Canal du Midi 2025 - Days 7, 8 and 9

 Poilhes - Monday May 19th

What a busy first part of the day. 

We were under way earlyish, through the very deep lock, but we were much more organised this time and were at the back and not the front. 

A short cruise to the Fonseranes Staircase Locks.  I went ashore to take lines, but it was hard for Richard and Tracey as they had to pull really hard to keep the boat from moving about too much.  The way the locks are operated is that they fill the lock we were in by keeping the gate between two locks open and the water comes from the upper gate. By the time the water reached Vera it was like a tsunami!  Hopefully you can see from the photos what I mean. 

Eventually we were at the top and we moored up and took the little train down into Beziers.  It is a lovely city and the train took us round some very narrow alleyways.  We stopped for an hour and had some lunch, but we didn’t have time for our pudding as the train was coming. 

Beside the Forserannes Locks lies the sad remains of a boat lift.  It was built in 1983 to relieve the pressure on the lock staircase and to one day to replace it. The boats were pulled upwards or dragged downwards by a tractor.  Sadly there were technical issues and it was shut down in 2001.  

We went through the Malpas Tunnel again.  There are, in fact, three tunnels which are one above the other.  About 10 metres below the road lies the canal tunnel which was built between 1679 and 1680, 10 metres below that is the railway tunnel built between 1854 and 1856 and finally the oldest and longest tunnel which was built for draining the Etang de Montady, 10 metres below the railway tunnel.  This tunnel is 1364 metres long and was built by monks between 1250 and 1279.

We were sat outside when we could see the rain coming in, so we decamped down below.  Richard went to bed early and when Steve and I went to take the dogs out the rain wasn’t too bad but as we got onto the towpath it just bucketed down, and I mean bucketed down!  We were both soaked, as were the dogs (neither had a wee!). We got back on board and Ted ran into S & T’s cabin and got under Steve’s duvet to dry himself off - this is now filthy!  I think it will take days for my sandals to dry out. 

Salleles d’Aude - Tuesday 20th May 

It was still raining when we woke up and in the daylight we found the back deck was covered in mud from the failed dog weeing exercise last night!  

The rain had stopped by 11am so Richard and Steve donned their waterproofs, just in case, and set off.  Tracey and I sat below, me blogging and Tracey crocheting.  We pulled over for lunch and to let the dogs stretch their legs and Steve and I cleaned the back deck.  

We moved off towards the junction of the Canal de Jonction where there are no eclusiers, the locks are electric and need an operator.  I jumped ashore, not realising how far the ground was from the boat!  As I landed I  twisted my knee, it did hurt 😢 but I struggled on to the lock 🥴 I found the lock easy to operate, but Richard did the next one and managed to press the emergency stop button and we had to wait for the roving eclusier to come!  We did three locks then pulled over.

The Canal de Jonction was opened in 1787 to connect the Canal du Midi to the Canal de La Robine.  It is 5km long and is very straight with about 700 metres between each of the seven locks.  It is tree lined with umbrella pines and very pretty. 

Narbonne - Wednesday 21st May

It was Richard’s birthday 🎂🥳  

We set off for Narbonne down the very straight Canal de Joinction. All was good until we came to our fourth lock, where there was no power. Steve called the roving eclusier who arrived very promptly.  It turned out to be a power cut!  The power came back on at about 12.05 but the locks are closed between 12.00 and 13.00!  

The lock we were waiting for is called Gailhousty.  The site around the locks brings together several structures of great architectural interest.  Firstly is the big building on the left as you exit the lock which there in case of flooding from the Aude River, which has always posed a threat.  The bridge over the lock, designed to provide rapid access to all points of the site, is of careful architecture, with a low arched vault and four quarter-circle staircases placed at each corner. In times of flooding, it is necessary to be able to react quickly and to operate the defense systems.  The 30 metre building on the left below the lock is a spillway.  Its front facade is pierced with vertical crenellations which plunge into the water.  At the rear, it has 5 arched openings at the foot of which an 8 km long canal called "La saignée" which runs towards the Capestang pond.  This building houses no fewer than 15 oversized floodgates.  It was not intended to alleviate excess water from the Junction Canal, but rather to allow the passage of floodwaters from the Aude River. Originally, the plan was for this water, laden with fertile silt, to be directed into the Capestang pond to fill it and encourage crops. On the opposite bank of the spillway building is a dry dock for repairing and cleaning boats.  It works by operating a gate located at the downstream corner of the spillway building, the space between the lock and this gate is transformed into a lock that is filled with water arriving from the Junction Canal. At its highest level, the platform is submerged, allowing boats to position themselves above. Simply open the sluices of the downstream gate to empty the lock. The boat will then gently land on the props provided for this purpose. This slipway was built in the 1980s. 

Just after that we did about 600 metres on the River l’Aude. There was quite a current running and a nasty weir where the river went but we wanted to go straight onto the Canal du Robine and all was well 😃

The entry into Narbonne was a bit confusing with traffic lights and a one way system but we figured it out and found ourselves under the Pont des Merchands with the lovely old houses on it.   The canal then opens out and you can moor on both sides so we tied up. We had electricity and water and for two nights it cost €57.

It was very windy but warm so we sat outside until it was time to put on our glad rags to go out.  We walked around until we found a restaurant right by the Pont des Merchands.  We had a good meal and when it came time for dessert, Richard’s came with a firework type of candle!  One of the staff had heard us talking about a birthday, it was a lovely touch.