Beziers to Homps Canal du Midi

Today we tackled the flight of locks at Béziers. Not the best of days as it quickly turned very windy, but at least no rain. We were 11th in the queue so that should have meant we would be in the 4th set going up (two or three boats can go up together). But of course, two trip boats, which have priority, appeared and took the first two slots. Then as each set of three boats entered the first lock, the whole waiting queue shifted forward. So about every 15 minutes it was ropes off and move forward 50m or so. Not so easy with the wind. Then when we got to pole position we lowered the roof to accommodate the arched bridge over Lock 3, and almost got a round of applause. One boater thanked us for ‘marvellous entertainment’!

The first three locks in the staircase were OK as the male lockkeeper kindly helped us with our ropes – putting them over the bollards which were too high and distant for us to reach.

But then ‘Madame Eclusière’ took over for the next four locks and told us in no uncertain terms that her job was operating the lock controls and not putting ropes over bollards: one of us must get off the boat and do that ourselves. We had been forewarned about this attitude of course, but initially Louise refused, explaining that she would control the boat from the boat – it is better practice. Madame gave up arguing but her attitude was plainly offensive and designed to be just that. Louise has now perfected the phrase, “Madame, sans plaisanciers, pas d’emploi pour vous!”. All Madame wanted to do was press buttons, and of course she wouldn’t wait for us to be safely moored up before letting the water cascade in. Very dangerous behaviour in a so-called professional.

At one point the other boat in the lock with us was acting as a rather large fender for Riccall but no harm done! The flight was negotiated and we were on our way but stopped as soon as we reached a possible place as the wind was getting stronger and it had been a stressful day so far. We moored, to huge trees, beside what turned out to be a sort of gated holiday community, consisting of owned homes and holiday lets. The laptop indicated a very strong wifi signal which needed a name and code to access. Alex went in search of the operators of the development. At the locked entrance gate an English car appeared whose occupants invited him in! Reception said Non! to temporary wifi access and a second couple of Brits confirmed this was now the case, so after affable chats with two sets of English home owners on the site Alex returned empty handed.

The next day we moved to within 100m of the entrance to the Malpas tunnel where several mooring posts beckoned us to stop and moor up for the day, and glad we did, for the ancient settlement (the Oppidum d’Enserune) on top of the adjacent hill was fascinating. Its museum was bursting with artefacts which had been unearthed during excavation of the site, and the surrounding countryside where an inland étang had been drained in the 1300s, was a spectacular sight. The land had been drained and drainage channels had been dug which all converged on the centre. From here a deeper channel had been created leading back out of the étang and through the tunnel. This gave the landscape the appearance of a huge pie chart with the different crops giving different coloured segments!

The hillside through which the Canal du Midi runs actually has three tunnels running through it. Highest is the Canal du Midi: below this is the railway tunnel, and below that is the drainage tunnel from the etang! Responsibility for this last was given to a committee in the 1300s and the ‘descendents’ of that first committee are still responsible today for its upkeep, though judging by the state of the drainage channel, they may be neglecting their responsibilities somewhat.

After the inevitable night of a live band and fireworks just 100 m away from what we thought was a totally rural setting, we moved on next day, through the Malpas tunnel and towards our ‘bête noir’ the Capestang bridge. We moored up half a kilometre before the bridge and Alex cycled forward to recce the scene.

Moored just through the famous bridge were Balestra and Aurigny, plus a couple of hire boats and enough room for us. So we thought, let’s not hang about, let’s get on with it, and have lunch later! (The suspense was killing Alex – this has been in his mind as a potential turn-back spot for years!)

Alex set up extension leads to the front of Riccall, large and small angle-grinders, spare cutting discs, goggles, gloves etc just in case we came unstuck (or rather became stuck and needed to remove the forward handrails!) and we set off.

In the event we cleared the bridge with inches to spare and just touched one hand-rail, well towards the stern, when Riccall gently drifted over to one side. (At such slow speeds it is very difficult to maintain an absolutely straight line as there is no flow past the rudder.) Nevertheless, we got a round of applause from the watching boaters.

So we moored on tree roots (free) just beyond the bridge helped by Peter and Nicci, whose barge Aurigny had also squeezed through the day before. They came for celebratory fizz in the evening and we were still there in the dark at 9pm exchanging chat and stories, as you do.

We are at the time of year when the grape harvest is being gathered in. The weird-shaped, and very expensive, harvesters keep dashing back and forth together with grape carriers, and when we ride past the vintners, the smell of fermenting grapes is often overpowering (and not altogether pleasant) but that’s part of what this is all about!

Our batteries have been playing up lately. Alex checked them all when we were at Toul during the winter and they seemed OK, albeit showing signs of ageing. He hoped they would see this year out before being replaced – they’re about 6-7 years old. However, a recent check after several unexpected ‘low battery condition’ warning lights showed that three batteries were well down on performance. Removing these from the bank has improved things a bit, but not completely. We’re just hoping that we can survive the next couple of months or so until we get to our winter moorings and a steady supply of 240v electricity. Then we must decide how to get 10 heavy-duty batteries from the UK to the south of France. Do we do a car run and make an adventure out of it, or do we get them shipped? (No way could we afford to buy them in France – they would be four times the price!)

We are now moored at Homps (a much nicer mooring than it sounds!) where we are able to plug in to water and electricity for a couple of days and give the batteries a good long charge – not to mention doing all the cleaning/laundry and having long luxurious showers or baths. Hopefully plugging in for 48 hours will revive the batteries a bit.