Holiday report Canal du Midi, from Carnon Plage (Montpellier) to Homps (single voyage): 140 km, 17 locks, 25 operational engine hours, 4 persons on board + mascot dog Ella (team Holidayboat.net-Vakantieboot.nl)

Saturday we embarked at 16 hours in Carnon Plage (Montpellier), after quite some preparation.
We had not been able to leave from the Netherlands before Thursday night. With two cars we covered the 1350 kms distance and our Fiat Ducato is not that fast that you can drive this distance in one day.
The final 200 kms we sometimes had to climb and to descent like a chamois…
The route went by Maastricht, Liège, Luxemburg, Nancy, Dijon, Châlon sur Saône, with a connection to the A75 direction Clermont-Ferrand and Millau
over the highest bridge in the world , due to our visit to our French headquarters in Digoin (Southern Burgundy). Not very much sleep for the Fiat delivery van driver. This car had to be parked into a covered garage in Homps by Saturday early afternoon. Continue reading Canal du Midi – Holiday Report – Saturday →

Holiday report Canal du Midi, from Carnon Plage (Montpellier) to Homps (single voyage): 140 km, 17 locks, 25 operational engine hours, 4 persons on board + mascot dog Ella (team Holidayboat.net-Vakantieboot.nl)

Next morning we stopped over there to lay in forgotten provisions.
Just in time as it was on a Sunday and the local dwarf size supermarket closed at 12 hours 30.
It was a feast for the eyes to see how quickly All Hands On Deck Ryanne and Ferry learnt the handling of the ropes.
Quite a relief for Greet who was not keen on ropes, hard embankments and lively water. Continue reading Canal du Midi – Holiday Report – Sunday & Monday →

Holiday report Canal du Midi, from Carnon Plage (Montpellier) to Homps (single voyage): 140 km, 17 locks, 25 operational engine hours, 4 persons on board + mascotdog Ella (team Holidayboat.net-Vakantieboot.nl)

The following morning we sailed to the famous 7 locks of Fonsérannes.

A good timetable planning for passing the locks is important and as we were early we had to wait for three hours until we finally could go upwards.
Next to the locks complex there is a locomotive-like structure that once was meant to pull up and let down the boats but by some strange reason this solution has never worked.
At a length of 304 metres you reach a 21,44 metres fall and we had to crawl up by degrees, upstream. Continue reading Canal du Midi – Holiday Report – Tuesday →

Holiday report Canal du Midi, from Carnon Plage (Montpellier) to Homps (single voyage): 140 km, 17 locks, 25 operational engine hours, 4 persons on board + mascotdog Ella (team Holidayboat.net-Vakantieboot.nl)

In the evening we walked down into the centre of the small town of Capestang (click here for beautiful photos), 13 kms from Béziers and 18 kms from Narbonne.
The splendid 14-century church towers highly above the rest of Capestang. Continue reading Canal du Midi – Holiday Report – Wednesday →

Holiday report Canal du Midi, from Carnon Plage (Montpellier) to Homps (single voyage): 140 km, 17 locks, 25 operational engine hours, 4 persons on board + mascotdog Ella (team Holidayboat.net-Vakantieboot.nl)

This day was called friday ant next morning was called “leave the boat in Homps”

In le Somail we looked at a huge antiquarian bookshop near the arched bridge and bought a wicker basket with a french stick bread on a mixed goods peniche barge. Continue reading Canal du Midi – Holiday Report – Friday →

Holiday report Canal du Midi, from Carnon Plage (Montpellier) to Homps (single voyage): 140 km, 17 locks, 25 operational engine hours, 4 persons on board + mascotdog Ella (team Holidayboat.net-Vakantieboot.nl)

The Day of Farewell – Final cleaning and check the state of the boat with the base manager.

Continue reading Canal du Midi – Holiday Report – Saturday (disembarkation) →