Wednesday 1st November 2017
Today, as we discovered, was Las Toussaints or All Saint’s Day. It is a public holiday across France. We decided to visit Beziers and the Fonsérannes Locks on the Canal du Midi.
During our travels we had been aware of many shops and florists displaying large potted chrysanthemums in their windows and on the pavements . Now we know why.
Chrysanthemums are the traditional flowers placed on the graves of loved ones, during this time of remembrance.
Our campsite, Les Peupliers, is in Colombiers. Just a short distance from our site is the Canal du Midi.
We rode the short distance into the village and where the road crosses the canal, we headed off onto a path towards Béziers.
The path was fairly wide and consisted of dirt and gravel but followed the contours of the canal quite nicely and was reasonably easy to cycle along.
Because it was higher than the canal itself, it gave us an advantageous view of the surrounding countryside. We could see villages in the distance built high on hills and acre upon acre of vines!
We continued on this route until we reached a small bridge where our path joined the Traverse de Colombiers (Vc9), which took us away from the canal. (On our return journey we rode on the tow path to this point, along the canal, which was a much better, if not, more precarious option).
Our journey along this quiet road was okay, until we came to the busy D64. It was at this point we had to dismount from our bikes and walk further up the road to be able to cross it. (Owing to a large concrete barrier dividing the lanes).
We made our way again on the Traverse de Colombiers until we reached a tunnel on our right hand side.
On exiting the tunnel, we turned right and headed up to the car park and the entrance to Les 9 Ecluses Fonsérannes.
The nine locks of Fonsérannes is a UNESCO world heritage site and a fantastic feat of engineering. It is a 312 m long staircase, which allows boats and barges to cross a 25 m gradient. A unique feature of each lock is that they are oval in shape.
The whole area has just recently undergone major renovation and restoration work, only opening fully in July this year.
There is a large car park and a wooden walkway, which allows easy access for pedestrians and cyclists, as well as wheel chair users, to the canal.
Along the canal is now a restaurant, tourist office and gift shop, and information about the history of the canal.
A wide sloping walkway mirrors the lie of the land as the locks descend, with cleverly positioned seating areas along the edge to allow you to relax and, if you are lucky, watch the boats navigate the series of locks.
At the base of the locks you can either choose to continue along the canal towards Béziers , which is lined with an avenue of plane trees or turn right and explore the new garden area.
We chose to enjoy the benefit of the city views from the top of the new garden before making our way along the other arm of the canal, across the River Orb, via the Orb Aqueduct, and into the small port of Béziers.
Amongst the many large, small, modern and traditional boats was one which caught our eye 🙂
On our cycle back we were lucky enough to watch a boat descend the locks. It was obvious that he wasn’t a novice and took each lock in his stride and wasn’t fazed by the audience he had attracted.
We took the narrow towpath from the Fonsérannes Locks on our return journey, which meant we didn’t have to cross the dreaded D64 but did mean we had to keep our eyes on the path at all times!