First days on Canal du Midi

Our first two days on Canal du Midi has been fabulous. Of course, the French closed down their country completely the 1st of May, Labour Day, including all the locks on the canal. Nobody cared to tell us about this when we planned the trip, even though I called them two days in advance just to check the opening time of the locks. so first day we could only sail 30 minutes...
But we met an Australian crew that was stuck for 39 hours in front a closed lock, so we were lucky. And we found a lovely restaurant in Portiragnes (where the first closed lock was) and a farmer that sold us his own fresh strawberries and wine. You have to adapt :-)
The next day we managed to make it through all the locks as the first boat, just in time to pass the beautiful aqueduct over the river at Béziers and then climb the Fonserranes lock stair (six locks in a row) before they closed for four hours. The sun was shining and we had an al fresco lunch on the fly bridge. Later on we visited the medieval villages of Colombiers and Poilhès.
Capestang was our port for the night. This ancient little town has an impressive cathedral with an incredibly cute square in front of it. Of course we had to have a pastis at Café de la Paix under the platans. Then a delicious dinner in the backyard of an old winery.
This morning Hanna joined us so now the crew is complete. Time to sail on!