Beziest in the World!
Thursday 12th October 2017 - Colombiers.
Nothing but the best for us. Jam and banana sandwich.....mmm! Followed by French style Jaffa Cakes.
The weather was gorgeous again after yesterday's grey skies.
Not a bad view to see on approaching the town.
The Cathedral of St Nazaire was pretty gorgeous too. We spoke to a French man outside the Cathedral who was taking photos. He told us he had lived across the road for two years and he had come over to take photos for the first time. He advised us to see the cloisters and the garden of the Cathedral, very friendly chap.
The canal had been built by Paul Riquet (hence his wide street in Beziers) between 1666 and 1681 so it was one of the first ever canals to be built in the world, it goes from Toulouse to the sea. It was ordered by First Minister Colbert in the reign of Louis XIV. You may not be surprised to know it is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site! It's a bit of a struggle to avoid them down here! I think we have a couple more lined up for tomorrow and the day after. Anyway, it was a beautiful ride in beautiful scenery at a beautiful temperature. It was just what we came to the South of France for.
We moved about 100 miles west today. We said goodbye to Provence and the Camargue. We skirted through Montpellier and stopped for our lunch at an Aire on the motorway.
Our destination was a village called Colombiers, outside Beziers. I have heard of the town before because I know they have a good rugby team. I didn't know much more. Although I gleened that the Canal du Midi runs through the town.
We found an Aldi supermarche and got excited but afterwards, we both agreed that the Aldi was a bit like Aldi in the UK over 10 years ago. The selections were rather basic, we weren't impressed and it certainly wasn't as good as the Lidl's over here.
We found our Aire de Camping Car just outside the village in a nice position. It was just an overnight parking place really with no facilities at all but the village was on the Canal du Midi and had restaurants and shops to serve the leisure craft that use the canal.
We wasted no time in getting on our bikes and cycling into Beziers.
We had a beer at a restaurant outside the Theatre and witnessed a police incident. From what we could tell, two women with a young child had been arguing and shouting at some other women up the street and then they walked down and went into our restaurant. The Police arrived in force (at least 7 officers) and some went in whilst others maintained a presence on the street. I don't think anyone was taken away but it kept us interested for a while. I offered to the waiter that I would assist of required!
We went down the wide Allee de Paul Riquet and into the Plateau de Poetes, which is an English style park.
Whilst here we called into the Tourist Info and I asked whether their was any rugby on this weekend. The man got excited and told me that tomorrow was the local derby with Carcassonne and would be a good game. We decided that we would hang around and go to the match.
We liked Beziers, I'm not sure it's the best in the world but it certainly thinks that it is the Capital of Wine. We cycled back along the Canal du Midi with vineyards surrounding us. We cycled past the Fonseranes Nine Locks on the canal.
Today was not an alcohol free day, yippee! So we had a couple of glasses (the wine box hasn't been opened yet)! with our salad tea and then a lovely evening walk around the village before getting back to the van as it just got dark.
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