Latin right on the square near the port. It was really bad, probably our worst meal of the whole trip, with the worst service. Next morning we hiked back up to La Cite and walked around, saw the sights, did a bit of shopping and were back on the boat waiting for the lock at 14:30. Some of us biked ahead on the nice bike path between Carcassonne and Trebes which was our goal for the day. Trebes is a charming village, but unfortunately, the great little bar/wine shop that we remembered from last trip was closed on Mondays.
Homps or bust: The locks are open from 9:00 until 18:00 each day and close an hour for lunch (I love the French way of life!), so in order to reach Port Cassafieres by 9:00 am on Saturday morning, when the boat was due back, we had to be in or pretty close to the port on Friday night. In order to protect the fragile banks of the canal, the speed limit is 6 to 8 km/hour (5 mph)and locks can take anywhere from ten to 30 minutes to get through; thus it was important to make certain destinations each day. Our goal for Tuesday was Homps, which is a nice port with several restaurants, a grocery store and an internet cafe (we had fond memories of the wood-fired oven pizza from La Peniche right on the water).
We got off to a slow start as the boats started lining up in front of the triple lock at Trebes, but the lock didn’t open on time. We jockeyed for position and chatted with German and Irish friends while waiting for the lock to be repaired. The Germans handed out warming nips of liquor to everyone as we stood waiting for the first round of boats to go through. We were finally underway at 10:35 with 29km to go. The canal from Trebes to Homps is incredibly beautiful, lined with those lovely plane trees, each graceful curve bringing some new and intriguing sight. Unfortunately, we got stuck at the Fonfile lock for lunch. We were low on supplies, but the gloomy lockkeeper had no suggestions. A busy road runs rather close to the lock making it noisy and not too scenic. Two of us set off on bikes and ended up following signs to the little village of Marseillette. Nothing was open, signs pointing to shops appeared to be out-of-date as the shops had closed up, but they found a wine seller and came back with several bottles, so all was not lost. Meanwhile, our efficient and well-prepared German friends had unloaded a grill and were making a feast of sausages. We ate leftover pasta and whatever else we could scrape up.
While waiting for the lock to open we watched a diver don a wetsuit and go under a boat to get a rope off the propeller. The canal waters are not particularly clean so we all agreed he must be very well paid. The afflicted boat had been stuck at this boring lock for over a day. What a drag!
Everyone’s favorite lock, Aiguille, was coming up and it was a treat to see again the imaginative sculptures and carvings that are scattered around. The day was slipping away, so the backup plan was to stop at La Redorte which has a grocery store and well-reviewed restaurant for duck and pizza, La Rivassel. It is also a lovely spot as the canal makes a sharp hairpin turn at that point. However, the will of the group was to push on for 5 km and 1 lock and we pulled into Homps a little before 18:00.
We ate a lot of pizza while in France, but the best by far was at La Peniche in Homps. It has a nice thin crust and a good selection of toppings.
Rendezvous at Argens: We left Homps and met two boats of New Englanders in the lock. Having been to the internet cafe in Homps, we were able to share the good news of a Red Sox victory. They had done many self-drive boat trips and highly recommended trying it in Venice. We also noticed a charming little restaurant on the other side of the lock that we took note of for future visits. Wednesday’s goal was to pick up Steve in Argens, visit the Wednesday morning market at Lezignan-Corbieres (the only time on the trip that our visit would coincide with a market day), and find a nice restaurant to celebrate Steve’s birthday, while also advancing a bit further along the canal. His morning arrival in Toulouse plus an hour taxi ride would get him to Argens around noon, we thought. Argens is supposed to be a lively town and maybe it is in the summer, but those who biked from Trebes and had a chance to explore reported that there was nothing going on. Three of us rode bikes the 5 km into L-C, an unpleasant, cold and windy ride along rather busy and hilly roads; however, the market was lively and bustling and we had a great time and came home with cheeses, wine, dried sausage and fresh fruits. When we returned, Steve was there without his luggage. We really wanted to move along the canal and picked a town, Paraza, that had two decent restaurants for a birthday celebration and where the airline could conceivably deliver the bags. Well, BOTH restaurants were closed on Wednesday so we ended up eating pasta on the boat. On a positive note, after many phone calls with the airline, they found us and delivered the suitcase.
