Canal du Midi
La Redorte to Trèbes
| 21.5 | kilometers |
| 13 | locks |
| 35.98 m | elevation gain |
We had breakfast on board,
and then got moving on the Canal du Midi.
We would be traveling 21.5 kilometers, just a moderate
distance, but we would be passing through 13 locks,
the second-highest total for the trip.
We would stop that evening in Trèbes,
a medium sized town of about 5,600 people.
All but one of the day's locks were in multi-lock series.
| km | Location |
| 139.000 | Start: Laredorte |
| 136.396 | Lock: 4.63 m, 2 stages |
| 133.590 | Lock: 5.47 m, 2 stages |
| 131.594 | Lock: 5.61 m, 2 stages |
| 130.352 | Lock: 8.73 m, 3 stages |
| 127.200 | Lock: 3.70 m |
| 122.400 | Stop to visit Millegrand |
| 118.010 | Lock: 7.84 m, 3 stages |
| 117.500 | Stop at Trèbes |
We gained 35.98 meters with those 13 locks, the second-highest amount of the week.
Some of the lock operators become artistic.
The dogs can help when one person has to handle both the fore and aft lines.
We organized lunch on board, tied to the bank.
Ham and cheese, croissants, cherries, and wine.
The sign below shows the year-round schedule of the canal. Until recently, the locks were routinely open only from the third Saturday in March through the first week of November. Maintenance work was done through the winter, and locks did not operate except for special arrangements.
Here is a mooring point with electricity. You can connect a cable between this box and a connector on the exterior of your boat, and then you have 230 V AC at a few outlets on interior bulkheads.
We stopped to walk along the edge of a field of poppies.
And then, along a local vineyard.
Vineyards are often quite stony.
They're not at all what I think of as rich farm soil.
The stony soil forms the terroir, the mineral base for the grapes that will make the wine.
Then, back onto the canal for a while.
We stopped for another wine and cheese break.
A town might provide bollards to tie up.
But usually you have to drive stakes to tie up.
This is pretty casual, tied fore and aft to a single stake. But we're just tied up for a short stop, in a sheltered area with no breeze trying to move the boat. And it's mid-day, everyone awake, not like the middle of the night when you could drift away unaware.
Then it's time to continue on, through the Trèbes Lock and on into the town of Trèbes.
We're moving through a 3-lock sequence with several other boats.
Trèbes
More onTrèbes
The Romans mentioned Trèbes, vaguely, as Tricessinum in the 4th century CE.
In 1110, the town was mentioned as Tresmals, from the Latin tres moles referencing three moles or fords based on flooded roads.
The flooded roads were replaced by three bridges. In 1220 the locals were bothered by the town's name also referencing tres mals or Three Evils. They insisted that it be renamed with the Occitan phrase "Three Goods", Tres Bens, pronounced at the time as Trébé. That eventually evolved into Trèbes.
The local ecclesiastical monument is the Saint-Etienne church, rebuilt in two campaigns in the late 13th and the 14th century. It's built in a Gothic style with a seven-bay nave, and five vaulted chapels.
On the other hand, the Mairie or town hall is of the Art Deco style of the early 20th century.
As usual, Trèbes provided a nice place for us to tie up overnight, and top off our water supply in the morning.
It's electrically quiet in a small town. A scan of the medium-wave broadcast band that night brought in the following:
kHz Lang kW Location, notes 531 Arabic 600 RTA 1, Ain-El-Beida, Algeria 585 Spanish 600 RNE 1, Madrid, Spain 594 German 600 Rodgau, Germany 603 French 300 France Info, Lyon, France 648 English 500 BBC World Service, Ordforness, UK 702 French 200 Col de la Madone, France 711 French 300 Rennes, France 729 Spanish 20 RNE 1, several sites in Spain 738 Spanish 600 RNE 1, Barcelona, Spain 774 Spanish 50 RNE 1, several sites in Spain 792 French 300 Limoges, France, very strong 837 French 300 Radio Info, Nancy, France 864 French 300 Le City Radio de Paris, France 873 Spanish 25 SER Radio, Zaragoza, Spain 891 Arabic 300 RTA 1, Algiers, Algeria 918 German -- ???, English news at the hour 936 Spanish 20 RNE 5 TN, several sites in Spain 945 French 300 Radio Blue, Toulouse, France 1377 French 300 France Info, Lille, France, very strong 1503 Spanish 5 Radio Canal de España, La Linea, Spain 1521 Arabic 1000 BSKSA, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, music 1548 English 95 Capital Gold, London, UK, pop music 1557 Ukrainian 8 Chernivtsi 1566 Russian -- ???
The next morning we would leave for Carcassonne, continuing from there to spend the night at Sauzen.
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