Steps leading up to the Pont du Canal where my three day hike began.

Steps leading up to the Pont du Canal where my three day hike began., originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

My three day hike from Beziers to Sete began on February 16, 2010 at the steps which lead up to the Pont du Canal, literally the Canal bridge. This viaduct carries the Canal over the River Orb, high up in the air. In this photo you can see the river to the left below the Canal.



Day one of my walk was gray with very light rain all day gave me a good chance to test out my new rain gear the rain suit and my water proof Tilley hat both worked really well. Not far out of Beziers I saw my first boat moving on the Canal. Before I got to the end of the Canal I saw a few more looks like people are starting to get their boats ready for summer.



Day one was Beziers to Agde 25.2 KM and I was very relieved at the end of the day. I had been concerned that I might not be able to carry the back pack, I'm two years older since I last carried a full pack. I only had the pack off for a coffee in the morning and while I ate my lunch other than that I walked from 0930 to 1630 without any problems. My feet and legs were tired that night but a nights rest takes care of that.

Agde is a nice little town but just as you enter you pass in front of the church, often I see church architecture which doesn't do much of me but this one was just bug ugly. I didn't get inside so perhaps all the beauty is on the interior.



Day two from Agde to Meze a cool day and cloudy all day but no rain. I enjoyed walking along the canal there was always something new to see. Walked past this floating B&B I suppose if they didn't like you they could always move to a different location while you were out.



For a while I though I had taken a wrong turn and walked into Spain. You see these large bull cutouts on hillsides everywhere in Spain advertising a brand of Sherry.



All of these boats are rentals and this is just a small area of them there were lots more. The Canal must be bow to stern boats in the height of summer.



Half way through the day I came to the end of the Canal du Midi at Marseillan the canal empties into the Etang de Thau and boat traffic headed to the Mediterranean go the lenght of the Etang and then through the short Canal Du Rhone into the Sea.

Where the Canal du Midi enters the Etang de Thau at Marseillan



From here on in the trail leaves the water edge and for the most part follows along highways also the guide book needs to be updated in one place it tells you to follow the N113 which would have been a rural road however it no longer exists it has been update to the D613 which is a major highway with lots of traffic. I carried on because I wanted to get the practice in but I wouldn't do that part of the walk again or recommend it.

Bernie chillin in the hotel at Meze.



The last day from Meze to Sete had some nice points to it I enjoyed the little town of Bouzigues on the Etang and had lunch of Moules et Frit (Mussels and Fries) at a water side restaurant with this lovely view of the Etang.



Shortly after lunch I had a good view of Sete across the Etang only 14 KM to go, all of those structures in the water are Oyster Farms.



Arriving in Sete there were a few boats out sculling on the Canal du Rhone. All day today the weather had been perfect I didn't see a thermometer anywhere but it must have bee around 20 degrees. It was great to get the rain gear off. According to the guide book I walked 73 KM but with the amount of wrong turns I made it must have been a bit more than that. Three days to walk it and around 30 minutes by train back to Beziers.

I didn't take time to explore Sete just as I arrived at the station there was a train ready to return to Beziers so I took the train. It is only a half hour trip by rail and I hope to go back there the next sunny day to walk along the sea shore and explore the town.

My Mocha Cake

My Mocha Cake, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

I bought one little Mocha Cake yesterday at the Bakery next door and I was so surprised at the production the lady went through to package and sell it to me. She put it in a box, wrapped it and even put a ribbon on it. By the way the cake was very good.

I was invited to go to Roqueburn yesterday to the annual Mimosa Festival, with Geoff and Lesley a couple of English ex-pats who are friends of my landlord. So glad I went we had a wonderful day . Rogueburn is a little town nestled in the hills along the river Orb less than an hour north of Beziers.



A wonderful atmosphere with crowds of people descending on the little town from all over the area. Lots of vendors with their stalls set-up all along the main street selling anything from crafts to cheese, and of course bouquets of Mimosa.



I can't resist the wonderful local cheeses and there were several available that were made on the local farms, and of course they were handing out lots of free samples.



When my eyes fell on this one I knew I just had to have some and of course it was very old, very expensive and very good. It was selling for almost 44 Euros per Kilo I bought a small piece for 11 Euros and have been enjoying it very much.



I took several of my bumpy short video clips.



There was a nice parade just before we left in the afternoon.





