Excursion to Narbonne

Not a motorway

Narbonne, ancient Roman capital, on the Via Dolmitia (see earlier reference to tunnel of Malpas), requires a diversion to the south along two canals but the books reassured us that the bike paths were practically motorways. Not true, at least in this year of exceptionally cold wet weather but certainly passable. At the end of the first canal we were glad to arrive at our camping ground early, gates welcoming open, sited in full (rare) sun, ready to have a relaxing afternoon. What does this notice mean: Fermé, merci? This is supposed to be open. Says so on internet. We ring the number indicated on the gate. Sorry, we’re not open. That’s that, then.

The canal passes through the centre

On to the next canal. Maybe. No way of crossing the wide river without taking the main road, so we and three Norwegian sisters, even more confused about the route than us, since they had downloaded very specific directions (incorrect), try to go across country. Marginally successful but we still end up on the busy main road, just a few kilometres further on. No clear markings or arrows mean that we miss the turn-off to join the good canal path on the right bank and have to follow the not-so-good one on the other side of the canal – no bridges. A puncture, second one of the day, holds us up slightly but we do indeed arrive in Narbonne, where there is a cycle path right through the centre, since the canal passes right through there too.

Our hotel was in the street to the left

By the time we reach the centre it is getting dark and we are tired. We opt for a small locked door hiding a two star hotel, the Hotel de Paris, no less. The guy in charge is really helpful and our bikes go into a room right by the front door. Bonus! Our room is fine, looks out over the narrow street, has shower, toilet, table, wardrobe, towels and soap. “Correct”, as the French say. 39 euros plus 1 each for the bike. Fallen on our feet, as we find out the next day that the Narbonne camping ground isn’t open either. Our kindly hotel person lets us leave all our gear with the bikes next morning while we explore Narbonne – the old Roman road (via Domitia), the cathedral, the archbishop’s palace, the central city with its medieval streets. We thought that if we were a transplanted rugby player, it would be a nice place to live.

Via Domitia

Cathedral

Archbishop's palace

Then it is off further south to stay the night. Past the closed camping ground we had been warned about and on to an open one the same person told us about – along to the lock, across the bridge, double back on your tracks on the main road, turn right at the crossroads, and there it is on our left – a splendiferous camping ground, twice the normal price but worth it just to see all the facilities – a large number of chalets, nay a HUGE number of chalets (called mobile homes in French), huge swimming pool complex, enclosed entertainment area with restaurant, another restaurant, shop, games room – most of these facilities unfortunately not available as it is not yet ‘the season’. Still, the shop would open at 5.30. That was good news. And there would be pizzas at 6.30. And the people staying in the camping area were all lovely, mostly travelling in cars, camper vans or caravans with bicycles and dogs. The dogs often had a chariot to travel in, as it is too far for them to follow their owners on long (eg 40km) treks by bike.

Neighbour's dog mounts guard

Neighbour - well set up

Dog chariot in back

The main thing we enjoy in a camping ground is talking to fellow campers. This tends not to happen in hotels, though it can and does happen that we strike up a conversation with people in hotels too. This is the truly enriching space – sharing stories of life and just being us. Just this lunchtime, as I was setting up the computer, we fell into conversation with some cyclists we had met briefly earlier and directed to the one open food shop in the nearby town. (It’s Wednesday and the boulangerie is closed, so no bread available from there. The grocer has some though). The older cyclist is 84 and cycling with his granddaughter, who looks to be in her twenties. They have come from Bordeaux and are heading for Toulouse. He feels a bit too old for tents (unlike the 79 year old we met two days ago), and they stay in hotels and eat at restaurants in the evening. He used to teach history/geography and as I told him about some of our Young Adult students he told me about a group of what we would call ‘alienated’ students he had worked with. During the course of the year they prepared for a two week stint in Senegal, helping in a village in the hinterland. The preparation was an opportunity for learning in many areas and the two weeks in Senegal went well.

Back to the flash camping ground…a great jumping-off place for the beaches and the lake, fantastic toilet facilities with a huge glass window…, everything you need for self-contained entertainment in the wop-wops, and for us and the people there pre-season, a good place to meet like-minded and interesting people. 

