Capestaing to Beziers to Villeneuve de Beziers

Sunday, September 23rd

We decided to have breakfast at the Sunday market in the lovely town square.

It wasn’t as large as the market in Castelnaudary, and wasn’t even up and running by the time we arrived around 8:30am. We thought we would have the Petit Dejeuner at the same bar as yesterday, but there was no bread. Prue bought pastries and we had café au lait instead.

The countryside was ever changing, and vinyards dominated the distant scenery - we were following the contours of the hills and quite high above these:

The day promised much – a tunnel; a long narrow stretch, the longest lock descent of the trip (7 locks down to Beziers) and Beziers itself. The tunnel was fun, but not as difficult as we expected; 

The narrows were similar, although a large restaurant barge a little later came as a surprise; and the lock “staircase” into Beziers was also fun, despite a little apprehension on Prue’s behalf.

This lock was also amusing because lock rage almost caused WWIII. The English and German boats that accompanied us had a few words half way down – a combination of English bungling, German superiority, and Australian disinterest amused us, at least. 

At the bottom of the locks there’s a sharp right turn, a short straight stretch, and then an unusual final lock before the Beziers port – a narrow, straight lock accommodating three boats (fortunately, the English managed to escape the Germans before any kind of dog fight could occur, despite some more German provocation).

The entry into Beziers port is via a long aquaduct across the Orb river - very impressive:

This lock also had an unusual vertical pole designed to make descent easier. Unfortunately, Prue had a tangled rope, Rob insisted, the Lock keeper got angry, and some Australian cyclists were unwitting onlookers – WWIII all over again (well, almost).

We parked the boat in the (very) uninspiring port of Beziers and set off to find the Centre Ville, a beer, some points of interest, and possible dinner options. Luckily we had a map – Beziers is a nightmare to navigate. Moreover, the port is in the fag end of town, the town centre is at the top of a hill, and it seemed like the Plague had wiped out most of the towns folk.

Eventually we found the majestic cathedral of Saint Nazaire, perched on a cliff overlooking the expansive countryside and the river Orb. It was worth the effort.

Afterwards we found some local life, a café, and a lovely avenue of shops and a few cafes. However, it was looking as though dinner might be bread and water on the boat – there were no options in the port, and neither of us wanted to climb back into “town”, especially after dark.

Faced with the local “mall” (and bowling alley) as the only viable option – we made a quick decision at 6:00pm to leave town and make a run for the nearest small town – Villeneuve de Beziers, just three locks and 6 km away. What an inspired decision that was! We made two locks before the 7:00pm closure, but got within walking distance of the lovely little town and port, complete with Pizzeria and restaurant. We’ve just downed another fine bottle of Frog red, had another delicious meal, and are feeling very satisfied with our decision to spend the night (alone) just outside of town.