Cycling the Canal Du Midi

We had a great nights sleep again and it was a bonus that it was once again free. We decided yesterday that today was going to be a no rush day. We need to just slow things down and start enjoying the trip. Not that we haven’t enjoyed any of it so far but we do have a tendency to push ourselves forward all the time. But not today.
We woke up around 7am, had coffees and just lounged in our pyjamas until the sun was up at 8:30, and then, once the weather looked like it was going to be good we decided we would stay out for the day and go for a bike ride along the Canal.
Just after 9:30am we set off, out of the car park and down the gravel track. Ellie isn’t a confident rider so rather than go along the road to get to the Canal I had found a gravel road that took us away from camp, over a bridge and then back along the other side of the river joining the Canal path at the town of Homps.
We peddled along at a leisurely pace taking in the sights of the lochs, the over hanging trees and the few french houses dotted along the other side of the river.
It was great to see all the Canal boats and the Canal itself must be 20 meters wide, it really does put some of the English canals to shame.
The first town we came to was Argens-Minervois about 8km in and it was a beautiful walled medieval town built on a hill. This also had it’s own set of Loch gates and an ancient bridge.
From there we had to travel along 500m of road and rejoin the newly built canal path past the town of Roubia, and then Paraza following a bend in the canal that eventually brought us to the medieval town of Ventenac en Minervois where there was a huge Chàteau. We continued along the path all the way to the town Somail, which was an ancient port town and still has a lot of the old buildings and architecture from the period. We stopped here in a nice restaurant called the aubauge for lunch as it was just after midday and we both got a pizza. I devoured mine as I hadn’t had breakfast and Ellie couldn’t eat all of hers and it seemed to posh to ask for a doggy bag to bring back. France is an unbelievable place for cyclists, and these little villages we have visited have really proven that. They seem to have an art for getting the bikes away from traffic and where there are no routes they will make one, the whole of the cycle path we have ridden today was mud until recently and now the whole track has been plained and levelled and either tarmac or gravel has been placed to make one huge cycle and walking route running over 50km almost continuously.
At 1pm we set off on the return journey only this time we came half way back on the opposite side of the canal all the way to Ventenac Du Minervois where we crossed over the medieval bridge and back along the cycle way.
By the time we got back to Wanda at 3pm we had ridden 50km and the sun was out and we were both cooking up, so we re-hitched the bikes back to Wanda and then went for a swim in the lake. After a quick dip we checked our newly fitted battery meter for how much power the solar panels have brought in, and they have topped the batteries back up to full, so we are well pleased with that investment as it has enabled us more freedom with needing to look for an electric hook up, and not have the worry of how much juice is left in the batteries.
The day had gone by relatively quickly and although we had ridden along way we both felt like it had actually been quite a relaxed day.
Neither of us needed dinner in the evening after our pizzas so we settled on light snacks before settling down for the evening.Read more