Report: France/Canal Du Midi

Rb

Hi all,

Just back from France from what was certainly a different sort of holiday. We spent the week cruising down the Canal Du Midi on a boat that we hired, stopping at the little villages along the way.

We flew to Toulouse with Air Lingus. Flights weren't too bad in terms of cost, can't think of it off the top of my head though. From Toulouse airport we got the bus into the city centre. Took roughly half an hour and left us outside Matabiau Train Station. We then had to get a train to Beziers, 2nd class was fully booked when we got there so we had to get premiere class. 5 tickets cost €190, but we got our own little private area with a good bit of space for the baggage too.

Train took roughly two hours to Beziers station, was quite a pleasant journey due to the comfortable seating and space.

From Beziers train station we'd to get a taxi to Port Cassafieres. Taxi was cheap enough, journey time was roughly 20 minutes.

There was a problem getting a taxi though due to it being Friday evening, so you may need to call the taxi place. The numbers posted on signs around anyway.

The boat was booked through Le Boat. We rented the Calypso. It can happily sleep 6, all the single beds can easily be pushed together to form doubles which suited as the girlfriend was with me.

It's quite a spacious boat considering, the two bathrooms was definitely a nice touch. Doesn't actually look great on the website picture, I've some more that I'm sure I'll upload in the next few days anyway.

The boat was about €2900 for the week, they also take another €150 deposit for fuel and it's €15 per harbour (as they're private bar two) for electricity/water/etc.

We stayed in Port Cassafieres for the first night and left the next morning.

We spent the next 3 days sailing upstream towards Homps, stopping at the towns/villages along the way.

There's some beautiful towns/villages along the way, all seem to be very old and there's some fascinating architecture to be seen. The canal is lined with vineyards and man planted trees.

Along the way the locks have to be dealt with, including the famous Seven steps lock at Beziers. Two people are needed, along with one person to keep a hand on the steering etc.

I didn't know that gloves were recommended, and didn't bring any but if you're doing this you should definitely get a good pair of thick gloves for doing the locks and mooring the boat due to the ropes, the force of the wind on the boat etc.

The locks aren't too difficult and it's a bit of craic, but without gloves your hands do get quite sore. I found the actual steering to be more frustrating due to the rudders and the need to be continually adjusting the path, but if you take turns doing it there's no problem.

After three days we arrived in Homps. It's quite a small but very much picture-esque village. Stayed there that night and the following day.

There's a fantastic little restaurant there ran and owned by a couple. Will try to get the name of it, but we ate there both nights due to the food being so good.

I expected the food to be cheaper, perhaps because it's been a while since I was in France last. The restaurants along the canal are priced just under that of a good restaurant in Dublin city centre. It cost about €5.50 for a pint but the wine was super cheap. If you like wine, you'll love this place.

The weather was mixed, some days it was cloudy but still hot, some days it was pure sunshine and one day it rained continually.

Something came up and I'd to leave on Wednesday, instead of Friday. Managed to get a flight back from Carcassonne Airport with Ryanair for €130. It cost €66 for a taxi from Homps and took roughly 45 minutes.

It's a horrible little airport but the time went quickly enough, the flight was 15 minutes late yet as usual Ryanair claimed they were on time though they didn't play that horrible tune.


Summary:

It's a very different holiday. I certainly enjoyed most aspects of it, bar the locks it's very relaxing. It's a wonderful, well kept region full of beautiful countryside and old, picture-esque towns. I'd recommend it for families and couples travelling together, could also make a nice holiday with friends though.

Will try to get a few pictures up in the next few days, have some great ones of the scenery/boat/towns.

I'd certainly do it again, particularly now that I know what's involved.

BuffyBot

Excellent report. I fixeda wonky link

Rb

BuffyBot wrote: »

Excellent report. I fixeda wonky link

Cheers!

ircoha

Excellent field report:
For those of us unlucky enough not to live/eat out in Dublin, can you give some idea of the prices for dinner.
Thanks

Rb

ircoha wrote: »

Excellent field report:
For those of us unlucky enough not to live/eat out in Dublin, can you give some idea of the prices for dinner.
Thanks

From what I can remember:

Starters were about €5-€7
Main Course €12-17 for pizza/pasta, steak/duck could reach €25ish
Deserts were €5-€10
Booze was about €5.50 for a pint of the local beer, €3.50 for a small heineken but the wine was dirt cheap at quarter litres coming in around €1.50-€2

hargo

You could also go Ryanair to Carcassone and start you boat trip there, the boat company will pick you up at the airport and take you to Trebe about 10 km.

Rb

hargo wrote: »

You could also go Ryanair to Carcassone and start you boat trip there, the boat company will pick you up at the airport and take you to Trebe about 10 km.

Indeed, however if you're going Carcassone to Port Cassafieres you've got 64 locks to do in the week!

olaola

We did a Narbonne - Beziers - Narbonne two years ago. It was one of my favourite holidays, and I would go back in a flash. It was only the two of us at the time, considering all the locks (which are very doable with two people) it might be handier to have a few more. Even for the fact that one person has to drive all the time (make sure you get a dual - seated driving position) it would be good to have more people to share the navigation.

What I really loved about the locks… they are all automatic, but the close for lunch. How fantastically French!

Húrin

save €3000 and cycle it instead.

gollem_1975

I am going here in the morning with my fiance and 2 other couples.

can't wait!