The Canal du Midi at last.
On Friday morning we drove with Ann and Terry to the boat yard at Capestang, a trip of about 1 hour, for a preliminary inspection of the boat and to deliver the bulk of our luggage. “Winifred” is a very solid steel barge, 13.9 meters in length and 4.12 meters beam so there is plenty of room for 2 couples. We completed our shopping list and returned to Montpellier and located the “Hyper Market” for our provisioning. This left the Opel station wagon bulging at the seams, including a bike and clothes rack hanging off the back.
Dinner that night was at a small bistro near the main square where there is only one item on the menu: “Entrecote”. This turned out to be very nicely cooked steak, served finely sliced, with frites, and washed down with the house wine. The streetside ambience was a complete contrast to the previous evening but we voted the food much better.
On Saturday morning we did the final shopping for fresh fruit and veg, checked out of the hotel and motored off to Capestang once more. After emptying the wagon, Terry and Judy drove off to Bezier to return it to Hertz and came back to Capestang by taxi. Official hand-over was 15:00, but a problem with our 12 volt to 230 volt inverter caused a delay. Eventually found that the 12 volt socket was reverse polarity which had caused internal fuse to blow! The boat yard provided some replacement fuses, but by then we decided to stay put for the night and get underway in the morning. Dinner on board.
Location of Capestang, N43º19.883’ E003º02.573’
Sunday 29 April, under way 09:15. Weather warm and calm. Passed through tunnel at Souterrain de Malpas. Canal lined with huge plane trees which were shedding flowers and pollen which tended to get in the eyes and stuck in the throat, but look great. No locks until just before Beziers where we stopped at the top of the Fonserannes staircase for lunch. Descended the 5 locks without trouble and berthed for the night in the town basin at Beziers. Dinner on board. Basin area separated from the town by the rail tracks and station so we were not tempted to explore. Found shore power now disconnected and anyway, the plug on our lead did not fit 16A sockets!
Location at Beziers, N43º 20.086’ E003º13.043’
Monday 30 April. Filled water tanks and under way at 11:30. Stopped for lunch at Villeneuve le Beziers. Weather still fine and warm. Passed through interesting flood control works at the river Liberon and berthed for the night at Vias. Walked to supermarket at old town on north side of river. Terry arrived first back at the boat on his bike (“Winnie” ) to find nearby boaties (English and Australian) rescuing Winifred which had carried away the anchor spikes due to boats going past too fast. Rewarded resuers with bottle of NZ Sauvignon Blanc which was well received. Learned the trick of mooring to the massive tree roots which line the canal at water level. Dinner on board.
Location at Vias, N43º18.139’ E003º25.367’
Tuesday 1 May. After breakfast we went for a walk with Ann to Vias Plage – rather tacky, but on the way we spotted a laundry, so returned to boat, collected Terry and laundry and carried our laundry into Vias Plage. Just as we handed it over it started to rain very hard so we had to have a drink in an adjacent bar until the rain passed. However the downpour continued and we wound up staying for lunch until the laundry was done. Denis continued on for a short swim in the Med, which was refreshing but spoiled somewhat by the overcast conditions. Under way again at 15:00 and moored near Agde at 16:00. Inspected famous “round lock”. Dinner on board.
Location at Agde. N43º19.130’ E003º27.574’
Note. We had originally intended to proceed past Agde to cross the Etang de Thau to Sete, Carnon and Aigues-Mortes. However we were advised that the Winifred was not licensed for the Etang de Thau which was disappointing. As it turned out the weather deteriorated and we could have had a very uncomfortable trip and got weather-bound there so maybe it was for the best.