Canal du Midi

The Canal du Midi runs from Sète to Toulouse and meanders through the Languedoc countryside at a leisurely pace. It is on the Bucket List of any French cyclist. However it is best ridden on a full suspension mountain bike as the route is narrow, unpaved, and covered in tree roots. If you are riding fully loaded touring cycles it is not advised. It is of course stunningly beautiful with the canal lined both sides with plane trees making a green tunnel to ride through. We got to sample a short paved section ( see last chapter).

Even after 6 weeks we are stunned by the majesty of the chateaux and castles here in France. Béziers is no different.

We followed what we thought was the canal path but it only took us backwards. But what a wonderful detour. They are currently repairing the locks at Fonseranes at Béziers on the Midi Canal - a staircase of 9 locks in a row.

The trip to Argeliers was rather uneventful but our chambre d’hôte for the night was beautiful, and cheap. We found it by walking around the town looking for a bed for the night. We were the only ones there for 2 nights at the top of an old tower up 3 flights of stairs. Rather difficult when carrying an extra 20 kgs of luggage.

Argeliers claims to be the birth place of the second French Revolution.

The wine growers revolution. In 1907, Marcelin Albert, a simple café-owner and wine grower in the village of Argeliers near to Narbonne, triggered one of France's biggest popular uprisings: the Revolt of the Winegrowers. Above and beyond any political, religious or social issue, it expressed the desire of a people who wanted to live by labouring their land. Marcelin Albert set out to fight the swindlers who made artificial wine cheaply, using sugar and chemicals. They effectively undercut all the traditional wine growers who played by the rules. Eventually this caused great hardship in the Midi and south regions and led to a revolt of the wine makers and growers. He launched a peaceful and modern movement with a simple motto: wine must be a natural product, made by fermenting the juice of fresh grapes. He set off with a group of 87 protesters from Argeliers, organising events from village to village and creating a protest paper called "Le Tocsin" (or "Sound the Alarm"). After Sallèles, Bize, Ouveillan, Coursan, Capestang and Lézignan, 100,000 people went to demonstrate in Narbonne. Changes were made to the laws governing wine making which restored peace in the south but not until after several people had been shot by the military.

We sampled the local wine which is naturally very strong (13% ) and selected a bottle for our host at Carcassonne. It is often mixed with wines from other regions to increase the alcohol content. Once again the day's cycling was mostly uneventful except for a flea market where we bought a square bag to use for food. We have found getting food in and out our panniers is a bit of a nuisance at times.

Our host for the night was Philippe who lived in a small apartment in town but had just enough room to squeeze in a couple of kiwis. We dined on turkey and veges. Yum. As usual we chatted the evening away before hitting the sack early.

We arose at 6:15 ready for an early departure and by 8 am we were wandering around the old cité , the former fortress on the hill overlooking the new town. I have seen photos of Carcassonne before but in real life it was completely different. It was like something out of a fairy tale. And at 8 in the morning we could ride our bikes with impunity wherever we wanted.