The Canal Du Midi is a remarkable piece of engineering, now used exclusively by leisure craft. It links the Atlantic to the Med and much information and many pictures can be found by googling Canal Du Midi.

I had an appointment at a Clinic in Colombiers the week after Philip and family were here and we decided to take a short cruise on the canal afterwards from the  nearby marina (above), the weather being ideal on this occasion (our third visit).

Our cruise took us through the Malpas Tunnel, with its fascinating, but natural, honeycomb pattern which has grown along the walls:

And, as usual, the natives were friendly, if a little camera shy:

C’est à moi, maintenant! My turn now! It was Monday 10 June when we went to Carcassonne to meet the next guests, Florence and Hilde. The weather was not wonderful that day, but after that there was sunshine for almost ten days until the day they left. And very hot, too.

Sorry, Family!                                                                                                                  

One day, they did the excursion on the Red Train, and on the way they had the pique-nique at the usual lay-by beside the Aude:

Then the ladies did the train ride while M’sieur and I went by road. Here we are – Little Red Car and Big Red Engine:

The first part of the train ride was along the part of the line we haven’t done before – from Axat through the tunnels and over the bridges of the Aude Gorge to the gravel factory at St. Martin, then back to Axat. Somehow I got taken along for free for this bit!

I wondered why you were away so long, leaving me alone with the wild beasts!

Tu exagères encore! You weren’t “alone” and they were hardly wild. But it’s true there was a circus occupying most of the car park at Axat station and there were some lions in a cage quite close to Sally.

Eh bien, voilà! That is what I said. Anyway, here is the train on the viaduc at Lapradelle, where they stop for people to take photos of the Château, and for the guide to say a lot about it.  

And if you look carefully at the next picture – or enlarge it, you will see that the little figure on the bridge is M’sieur taking pictures of the train:

I also took one of the castle (Puylaurens):

It was so hot that day, that we did not go on to Galamus as planned after regrouping at Caudiès, but came straight home. However, we did do Galamus and Bugarach another day. Here’s yet another picture of Galamus:

And on the way back we stopped for them to have tea / iced tea or shandy on the square at Rennes Les Bains:

I did get to join in! The day they went to Carcassonne:

The weather was a bit dull to begin with, though it brightened up for the main visit, so they took me in order to have lunch indoors:

Das können vier Leute in Sally nicht! Four folk just can’t eat like that in a little car!

Big show-off! At least I’m allowed up Galamus –

Stop it! You’re both very useful in different ways. I dropped the Ladies off close to the Citadel and a very nice young man in uniform let me drive through the bus lane to get more easily to the motorhome park, where I left Harry (with lots of company!) and walked back to rejoin the party to do the little train ride, as recommended by the previous visitors: 

All ready to roll!

So away we go:

Yes, a good one to do, especially for the less agile or in poor weather. But on a hot day, this was very welcome afterwards:

And back at Sunejo, we used the built-in barbecue to prepare supper and provide atmosphere – and a little extra warmth – afterwards:

Wednesday 19th June, another Harry-based lunch on the way to the airport, well, over the road from the airport in fact, then we entrusted the visitors to the staff and to RyanAir (they had booked wheelchair assistance).

We’ll close this entry with a photo of our star guest:

Miss Florence Kirkby (92) MBE