The next day it was back to Narbonne, back to the canal junction (Sallèles d’Aude), where the camping ground still had welcomingly open gates, though this time the notice indicated it was opening that very day. Phone calls on behalf of ourselves and a Dutch couple, also biking, finally got someone over to see us. Just as well, as they warned us that a party of 30 schoolchildren was arriving that night and suggested a good corner for us to camp in. Truth to tell, the school children were lovely. They were on the last day of a 5 day bike ride and would be returning by train the next day. Dinner was brought in for them, and although they had a high energy level, they were all well behaved. We loved our time at this little (15 site) campground. A lovely spot and the weather was fine.

 

Canal du Midi to Capestang

 The Canal du Midi is an amazing feat of engineering and a pretty place to take your canal boat, hired or (occasionally) privately owned. There are some spectacular Dutch and Belgian barges continuing their lives as pleasure craft all along the canal. It doesn't really have a bike path, despite books and web sites written about the 'piste cyclable', many of them, in truth, warning of the conditions - muddy, riddled with roots, narrow, close to the crumbling banks of the canal...suggestions for roads you can take instead of the canal tow path. 

Because of the very heavy rain prior to and after our arrival, the mud was glorious, real, greasy, and we often had to get off our bikes and push them for kilometres at a time, as the track was so slippery and the back wheels turned to 45° all the time. Reminded us of tramping days along river tracks after heavy rain. Of course, once the track dries, the wheel ruts are quite similar to roots sticking up over the track, so you're not much better off. Was it worth the effort? Absolutely, yes. Not just so that we could admire the countryside and the engineering, though that was the major benefit, but also for the feeling of achievement in difficult terrain. EVERYBODY commented on hard it was, from the fittest of young men ("I'm taking the road up to X then down to Y, to avoid the path"), to the walker from Québec, whose path we kept crossing, who found the walking hard, to the English retirees our own age (with a house in France) who we met at Sète station after 3 days coming down the canal. They showed us photos of how bad it was...but they were proud of their achievement too.

Béziers to Capestang

Leaving Béziers by the canal bridge over the river gives you a stunning view of the fortified cathedral but star of the show is the ladder of seven locks. 

We are going upstream but of course the  water is flowing downhill, so rather than taking one to new heights the locks really avoid a large waterfall. Some years ago they installed a waterlift to avoid these locks but it proved too expensive for people to bother using it and lies to the side of the locks, currently not in use. The wind was fairly ferocious - have I mentioned the headwind when travelling east to west?- I tried to capture the lean on a placard during a gust of wind.

Next excitement was the tunnel of Malpas. In itself just a tunnel but it was a key structure in its time. You have to climb up and over it, which is slightly energy-consuming but nothing like the climb to the top of the hill to the Gallo-roman ruins of the oppidum of Ensérune. People were active there from at least the 6th century BC,  to 1st century AD. The excavations started in 1915 and many pieces are in good condition. Greek vases sourced across the centuries show that these people were traders. The silos still evident in their houses show that it was grain that made them rich. 

The prize, however, goes to the 13th century drainage system visible from the hill, which made a lake into arable land. Relatively vast, it drains a circular area into the centre and then takes it away by a tunnel (which 'coincidentally' passes under the tunnel of Malpas), leaving wedges of land still divided the same way today.

The tunnel of Malpas also has a train tunnel between the canal and the drainage system and the old Roman road, the Via Domitia, runs along the top.

The cycle approaches to Capestang were sealed and of good quality -a good omen. Capestang is a pleasant place with a choice of cafés in the square to quaff one's coffee (or beer), a good camping ground with a nice bloke in charge - and while we watched they installed a drinks machine on the verandah, where we were strategically seated to charge our technology. We had to give up the power point but they gave us free drinks to check it out. Good swap. The camping ground bloke also told us where we could buy an adapter to fit camping ground electrical outlets, which is very handy.

The weather was fine enough to sit in the square AND eat in the courtyard of a cafe (all the while  charging our phone). Just as well we made the most of the fine weather. 

Béziers

Polygone

Luxury! A cycle track with a sealed surface. We sped along into Béziers, passing by The Polygone, a new shopping and residential centre, which reminded us of the new shopping centre at Lyon, La Confluence. 

From there we climbed up to the town itself, passing through the gardens, with a Roman-style theatre from the 19th century, and statues of French poets. 

On, then through the street markets to the winding medieval streets and the stunning cathedral, from where there are great views. 

Lunch was gathered from Monoprix, including amazingly good tartes aux citron.

