Downhill to Bordeaux

 It is now all downhill to Bordeaux.

The canal du midi is picturesque with plane trees along both sides. Some of the tress have a virus & are being cut down.

There were vineyards in the fields until Homps.---10 days after leaving Agde.  The small villages along the way all had wine sales of the local wines. Most of them sold wine on tap. We could take along a container to get filled for a minimal price. Now in the fields there are young sunflower plants, cereal crops & sweet potatoes, growing.

We have had a variety of weather. Hot sunny days & cool days. Now we are having a thunderstorm & rain.

All the locks, which are an oval shape, have been uphill but oday we reached the summit-----------the parting of the waters between the 2 seas. The Mediterranean & the Atlantic. Now it will be downhill locks which are much easier.

In 1663 Pierre paul Riquet, a salt tax collector, travelled to Versailles & was able to convince the finance minister & Louis X1V of the value of his project to build a canal joining the 2 seas.

The digging began in 1666. The canal was filled with water in 1681 & has operated without interruption since then. Most of the original constructions are still present. There are many little humpback bridges, built on a shoe string at a time when Riquet had no more money.

Today we visited an obelisk erected by Riquet's descendants in the mid 19th century which commemorates his incredible achievment. He died 6 months before the canal was opened.

A plane tree ringbarked, ready to be removed.

Cezannes, parked for the night beside a humbacked bridge.

Grapes growing beside the canal.

looking over the bow, where we are parked for tonight.

The parting of the waters.

The Obelisk dedicated to Mon. Riquet.