Canal du Midi; Capestang, Carcassonne and Castelnaudary
Bike miles 90 (in 4 days)
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| Le Malpas: Europe's first navigable canal tunnel |
After visiting Béziers, the next day we biked 50kms in
the opposite direction to the lake town of Capestang. Bravely we stayed on the
bikes through the Tunel de Malpas which was a dark musty 173m long and home to
hundreds of pigeons nesting in its limestone walls.
Having cycled through the tunnel we then had to carry our bikes up the 90+ stone steps to rejoin the towpath on the opposite side of the canal.
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| A hearty reward after cycling 50kms |
Leaving the tow path to
cycle country lanes we were treated to wide reaching views across the Languedoc
vineyards. Coffee at Capestang was a welcome break in a sleepy central square
before the ride back clutching a baguette.
A late afternoon wine sampling was the reward at the
small cellar of a young winemaker in Colombiers. Sylvian and his little son were
delightful and his wine fantastic and thankfully less than a mile from our
campsite.
Moving further west to Trebes we biked the 15kms stretch
of canal to Carcassonne. The walled and towered Cathar city is a medieval jewel
in the rugged hilltops. In a perfect state of repair its scallop
tiled and pinnacled watchtowers look out over the vast landscape towards Spain.
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| The fortified town of Carcassonne |
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| Between the fortress walls in la Cité de Carcassonne |
Inside the town walls boutiques, eateries and expensive
hotels were busy with happy visitors all of us charmed by the winding streets
and pretty squares. It has a bloody past being the site of the conquered Cathar
and later Protestant uprisings but under blue skies and sunshine it was a
sparkling and content place.
Staying on the canal further west we biked another 30kms
round trip from our overnight stop on a pretty French farm owned by a German
couple, to hopefully sample the famed cassoulet of Castelnaudary. Our route to
town was along a windy ridge and it was tough going in open rolling hills of
cereal and white bean plantations. We puffed our way up to a restored windmill,
one of 20 that would’ve ground the wheat from the surrounding fields.
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| Aude valley views from Moulin du Cugarel |
The town was smaller than we imagined and felt run-down
which was surprising. The 7 hectare ‘bassin’ which turned out to be the home of
a huge fleet of tourist ‘le Boats’ was also home to weathered and greasy
looking campers and caravans – travellers who had come to the end of their
particular road and who sat talking and smoking along the banks of the dark
water.
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| The Grand Bassin of Castelnaudary |
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| The canal route home |
We cycled the canal route back as far as we could and
were amused to discover that on leaving the bassin with a ‘le Boat’ the first
challenge of the new pilot is to navigate through a section of three consecutive sluices to
pass through the first of four locks which we saw in a five mile stretch. “BANN-joor”
brave Americans!
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| The key ingredient in our cheat's dinner |
A sampling of cassoulet proved too costly for our budget
at 15-35 euros a portion (!) so we opted instead to buy a three euro tin
branded from Castelnaudary at the local supermarket. Carefully avoiding the
duck and goose options we tucked into a mighty stew of Toulouse sausages with
black lentils, and spiced it up admittedly with some extra garlic, onion and smoked
paprika. Oh and added some goat cheese on to melt at the end. A delightful
cheat’s dinner!
