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.