Canal du Midi 2025 - Days 1, 2 and 3

Paraza - Tuesday 13th May

Finally set off at 11.40 with the promise of some recompense when we get back.  Our introduction to French locks was Homps Lock which was followed by two staircase locks, consisting of two locks each.  The first is Ognon Lock which was built in 1679 and the second is Pechlaurier Lock which is named after the higher of the two hills between which the River Agde and the canal run.  (Pech is an Occitan word meaning a hill or mountain.) 

We cruised on down the canal until we reached Paraza. The local council have built a small quay which will take about 5 boats.  It is all new and shiney - it is really nice.

Steve went off exploring and found a bistro a short stroll away with an English lady running it, so we went there for dinner. The food was very good food and we had some lovely local wine (two bottles for the price of the one last night).

Paraza is best known for the Chateau de Paraza.  In the time of Louis XIV, the chateau was occupied by Paul Riquet, the canal engineer, while he worked on the canal.  I can find no history on the chateau from 1620 to 2005 when it was bought by a family and turned into a vineyard and guest house.

We have given the boat a name. She is a Vision SL3 so we have called her Vision of Vera 🤣😂

Capastang - Wednesday 14th May 

We left Paraza and cruised up to Le Somail to get water. We saw the tap so moored up beside itself with great difficulty only to find the tap didn’t work.  Instead we went for a mooch round the village which was really pretty.  We found an ice cream shop which wasn’t open, a tapas bar which also wasn’t open and the Capitanerie where we could get water and, guess what, it was closed too!!  

The bridge in La Somail was built between 1672 and 1693 and is one of the canal’s most famous bridges.

This is an ice house which was built at the same time as the bridge and is the only one of its kind along the canal.

Moved on through beautiful countryside which was mostly vines. 

Le Somail was the headquarters or management site of the canal.  Once the canal was operational it became the station for mail ships and the canal port for Narbonne.

We learnt, from good old Google, that a typical grape vine will produce about 40 grape clusters. A rule of thumb for grape growers is that a typical vine will produce about 10 bottles of wine. So, 40 grape clusters X 100 grapes per cluster = 4,000 grapes to make 10 bottles, or 400 grapes to make one bottle.

Stopped just west of Capastang, in the middle of nowhere.

Colombiers - Thursday 15th May

The weather so far has been really lovely. Blue skies and sunshine but a chilly wind which actually was a relief from the sun. 

We set off in search of water. We found a tap in Capastang but there was a boat moored there. We went on to the next tap and there was a boat moored there too. When I say moored, I mean moored - shut up and empty.  

We went through the Malpas Tunnel which is supposed to be the oldest canal tunnel in France. However, to us it was just an overgrown bridge as it is only 165 metres long.  Legend has it that it was built in 6 days.  Inspectors were said to have gone to check Riquet’s expenses which irritated him so he got together his best workers and ordered them to complete construction in record time.  When the inspectors went back the tunnel was already completed.

We moved up to Colombiers where is a Port de Plaisance (marina) with mooring for 30 boats. We moored up by a tap but the water was switched off. There was no harbour master around - her hours were 8.30am to 9.30am and then 4.30pm to 7.30pm. We made the decision to stay overnight especially as there was a good convenience store 50 yards away. The store is a Carrefour Express and is very like our local Tesco Express and had almost everything we wanted.  I also found a lovely butcher - his English was as good as my French but we got there!  

We had some evening entertainment!  The hire boat next to us had 4 Italian couples on board which was entertaining in itself but during the evening there was a pop group rehearsing in a building next to us and one Italian couple started dancing on the quayside. She got bored but he carried on Dad dancing on his own for, what must have been about, an hour!

 

The Via Domitia was one of the first Roman roads to be built and it ran from Italy to Spain and went through Colombiers.  It was built between 120 and 118 BC.