This morning the Midi was a hire-boat highway, with everyone making a run for it. As usual, they were going far too fast as they went past a wild-moored boat, but most responded to my hand signals to slow down. Except for the skipper of a French boat, who saw my signal, made eye contact, but refused to slow down. What can you do with them? Indeed, I wonder why anyone would bother cruising on the Midi, except if like us they have to use it to get from one end to the other? The boating behaviour is terrible, the ports are overcrowded, the towns and the scenery are not all that great, even the towpaths are awful for cyclists!  Why bother? OK, enough ranting.

So, around 1000h we left the outskirts of La Robine, headed for Fonserannes near Beziers.

One thing we saw today were a couple of unusual boats. This one looked like a peniche de plaisance from the back, but the front was an empty hull with a crane installed. On the bank was a tractor cutting trees, which were being loaded into the hull. Looks like the worker has a fulltime job clearing plane trees on the Midi and lives and works on this barge.

The next unusual boat was Europodyssee, with its unique paint job.

At PK 184, we saw this unusual canal inflow at Aqueduc de Roubiolas, with its waterfall structure.

The Midi somewhat redeemed itself today because of the Capestang region and the amazing hillside canals. I knew of Capestang because of its low bridge, but had no idea of the beauty of the canal as it wound its way around the contours of the surrounding hillsides. Stunning. But as often happens in such circumstances, I was so busy appreciating the atmosphere, I forgot to take any pictures. I even forget to take pictures of the notoriously-low Capestang Bridge, as I was too busy concentrating on keeping the barge in the centre of the span and getting under successfully, which we did to the applause of a bystanding photographer. We asked him to send the photo to this website, but so far nothing has arrived!

One photo I did get in Capestang was of this sign which we had been seeing a lot of for the past couple of days, but I wasn’t sure of its meaning. I understood it to mean that parking was restricted to long duration parkers i.e. stationments. But later enquiries to the Blokes on Boats Facebook page indicated that it was the reverse; short term parking is allowed, but long term parking requires a special permit. In either case, most of the spaces near these signs were full anyway.

After Capestang, the next major highlight was the Malpas Tunnel on the approach to Columbiers, 160m long and one of the first tunnels on French Canals. Here we are approaching the western entrance of the Malpas Tunnel...

…here we are inside the Malpas Tunnel...

and here is Rita yodelling inside the Malpas Tunnel! I think the Swiss couple at the end of the tunnel were just a little bit surprised!

And here we are having emerged from the other side of the Malpas Tunnel.

Having gone through the tunnel we looked for a mooring spot, because nearby there are Roman Ruins and a special irrigation area in the valley. Flis leads the mob walking along the canal and up to the Oppidum.

In the region of the old Lake Montady, is a circular irrigation area with channels leading to an irrigation exit tunnel in the centre that flows under the Canal du Midi. The contouring of the land is done with GPS precision, which is amazing considering it was created in the 13th Century. Always a spectacular site.

While I have been to this site several times before, I never realised the extent of the Oppidum (the Roman Ruins) at the top of the hill, overlooking Lake Montady. This time we paid the price to enter the area, and it was well worth it. It really makes you think about what life was like here 2000 years ago, and what our own generation will leave for others to look at in 2000 years time!

On the way back down to the canal, we noticed white wildflowers growing on the side of the road. But a closer inspection showed that they were not flowers, but rather they were clusters of white snail shells on grass stems. Extraordinary.

After Colombiers, we had a nice run into Fonserannes on the outskirts of Beziers. Along the way, we saw a horse and rider strutting their way along the towpath...

and we saw how the VNF gets some of the old abandoned boats out of the canal.

There were lots of mooring spaces in the basin at the top of the 7 Locks at Fonserannes, and we got our first view of the infamous (from Cathar times) Beziers Cathedral.

Ian and I decided to walk to the Orb River Aqueduct to check out the 7 Locks...

which they were emptying and opening the gates at the end of the day to create a long waterfall.

The Aqueduct over the Orb River was spectacular, especially the arcade walkway under the aqueduct (which unfortunately was not open to the public to walk through).

The Cathedral also looked different in the setting sun and from a different angle.

Over the course of the afternoon, the basin filled with boats wanting to go down the 7 locks in the morning (there is one block of boats going down each morning and one block coming up, and this is repeated in the afternoon). Luckily, we had no intention of going down tomorrow, as we had moored some distance back from the locks and would have been way down the back of the queue. In the evening, we had dinner on board, and played more games (Bottles and Jo Sep).