La Nautique campsite is in Narbonne, on the edge of a salt water lake, created by the natural movement of sand, very common around this part of France.  The lakes are used for non motorised water sports only, offer endless cycling and walking paths and are home to migrating birds, especially egrets, herons and flamingoes.  And the dreaded mosquitos!!!!!!!!!!

A new extension to Samson, the bug free conservatoire.

Narbonne Cathedral.

Narbonne cathedral, home to Europe’s highest organ, 23m high! On the left you can see two trumpet players on a platform, we had the pleasure of listening to a concert with them and just the organ! Fabulous!!

Narbonne’s famously wonky red carpet!! David was dying to straighten it.

This made me giggle!!!

The city of Narbonne is about 5 miles away,  full of character and charm, it has a daily indoor market selling every type of produce you can imagine as well as food bars, pizza, baguettes and even an oyster and champagne bar!  An external market is held twice a week, supported by local artisans selling lavender, honey products, olives, wine and duck products.  Honey, olives and duck feature highly on every menu, duck breats, duck pate, olive tapenades, honey added to anything and everything…..

The city centre has a lovely old stone cathdral, an adjoining Bishops Palace (home to the Mayor), roman road remains and the lovely Canal Robine which eventually meets up with the Canal Du Midi but gives the town a lovely feel of calm, sophistication and age without the modernity taking over.

The Canal du Robine in Narbonne centre.

Views over the salt lakes and natural inlets.

We stopped at a private vineyard, where the owner took us down into his cellars, after a tasting of course!

This deconsecrated church is now a museum to over 2000 stones found locally that are full of Latin carvings and etchings.

View of Gruissan port.

Beziers

Beziers is a nearby city, full of character, perched on a hill.  It has a cathedral where one (yes, we have done it!) can climb over 200 steps up a spiral staircase to the top of a tower for views over the surrounding landscape.  The main square comes to life every night with lit waterfalls that dance to music, surrounded by pretty cafes and restaurants and terraced tropical gardens.  Just outside the town is an amazing feature of the Canal du Midi, a terraced set of  locks which rise/fall over 21.5 metres and are 300m in length.

The Fonserranne lock (built in 1850) consists of eight ovoid-shaped lock chambers and nine gates, the flight was originally built as an 8-rise, which together with the ninth lock (the écluse de Notre-Dame, 710 metres (0.44 mi) to the north-east) allowed boats to cross the Orb river on a level and reenter the canal further downstream. The “9 locks” name dates from this time.

Diagram of the locks and gates, showing the numbering of the chambers and the six in use at the present day.

However, in 1858 an aqueduct was built to replace the crossing of the Orb. Boats now enter and leave the lower end of the flight through the side of chamber seven, which is permanently kept at its upper water level. The flight is therefore effectively made up of six locks. The lower gates of the seventh chamber are now permanently closed; the eighth chamber and the ninth lock, the pre-1858 route descending to the Orb, are disused.

View from the top of the locks.

View from the bottom lock looking upwards.

Visit by Caitlin & Emma

We had been back in Narbonne just over a week when we had visitors, Caitlin and her friend Emma.  They camped in a tent on our pitch and we showed them the sights, out every day!  On the day they arrived, we stayed on the site, they set up the tent (which was a laugh for us!!), went in the pools, had a BBQ and devised a travel plan.

Caity practising on the slide!!

Saturday we drove the 100kms into Spain, to purchase cheap tobacco and cigarettes for the girls and their friends back in the UK.  We stopped at a lovely town called Roses and had lunch, strolled along the beach front and did some shopping, stocking up on the Spanish milk that we like, chorizo sausages and Manchego cheese!

We took a day out to the beautiful walled city of Carcassonne, a fully enclosed medieval city, had a picnic in the grounds and learned about the city’s decoration, to commemmorate the 20th anniversary of it gaining its UNESCO status.  It was an ever increasing circle, painted onto a metal that stuck (temporarily) to the walls.  In a different location, the view was only of bits of yellow, you had to stand in a certain position to gain the full effect.

We took the girls to Bezier, took a short boat ride up the canal, took the tourist train around the town, and walked up the famous seven locks on the Canal du Midi.

Joan of Arc Version 1 and 2!

 

We agreed to a day at a water park, where we all came away with cuts, bruises, aches and pains, we decided that David and I are far too old for water parks now!  The girls enjoyed themselves!!

We visited Gruissan and climbed to the ruins of the castle on the top of the hill, spent a few hours on Gruissan Plage, our nearest decent beach, and taught the girls how to snorkle in the freezing med waters!  They wanted to jet ski but didnt have ID with them, shame……  Getting to Gruissan meant going through another area of natural salt and fresh water lakes, home to hundreds of migrating birds.

An artists impression of Gruissan and it’s ruined tower.

Top of the tower.

Visit from Keith & Jean

We also spent three days with Keith and Jean Perry, our old neighbours from the campsite in Cambridge; they were on their way down through France to Spain so it was a short break in their journey for them.

We took them to Gruissan and Narbonne as well as heading south down the coast one day to Port Le Nouvelle.  This is a lovely seaside town with a long sandy beach lined with restaurants.  We took an afternoon stroll along the seawall watching the fishing boats arriving with their catch.

David and Keith joined the “Old Mans Club” on Port Le Nouvelle seafront 🙂

We watched several fishing boats coming back into the harbour, they were throwing their dead fish overboard so were swarming with sea gulls.

We visited an old gypsum mine that was closed and sold to local farmers for just one French Franc.  The farming co-operative now store their wine here, it’s maturing process assisted by the mine’s perfect ambient temperatures.  We were treated to a wonderful light and sound show before exploring the tunnels.

Steps into the main chambers.

Part of the colourful light show.

We were also shown the history of mining, from using man made tools, to horse and cart, and finally old vehicles; included tools and working conditions.

A view of the stored barrels.