I left this morning, expecting it to be a third day similar to the two first days, walking along a canal with tall trees along both banks. It’s been beautiful, fun to see the boats, locks and trees in an arc over the canal. And very easy going – flat and as long as you can see the canal, you are on track.
But that wasn’t the case at all, the canal opened up, enabling me to see what lies beyond. Gone were the tall trees, now I could see the landscape either side the canal, the large green newly planted fields, or the brown newly ploughed fields, ready to be planted. The farmhouses and small villages.
After breakfast I left the hotel and followed a small path on the wrong side of the canal (in relation to the wider and easily navigable path) for a couple of kilometers. At Écluse de l’Océan I crossed the canal and walked to the highest point on the canal, the Seuil de Naurouze, which separates the Atlantic and Mediterranean basins.
Here Riquet created an hydraulic system, that took water from a large basin and pumped water into a channel so that it would flow in both directions, i.e. towards the Atlantic and Mediterranean. The hydraulic system is still in operation, but the basin is reduced in size and replaced by a channel between the two locks – Ocean and Mediterranean. Much of the basin is now farmland. There is also a 20 meter high obelisk erected in memory of Riquet and his creation.
After the Seuil de Naurouze, the path along the canal was closed for reparation, so I walked along a road before rejoining the canal at Le Segala and continuing towards the Mediterranean lock.
I reached Castelnaudary at lunch time. The name comes from the Occitan Castèlnòu d’Arri, a Latin translation meaning “Arrius’ new Castle”, and was the location of a Roman staging post on the Narbonne-Toulouse Road.
The town’s claim to fame is cassoulet, a famous (in France) casserole of white beans three different types of meat, for which the town proclaims to be the world capital. I found a small restaurant run by an older couple with home made cassoulet. It has never been my favourite meal, but this was excellent- not that I need to eat it again any time soon.
Leaving the town, I passed a large 7 hectar basin, which is the largest body of water along the canal and there were many boats in the habour and a large rental company. In olden times the Grand Basin, as it is known, was constantly full of barges loading grain and wine bound for Sète and the Mediterranean, or Toulouse, Bordeaux, and the Atlantic. There were great views of the Pyrenees, capped in snow. With a full stomach I continued towards the Ecluse St-Roch, a lock with four chambers, due to the 9,2m drop from the Grand Basin. The lock was operated by a man sitting in a tower with a view over the whole area.
I still had 16 kms to the lock at Bram, and a few more to the hotel and whilst it was a beautiful sunny day, it was extremely windy and a head wind, so windy that I was being hit by small stones and occasional gusts stopped me in my tracks.
Up until Castelnaudary, all the locks I had passed have been automated, you press a button stating if you are upstream or downstream. But just before Castelnaudary I passed a sign stating that you are leaving the automated lock area. After the manually operated four chamber St. Roch lock, they were again automated.
At one of the locks a boat was waiting to enter at the lowest level, but the water level in the chamber was high and needed emptying. But instead water was being emptied from the lower lock, it was being pumped into the upper lock to enable a boat to enter from the upper level. The sailor must have pressed the wrong button. It was going to be a long wait. I left them and walked to the next lock which was only 500m away. Here the gate on the upper lock was open, but there weren’t any boats. As I was thinking that I hadn’t seen an open lock gate before when there weren’t any boats, a van came with “lock service” written on the side. She closed the gate, then jumped into the van and drove to the lock where they were having problems. The locks are fully automated, so I wondered whether the problem with the open gate was related to the wrong lock being filled up in the next lock.
I walked 33kms along the canal, including the detour to Castelnaudary, and I very much doubt that one could sail this stretch in one day with all the stops.
After a long slog and a couple of breaks, I made it to Bram and walked to the opposite side of town to my hotel. I arrived just after 5pm, after walking a total of 36kms in a strong head wind. In some respects I was lucky that I arrived so late, the hotel didn’t open until 5pm. It turned out that I am the only person here tonight. They offered to make a meal I could eat in my room. They proposed Cassoulet, I declined and they made a salad with duck and potatoes and chocolate mousse – it was excellent.