I not sure if I will be able to blog for the next few days or not. My plans are to leave Beziers in the morning on a three day hike along the Canal du Midi to Sete on the Mediterranean. Stopping the First night in Agda the second night in Meze and coming back to Beziers by train from Sete on Thursday evening. If I find Internet Cafes along the way I will add some short posts if not it will be Friday before I have a chance to blog again.

Beziers Town Hall Door Knocker

Town Hall Door Knocker, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Still cold but sunny it got up to 4 degrees today but it was nice out in the sun. I even sat in the sun on my balcony and read for a while.

Spent part of the day exploring the side streets of Beziers , I'm getting quite comfortable with the town and seem to have a general idea of where I am most of the time. Found a lot of lovely little shops that I hadn't seen before especially the antiques shops. So far I have only window shopped but I did see a couple of small paintings that were very nice. that's what I usually buy myself as a souvenir of my travels, one was quite small and would fit in with the stuff that I'm shipping on to Pru to pick up in Paris on my way home, so chances are good that I will talk myself into that one.

This is the shop window and if you click on the photo it will take you to my flickr site and I have put a note next to the one I liked.



Some more shop windows:

Anybody planning a wedding, want to do it Beziers style.



It was a rug shop but they also had a Buddha collection for sale:



All of the glasses were, "Le Lot 35 Euros" :



My only purchase of the day was a nice new leather belt which I bought from a Senegalese man who had set up a small display in the Allees Paul Riquet.

They have turned on some of the fountains this one is at a round about but the one that I want to see is a large one in the Allees but the last time I checked it was frozen over.



Thought you might like to see a close-up of my Mimosa, it's a shrub or small tree which has been in bloom here since the first of the year. Not many in Beziers but I did see one coming into town on the train yesterday afternoon. If the weather is good I might see a lot more tomorrow I've been invited to go to the Mimosa Festival in Roquebrun a town a little north of here .

Friday Flower Market - Beziers

Friday Flower Market - Beziers, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Another lovely sunny day but still very cold, it got up to 3 degrees this afternoon.

Off to my friendly neighborhood laundry early this morning and then back up to check out the Friday Flower Market. Very colourful and I took the opportunity to act on a suggestion from Pat and Marc, previous guests in this apartment. When I said yesterday that I had to keep the screen down because the lady next door closes here shutters if I raise it, they said their solution to the problem was to put a large bouquet of sunflowers in the wind and just think of her as the friendly neighborhood watch. So I have thrown caution to the wind raised the screen and since sunflowers are not in season I bought a large bunch of Mimosa and a pot of Daffodils.(Not in bloom yet)





Of course I have to make my daily stop at the the bakery which is just steps from my front door.



After lunch I decided to take the train to Narbonne which is only one train stop away. Once again the weather is causing train delays. When I bought my ticket the agent said the train is delayed 40 minutes as soon as I got out in the lobby of the station the board changed to say that it is now delayed one hour. I decided to call Pru for a chat and while I was talking to her the board changed again it was now delayed one hour and a half. Having lots of time to spare I bought a newspaper and went to sit in the lounge. I just got comfortable when I noticed the board had changed again now the train is once again only delayed an hour so now I have a matter if minutes to get to the right platform and jump on board.

It was cold in Beziers but no wind, in Narbonne it was three degrees but lots of wind which made it much worse.Not cold enough that old men of the town would interrupt their game of Boules, I watched them for quite a while and in my opinion they were very good, making some incredible shots. They kept a close eye on me so I had to do my filming secretly, don't blame them I wouldn't want some tourist filming me either.



Narbonne has a beautiful Cathedral but it looks a bit strange, it was never finished. It is one of the tallest in France but they only built the choir and never went any further so from the inside it is almost as long as it is tall.







In the middle of a plaza near the Cathedral they have preserved a bit of the old Roman Road that used to pass through the area. Yes that's my shadow........



Not to be out done the train back home in the late afternoon was delayed at least an hour and for an added attraction they changed the platform after everyone was out on the platform waiting for the train .

Blizzard in Beziers LOL

Blizzard in Beziers LOL, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

A special welcome to all of my Maritime Camino Friends who started following the blog today.

Blizzard of course is a joke but is it ever cold here today and as you can see there was even a light snow flurry early this morning. I get the local weather forecast for back home emailed to me every morning and I think it was warmer on Campobello by a few degrees than it was here. There were icy spots on sidewalks earlier and people were rushing to cover them with grit. I spent most of the day out around the city and feeling sorry for the local people they look like they were frozen.