Back on bikes to the camping ground at Villeneuve-lès-Béziers - total km for the day...22

The centrepiece: a set of 3 waterfalls in the shape of 3 locks

 

Beyond the coast - day 1 continues

Around Agde and beyond 
The track wasn't actually straight the whole way - it wound around loads of grapevines, planted practically beside the sea, behind a protective barrier of, maybe, stakes. It passed beside what seemed like kilometres of camping ground - not grassy ones, but full of cheek-by-jowl 'mobile homes' (we would probably call them cabins), which are so buffeted by the wind that a couple we met staying there needed to get out each morning asap. No doubt there are days the wind is from another direction, but this wind could teach Wellington a thing or two! And also of interest, a boat-out-of- water 'parking' area!

There's a ferris wheel almost visible in one of the photos, which turned out to be important. That was where we would have turned right, when the cycle track went straight on, if there had been, for example, a sign. One of our guide books kindly explained (when we later checked), to 'turn right at the amusement park'. It didn't exactly look like an amusement park, but in fact there were a number of amusement parks springing up along our route, in readiness for the season, one of which opened the very next day.

To continue, having missed the turn-off, when the cycle path petered out, we had no choice but to cycle along the main road into a head wind. Eventually the main road offered an alternative track, which we gladly took, and finally reached a holiday resort town unlike any of our own, with compounds of holiday resorts which included their own restaurants, a spa or two, plus a naturist holiday resort. Great cycle tracks but almost no shops. The weary overland travellers did manage to find a couple of coffees and never was anything so welcome. We then had to get out of the maze of streets and roundabouts, journey along a main road with traffic whizzing by at speed and then negotiate crossing a largish town at rushhour. At last we arrived at the river and, now running much later than intended, were ready to find a camping ground and blob, to join the canal next morning.


Alas, this was day 1 and there was still much learning to do. All the camping grounds involved going in the wrong direction. In addition they were all beachy upmarket places we didn't want to go near or pay the price for. It was still light. More camping grounds were marked on our map. Allons-y!
About 5km to Vias. Arrive 6.10pm. It is starting to rain. We are tired. We want a cabin to keep us dry. Sorry, the lady who can do this left at 6pm. There are more campsites on the west side; this is the east side.
2 km on - West side: they are all down at the beach and are the same holiday camp sort of places. We don't even try. We pass another amusement park almost all set up for the next weekend's opening. We meet some English people who are renting a large boat and yarn for a while. They tell us there is a camping ground near where they rented their boat from. We look over one of the technical marvels of the Canal du Midi (Les ouvrages du Lubron) but the rain increases and we move on.
3km on: We find the spot. Yes, there is a camping ground. One of the posh type. We're okay about that now. But they only rent out cabins for a minimum of 2 nights. We are in the middle of nowhere. It's still raining. We move on.
8km on: There's been a piece of nice track for the last little while, a good omen. It's practically dark, we're tired. We leave the canal path and find the camping ground. No, they really only rent cabins out for a minimum of 2 nights. We are very tired, we've ridden over 55km today, it is dark and we are exhausted...madame relents and agrees to give us a cottage for one night. Do the paperwork tomorrow. There is a restaurant attached to the camping ground where we can eat until 9.30pm. 

Much restored (delicious meal!) some time later, we realise that this would be the best place to stay the next night anyway, and we could visit Béziers properly, since there is a good pathway the 6km distance. We slept well.


 

The Canal du Midi - start

Sète

Our starting point for the Canal du Midi was Sète, just across the Etang de Thau, where the canal itself starts. From the window and roof of Armelle's place you can look right across the body of water to where it must start, too far away to see any detail.

We had been to Sète before, but not to the beach that Armelle took us to after work. What a great way to relax at a beach! We called in ourselves at the same beach the next day, on our way to the canal. 

Sète is a an old town, with houses all the way up the hill, and quite steep descents. We biked up quite a lot of the way to Armelle's from the station and pushed the bikes the rest. In the morning we chose prudence over exhilaration and walked our bikes down the narrow, winding streets to the port. The starting point for the cycleway didn't coincide with what was on the map but the Office de Tourisme (the OT), kindly gave us a different map and told us where to start from, several km further on.


Still lessons for us to learn - there is very little signage and if the maps are also inaccurate, it's not always easy to choose the right route; we cycled happily along the cycle path - until it was no longer there, at which point we knew we had made a wrong decision - but where? And how do we get back to the right place? Backtracking was a start but that led us to the Etang de Thau - wrong side of the sandbar. Second backtrack led us to somewhere that seemed equally obscure and no-one we asked knew where the cycle path was. (I don't come from here.) Finally a woman directed us to the Lido, from where we should be able to rejoin the cycle path - lo and behold - there it was! Sealed and seemingly endless. Time for a drink at yesterday's bar!

