Return to the West.
Wednesday 2 May. After breakfast walked into Agde for sight-seeing and shopping. Impressive black stone church. Judy purchased sun hat and earrings. Back on board 12:30 for lunch. Under way 15:00 and moored at Portiragnes at 16:15. Nice village with interesting sign over baker’s shop. Weather closed in with heavy rain in the evening.
Location for Portiragnes. N43º18.33’ E003º19.681’
Thursday 3 May. Weather wet and cold. Under way 10:00. Moored at Villeneuve les Beziers 11:00 to take on water, 800 litrres at 1 Euro per 100 l. Decided to stay the night and took shore power at 4 Euro. Explored village in the afternoon.
Location for Villeneuve les Beziers N43º18.997’ E003º17.63’
Friday 4 May. Steady rain over night. Topped off water and under way 9:30. Passed through Beziers and stopped for lunch at the top of the Fonserrannes staircase locks. Watched hotel barge Anjodi locking down. Under way again at 14:30, wind fresh NW and cold. Moored at Columbiers for the night at 15:30. Pleasant village and very good dinner with excellent wine.
Location for Columbiers N43º19.823’ E003º11.750’
Saturday 5 May. Under way at 10:20, wind still fresh NW and cool. Stopped at western end of Malpas tunnel for Denis and Judy to walk to top of hill for view of the Etang de Malpas, a lake which was drained in Roman times to make a circular fertile basin with unusual radial fence lines. Great views of the country but wind very strong. Under way again at 11:20 and berthed at Capestang at 13:20. Had lunch and picked up 16 amp power adaptor from the yard. Under way again at 15:30, mooring for the night at Argeliers at 17:30. Weather clearing but wind still fresh NW.
Location for Argeliers. N43º18.824’ E002º55.093’
Sunday 6 May. Under way 10:15 after very windy night. Sky clear but fresh westerly wind. Took left turn into Canal de Jonction, heading south. Covered 6.5 km and a series of 4 locks before stopping for lunch at Salleles d’Aude. After lunch proceeded through the double lock at Gailhousty where the lower chamber is actually a dry dock and a large hotel barge was being painted by a young and enthusiastic crew. There followed a few anxious minutes while we negotiated some tricky bends where the canal crosses the river Aude with strong currents and sand banks then a couple of narrow bridges before we entered the Canal de la Robine for the run down to Narbonne with only a couple more locks. We moored in Narbonne at 17:00 and dined in town. Our first taste of the famous Cassoulet: bean casserole with sausage, duck and other ingredients which are possibly best not known!
Location for Narbonne. N43º11.87’ E002º59.898’
Monday 7 May. Remained in Narbonne, catching up with laundry and shopping. Explored the town, including the Archbishop’s Palace and church of St Just. This was very impressive but was never built to its full intended size as it would have extended beyond the protective city walls. We also visited the only remains of the original Roman city, a series of underground storage chambers. Found an Internet Café and made a long overdue blog posting.
Tuesday 8 May. Together with Terry and Ann, we took the train to Collioure, an old fishing village with a number of historic castles. The history of Collioure is too complicated to describe here, but in more recent times (100 years ago) it was the base for a group of modernist painters, including Picasso. We enjoyed a very nice lunch and walk around the breakwaters and an old chateau/fortress before taking a quick dip in the Med and catching the train back to Narbonne. Weather fine and warm.
On the whole we felt Narbonne was a nice city and great to visit.
Wednesday 2 May. After breakfast walked into Agde for sight-seeing and shopping. Impressive black stone church. Judy purchased sun hat and earrings. Back on board 12:30 for lunch. Under way 15:00 and moored at Portiragnes at 16:15. Nice village with interesting sign over baker’s shop. Weather closed in with heavy rain in the evening.
Location for Portiragnes. N43º18.33’ E003º19.681’
Thursday 3 May. Weather wet and cold. Under way 10:00. Moored at Villeneuve les Beziers 11:00 to take on water, 800 litrres at 1 Euro per 100 l. Decided to stay the night and took shore power at 4 Euro. Explored village in the afternoon.
Location for Villeneuve les Beziers N43º18.997’ E003º17.63’
Friday 4 May. Steady rain over night. Topped off water and under way 9:30. Passed through Beziers and stopped for lunch at the top of the Fonserrannes staircase locks. Watched hotel barge Anjodi locking down. Under way again at 14:30, wind fresh NW and cold. Moored at Columbiers for the night at 15:30. Pleasant village and very good dinner with excellent wine.
Location for Columbiers N43º19.823’ E003º11.750’
Saturday 5 May. Under way at 10:20, wind still fresh NW and cool. Stopped at western end of Malpas tunnel for Denis and Judy to walk to top of hill for view of the Etang de Malpas, a lake which was drained in Roman times to make a circular fertile basin with unusual radial fence lines. Great views of the country but wind very strong. Under way again at 11:20 and berthed at Capestang at 13:20. Had lunch and picked up 16 amp power adaptor from the yard. Under way again at 15:30, mooring for the night at Argeliers at 17:30. Weather clearing but wind still fresh NW.
Location for Argeliers. N43º18.824’ E002º55.093’
Sunday 6 May. Under way 10:15 after very windy night. Sky clear but fresh westerly wind. Took left turn into Canal de Jonction, heading south. Covered 6.5 km and a series of 4 locks before stopping for lunch at Salleles d’Aude. After lunch proceeded through the double lock at Gailhousty where the lower chamber is actually a dry dock and a large hotel barge was being painted by a young and enthusiastic crew. There followed a few anxious minutes while we negotiated some tricky bends where the canal crosses the river Aude with strong currents and sand banks then a couple of narrow bridges before we entered the Canal de la Robine for the run down to Narbonne with only a couple more locks. We moored in Narbonne at 17:00 and dined in town. Our first taste of the famous Cassoulet: bean casserole with sausage, duck and other ingredients which are possibly best not known!
Location for Narbonne. N43º11.87’ E002º59.898’
Monday 7 May. Remained in Narbonne, catching up with laundry and shopping. Explored the town, including the Archbishop’s Palace and church of St Just. This was very impressive but was never built to its full intended size as it would have extended beyond the protective city walls. We also visited the only remains of the original Roman city, a series of underground storage chambers. Found an Internet Café and made a long overdue blog posting.
Tuesday 8 May. Together with Terry and Ann, we took the train to Collioure, an old fishing village with a number of historic castles. The history of Collioure is too complicated to describe here, but in more recent times (100 years ago) it was the base for a group of modernist painters, including Picasso. We enjoyed a very nice lunch and walk around the breakwaters and an old chateau/fortress before taking a quick dip in the Med and catching the train back to Narbonne. Weather fine and warm.
On the whole we felt Narbonne was a nice city and great to visit.