I absolutely hate my little camera it has been giving me grief ever since I've owned it. Yesterday after I got all the way out to the Etang de Montady it refused to work altogether, fortunately I had my flip camcorder with me.(Camino friendly only weighs 3.3 ounces) The battery was recently charged but the camera says it has a low battery and shuts down. So all of this to tell you that I did a long walk through the city today out to the outskirts where the new modern mall is to find a camera shop and have the battery checked. I had charged it again last night it tested fine and the camera worked all day, yesterday I was tempted to throw it in the canal.

On the way to the mall you walk by the new arena. Beziers has Bull Fighting in the summer, fortunately not this time of year. But then I have been there got the t-shirt and will never do it again. It was my birthday gift to myself a few years ago in Portugal, where they tell you they don't kill the Bull, which is true they don't kill it in the arena they just torture it to within an inch of it's life. Then they take it out back and kill it.



Looks to me like they hung the little red elf, but people tell me he is climbing up the rope to get in the apartment. I have seen these all over the city, wish I could find them in a shop I would ship one back home.



My traveling buddy Bernie has been having fun today. He comes from a large family of sock people who are all over the place.

Bernie wants to ride the Carousel



Bernie is looking for a job. Click on the photo then select all sizes from my flickr account so you can see what job Bernie is considering.




My window with the screen down on the left and the view from my window on the right. This is the view from my kitchen window and I have to keep the screen down because when ever I'm working at the kitchen counter, which is just behind the window, the old lady across the street rushes around and closes all of her shutters. It's a very narrow street.

A walk along the Canal du Midi from Beziers to L'Etang de Montady February 10, 2010

A walk along the Canal du Midi from Beziers to L'Etang de Montady February 10, 2010, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

A cool day but no rain so I decided today was a good time to walk along the Canal du Midi from Beziers to L'Etang de Montady which is about 12 KM out of Beziers. I made it there and back in around seven hours, without a back pack and I am one hurting unit tonight. Obviously I need to do more walking to get ready for Le voie du Puy the first of march.

As I said it was cool but for walking it was quite comfortable and there was lots of things to look at along the Canal . I will have to remember to take bread for the ducks next time. Quack a few times and these little fellows come racing across the water to see if you have something for them.



When I started the walk this morning I walked past the nine locks just east of Beziers. I guess it must be too early in the season I didn't get to see a boat going through the locks, as a matter of fact I didn't see a single boat moving on the canal all day.



My destination was the L'Etang de Montady which is an incredible piece of medieval engineering which still works today. In the middle ages a bishop designed a method of draining the Etang (Swamp, marsh or pond) by digging drainage ditches which drained the water to the center where an underground tunnel carried the water away. Thus the pie shaped land so all of the ditches could drain to the center. These are a couple of videos that I took from two different locations above the L'Etang: (Hope you don't get sea sick these were taken with my flip camcorder and I don't have the steadiest hand)
This is a short clip that I took along the Canal Du Midi nears Colombiers:

And last but not least this is a view looking back at Beziers from the banks of the Canal du Midi

Picnic lunch at Saint Guilihem le Desert

Picnic lunch at Saint Guilihem le Desert, originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Well I had another try at uploading photos and I'm glad to say it must have been a poor connection the other night because today it was every bit as fast as it is at home if not faster. So there are a few more photos and a video clip on my flickr site if you want to have a look. you can get there by clicking on this photo.

This is a shot of one of the picnic feast that Pru and I had on the road. This one at Saint Guilihem le Desert. We had a lot of fun shopping at markets for our lunch.

All good things must come to an end and Pru had to return home yesterday. When we got to the train station yesterday morning most of the trains coming down from up north were on average four hours late. Due to some problem with the electricity . Pru was going north so this wasn't a problem her train departed on time. I talked to here later in the afternoon though and the train had slowed down and was going to be at least two hours late getting into Pairs.

Today has been cool and we had some rain this morning. I'm waiting for a good day to do a walk along the Canal Du Midi to L'Etang de Montady, Google that or better yet have a look at it on Google Earth. It's and amazing piece of medieval engineering that is still in use today. Only about 10 KM out of Beziers so a nice day trip. So far tomorrow is looking better weather wise so perhaps I will be off in the morning.