The lock staircase at Fonserannes: Another example of our bad timing was arriving at the charming village of Le Somail at 9:00 am, (with no locks to hinder us, we got an early start from Paraza). We wandered the deserted streets, the coffee shops were closed as was the antiquarian bookshop. Luckily, the grocery barge was open and we were able to stock up on baguettes and other necessities. We were now in what is called the Great Pound, over 50 km of canal without locks. This made for pretty stress-free cruising and four of us biked most of the day without worrying about helping man the ropes. We stopped at the quaint canalside restaurant, Au Chat qui Peche, for a cappuccino and then headed on to Capestang, a welcoming small town just down the hill from the canal where we had pizza again. The restaurant, La Provence, has a nice back courtyard. I would have loved to stay longer in this nice spot, but we had to keep moving in order to reach the staircase at Fonserranes before nightfall. The famous seven locks by the city of Beziers presents a scheduling challenge as you can only go through at specified times, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. If we didn’t get through by Friday morning at the latest, there was no way to get to the port by Saturday morning. We did stop just before the tunnel of Malpas and walked a bit of the old Roman road, the Via Domitia, up to an ancient Roman site called the Oppidum of Enserune, occupied by various settlements from 800 BC. It was interesting and a nice walk to get there with lovely views across the valley, but we didn’t have time to look too closely or take the audiotour. We did see the famous star-shaped fields of Montady where a lake was drained for agricultural purposes.
The tunnel at Malpas is about 160m long. You can see the other side, but as it is one way, you have to sound the horn upon entering. Then it was onward to Fonserranes. When we reached the top of the lock staircase at 18:40, there were already four or five boats ahead of us. No one seemed to know how it was going to work in the morning. Would we miss our chance and be stuck here until the afternoon? The approach to Beziers, past a motorbike racing track, noisy highways and a place where they seemed to be burning tires was not promising, although the view across to the famous cathedral of St-Nazaire was nice.
The next morning was a bit tense as more and more boats came charging up, disregarding those of us who were “in line” to enter the lock. We, too, pushed our way into the center of the canal and made an effort to secure a place in line. Then there was some delay in the lock opening which added to the stress as all the boats crowded together, engines idling, waiting for the gate to open. We did get in on the first pass, but it turned out that they filled the lock right after us with more boats going down, so that no one was left out. After that, the rest of the locks presented no particular challenge and down we went, around a corner, across an aqueduct going above a highway and the Orb river, and into our first rectangle lock of the trip. The distinctive oval locks that we had seen everywhere else on the canal seemed much more charming and welcoming than this industrial type chamber, but according to the Captain, the rectangle shape is a bit easier to maneuver into. Into the large port at Beziers and through to the other side, we then parked by the canal to do some touring in Beziers. As I had heard, there is no good way to get up to the city as a highway and train tracks separate it from the port. Choking on fumes by the busy road, we gave up and returned to the boat. It’s too bad as it would have been nice to visit the birthplace of Paul Riquet, the visionary creator of the Canal. A New Zealand couple in a beautiful barge were heading upstream to winter in Carcassonne and told us that Villeneuve de Beziers was much nicer, so that’s where we went.
Our last day of cruising: The week went by so fast. There was an elegiac quality to our last day, with the weather getting warmer and sunnier and a growing wish to linger at each small town. At Villeneuve les Beziers we walked around and enjoyed a drink at a sunny outdoor terrace. We planned to pick up more supplies to have lunch on board, but while we were enjoying our drink, the grocery store closed for the rest of the afternoon! On the way back to the boat we stopped at Les Caves Douce France and got some of our favorite wine of the whole trip. We should have stopped in Portiragnes for more supplies but our momentum carried us along to Port Cassafieres, joining the other Crown Blue/Connoisseur boaters who were ending their voyages. We decided to walk to the Mediterranean, which was a bit far, and although people were sunning on the beach and even swimming, the season was definitely over. We managed to find a baguette and enjoyed drinks with the Germans on the deck of our boat before all heading over to the only restaurant available, Au Rendez-Vous des Bateliers. Luckily, the food was pretty good and it made a nice ending to the trip.
All in all, we enjoyed it immensely and would do it again, maybe with less pressure to get to the destination. Given the amount of boat traffic we saw, I can’t imagine doing it in the summer. It must be non-stop bumper boats! Of course, more restaurants would be open!
A note on the cost: as return customers, we had a discount of $200 with Le Boat. The cost, after the discount, with four mountain bikes ($224), the mandatory damage waiver ($140) and the one way fee ($130) came to $3104. In a weak moment we were talked into paying a 40 euro theft waiver for the bikes. “Oh, we’ve seen a lot of bikes stolen on the canal,” insisted the Crown Blue employee. A lost bike would cost 150 euros and we decided not to chance it, but in truth, we were never far from our bikes and they came with locks (plus the bikes are nothing special, on the last day, part of the handlebar on Steve’s bike broke right off and he ended up going head first into a hedge). We also paid 150 euros up front for fuel. We found out that they also charge you, over and above gas, 8 euros per hour the engine is running which seemed excessive, but we weren’t about to argue in French at that point.
