Around and about from Colombiers

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Geo: 43.3183, 3.14251

Saturday, we walked along the towpath towards Beziers which was quite pleasant, with the Canal du Midi on one side and vineyards on the other, many stretches bordered by plane trees (love the patterns of the bark). A variety of craft were on the water ranging from hired small pleasure craft to the more luxurious bijou floating 'hotels' complete with flowered sun decks.

Sunday, feeling ashamed that I had not been on my bike for almost three weeks, we made an effort to get up earlier and set off from the site towards the village, then roughly followed the route of the canal. This took us towards Malpas (not the one in Derbyshire!) where a tunnel was constructed in 1679 to take the waterway through the hill. It is supposedly Europe's first navigable tunnel and still in use today, so this and the canal were way ahead of their time.

There is, however, another tunnel nearby which dates back even earlier to the Middle Ages into which drains water from the Etang du Montady. This is a most unusual feature, made all the more fascinating by the fact that it is virtually unnoticeable from ground level, and the effect can be seen more clearly from higher ground at the viewpoint near the entrance to the Roman site of Oppidum d'Enserune. Here, you see a field pattern like a vast 'cartwheel', the hub being the centre of the original stagnant lake, and the 'spokes' the drainage channels, with the water being taken away via underground culverts to the tunnel. This, apparently, was Paul Riquet's inspiration for the canal tunnel.

After a detour around the very ordinary village of Nissan, we called by the 'port' in Colombiers to book places on an evening cruise with meal, then back to freshen up and Sunday lunch of salmon, followed by apricots stewed with pastis which we bought a few weeks ago - recommended combo!

Monday, we visited Minerve as highlighted in a number of reviews. The history of this village centres on the Cathars and is perched on a rocky hilltop, with a deep limestone gorge below. Thankfully, tourism has not yet spoiled it too much, retaining much of its original architecture, and sufficient discreet interpretation material to get around, as well as the unique Museum Huerpel depicting the Cathar connection in a series of detailed tableaux with landscape, buildings and characters modelled out of clay - a painstaking and effective achievement. Helpfully, they have explanations of the different scenes in an English handout.

After purchasing a couple of bottles of Minervois (for drinking en-route) from a local wine producer, we made our way back to the car and journeyed home through the Haut Langedoc National Park.

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