The walking/cycle track runs right along the sea-shore. Big, wide, wind-blown beaches. We are familiar with them! Headwind, that goes without saying!

Beaucaire and Tarascon

Beaucaire is on one side of the Rhône, Tarascon on the other. We had thought to start the Canal du Rhône à Sète from Beaucaire  but once there were advised against it, since the projected bike path wasn't really a go-er yet. We went to see the proposed start and agreed with the tourist office. We didn't have the time-frame to fight nature, as we had to be in Sète the following day, to catch Armelle and Sam before they went to Italy for the weekend. (You can, from there. Easily!)

The Tourist Office regretted there was no camping ground, so we settled for an interesting hotel which had been a college in 1635, when there weren't a lot of colleges about. Marvellous marble staircases and statues. The teachers, members of the clergy, did not escape the terror of 1793 and the building was taken by the state. By no means all of the buildings  survived the following two centuries but it was an interesting place to stay, with a history typical of many other places.

 



In the afternoon, we biked over the bridge to Tarascon. First notice we see is to the camping ground. But this, of course, is not Beaucaire's camping ground. It is Tarascon's. And what do we see next? The Tarascon tourist office, which is able to give us information about their side of the river. However, this separation goes way back in history, so I guess it's not going to change soon. There are two castles, one in Beaucaire and the other in Tarascon, facing each other over the Rhône, which formed a boundary between one ruler's lands and another's, (the ruler depending on the era.) 

The next morning's market changed the atmosphere completely. Colourful stalls along the side of the canal, and in the centre of town produce of all sorts. We picked up two more electrical outlet adapters for a couple of euros each. In its heyday, Beaucaire had a ten-day fair, where the town earned enough to keep it for a year (as much as the port of Marseilles, they say), so the commerce generated by the canal boats and markets may well help the coffers. The day was fine, the town was humming  and we thought yes, we could return here some time. 

Snippets from Lyon

The Institut Lumière
is in the Monplaisir area of Lyon, where the Lumière brothers are said to have first invented film-making.  We thought to pass time there just because it was there - but we were blown away by what was available to us. In a short afternoon we were taken back over a century and privileged to watch the very first films ever made, (according to the French). 




We learnt about the family, the invention of filming and projecting moving images, inspired by the way a sewing machine pulls the material through as it sews, the proliferation of movies in a very short time span, colour added to photographic plates (Red, Green, Blue), 360° projection 6 metres high (1901). So much of what we still see on the screen seems to have been created in about a 15 year time span. 

The Institute is housed in the family house, 1902, where the family lived until the late sixties. Even the house is a work of art, called by the locals at the time Lumière Castle, with a winter garden and parkland surrounds. The factory, where they made the photographic plates which were the basis of their fortune, were bulldozed down in the 60s, and only a bit of the old warehouse remains, now classified as an historical monument, and turned into a cinema and exhibition centre.

Miribel Park
While waiting for my bike part, we realised that we had another bike available for short excursions (Julian's bike - not quite my fit...unfortunately...). We took the bike path to the river and then followed bike paths all the way to Mirabel Park, a vast open area with a huge lake, mountain-biking circuits, tennis, fitness, golf, walking tracks, beaches, places to eat (in season- not quite yet, though we managed a coffee while sheltering from the rain.)

White swans kept us company as we ate the sandwiches we had bought at the local bakery before leaving. Coming home (in the rain) we managed to cut across the town, using bike paths where obvious, and taking shelter as appropriate.

On the following Sunday we went out to Miribel again, 6 adults and two 16 month olds in a bike trailer. Same impressive openness, but with a stronger wind. Same fearless swans who thought we might perhaps help them out with a few tidbits. We did have picnic fare but nothing with swan or duck written on it.  Coffee to warm up at the same seasonal cafe, this time offering midday meals, since it was the weekend. Big bonus this time was following the leader, both out and back, so the network of bike lanes became clearer. And easier.

La Confluence
is a newish project in between the banks of the Saône and the Rhône, to the south of Perrache station. The development will be extensive. The tramway takes you right to the doors of the new shopping centre, which feels a little like being on the decks of a boat. It is where Lyon is currently developing, both commercially and residentially. I was stopped from taking photos by a security guard...