The Nuns were having their noontime service as we entered the abbey at Saint Guilihem le Desert:



I had seen pictures of the Masons marks, at Beziers Cathedral, posted by my flickr friend Marlis so I went looking for them yesterday. Each mason had his own mark and was paid according to the amount of work he did:



I should have taken a picture of the structure that hold the frame for you to take your picture through. They were all around Collioure framing various views:

LA CITÉ DE CARCASSONNE

LA CITÉ DE CARCASSONNE, originally uploaded by m@®©ãǿ [holidays the sun] ►OFF◄.

Yesterday morning we drove to the medieval city of Carcassonne and explored the town, very much a tourist attraction and even fairly busy this time of year, of course it was a Saturday so I suppose it could have been a lot of local families out for a day trip. The site is a restoration so it doesn't have the same atmosphere as the other ruins have. It's more like being there shortly after the construction finished , everything is in such good condition.

After another great picnic lunch we drove back down to the sea, this time to Collioures close to the Spanish border.



Another beautiful little seaside village maybe a bit more touristy than Sete which seemed to be more of a working town with lots of large fishing boats and a commercial shipping dock.

We were sitting at a sea side cafe having coffee in the sunshine when a band struck up and I turned around to see a donkey cart carrying a very tall and large red faced figure which was covered in little bags of sweets. This was being followed by the band all in crazy costumes and a large group of children all in costume as if it were Halloween. Some sort of childrens festival, I'm not sure what perhaps a pre-lent celebration.



These aren't my photos but I've taken some like this last one. All over the town they have these heavy metal frames on posts with steps going up to the overlooking a nice view. You take your photo through them and it looks like a framed picture.

Bernie just back from shopping.

Bernie just back from shopping., originally uploaded by Campobello Island.

Bernie and I have settled in nicely and I think our French is improving marginally.

Yesterday was a perfect day and a big surprise because the weather forecast was for rain all day. We drove the the Abbey Village of Saint-Guilhem-le-Desert in the morning and explored the abbey and the narrow little village that is set in the valley between two mountains. Had a wonderful picnic lunch, more like a feast, from items that we bought in the Les Halles Market in Beziers earlier in the morning.



In the afternoon we drove down to the Mediterranean to the town of Sete where the Canal du Midi finishes it's cross country trek from the Atlantic. A beautiful busy little sea port town a few kilometers out side of town we stopped along the sea to watch the breakers roll in from the open sea. The beach was miles long perfect sand and seashells every where.



If you click on any of these photos it should take you to my flickr account and you can see the other pictures that I uploaded yesterday. I may not do that too often it took an hour and ten minutes in the Cyber Cafe sitting there watching the computer to get them on my account.

I haven't bought any of these yet but I think I will just to see what they are like:

La Couvertoirade Templar Castle and resorted village.

De pierres et de cendres, originally uploaded by Franck Tourneret.

A cool day with rain this afternoon . We rented a car, a Cleo, for today through Sunday for only 125 Euros which includes 1200 KM mileage. So after breakfast we drove to La Couvertoirade the site of a Templar Castle and stone village. We had it almost to ourselves on this cold foggy morning. Once again this is a borrowed flickr photo, I hope to be able to use some of my own photos soon if I ever slow down long enough to go to an Internet Cafe. I'm anxious to see my photos because I think the fog will make them have a special mysterious feel to them .It is the off season so everything was closed but we were able to walk all around the village. Most of the buildings have been carefully restored and a number of them are being used as shops, cafes and workshops for various artisans.

Something very interesting about the area was these thistles that grow in the area :



Most houses have one on the door, it is the local method of weather forecasting. If the thistle opens up it is predicting rain and if in closes then you will have dry weather.

After leaving there we drove on to Roquefort the town that gives it's name to the cheese. There are seven companies in the town that make the cheese and have the sole rights to use the name. We took a guided tour of one of the company facilities including the Cave where the wheels of cheese are aged. And of course the tour ends in the gift shop where you can buy cheese and other souvenir items. Also got to sample the delicious cheese.




I remember watching an National Geographic documentary on the construction of the Millau Via Duct and it was in the area not far from the other places that we were visiting so we drove up to have a look at it. We were under it but we didn't cross over I guess it has a high toll and we weren't going in that direction , just as well because I don't think I would like the experience. An amazing piece of engineering though.




Tomorrow is supposes to be good weather some cloud and sun and the plan is to go off to St. Guilhem le Desert and perhaps get some hiking in before we come back to Beziers.