After our enforced May Day pause in Trèbes, the Canal du Midi was moving again—and so were we.
Ahead lay approximately 29 kilometres of cruising, 14 locks and around six and a half hours on the water before reaching Homps.
Our rest day had been welcome. Now, however, we were ready to continue our journey towards the Mediterranean.
Leaving Trèbes
The port returned to life as boats prepared to depart and the locks reopened after the public holiday.
We started the engine, released the ropes and left the mooring that had been our home for two nights.
After a day spent going nowhere, even our gentle cruising speed felt purposeful.
The break had also given us time to recover from the first 31 locks of the holiday. Our arms were rested, our supplies had been replenished and our increasingly crowded cupboards were ready for the next stage.
Back into the locks
It did not take long for the familiar routine to resume.
Approach the lock. Prepare the ropes. Enter the chamber. Control the boat as the water rises or falls. Leave—and repeat.
Fourteen times.
By this point, we were working more confidently together. We understood the boat’s behaviour, anticipated the currents inside the oval chambers and had developed a system that usually worked.
Usually.
No boating holiday would be complete without the occasional disagreement shouted between two ends of a boat. Fortunately, the Canal du Midi provided plenty of time between locks for diplomatic relations to recover.
Through the Minervois
As we travelled east, the landscape increasingly reflected the character of the Minervois.
Vineyards stretched across the countryside beyond the canal, interspersed with villages, fields and distant hills. Wine has shaped this region for centuries, and vines seemed to accompany us for much of the journey.
The canal itself continued to offer constant variety. Long, tranquil stretches were interrupted by bridges and locks, while the shade of the trees created welcome shelter from the southern French sun.
Travelling at canal speed allowed the landscape to reveal itself gradually.
There was no dramatic moment when we entered the Minervois. Instead, its character accumulated around us—another vineyard, another stone village and another view across the hills.
A substantial day’s cruising
Twenty-nine kilometres and 14 locks made this another demanding day.
The locks divided the route into stages, giving the journey a natural rhythm. Each successful passage brought us closer to Homps, although the repeated handling of ropes ensured that nobody could describe the day as sedentary.
By the afternoon, the distance was beginning to show.
Six and a half hours aboard requires sustained concentration, particularly when the canal is narrow or busy. Yet this was exactly the experience we had come for: travelling through southern France by water rather than simply moving between its destinations.
The journey was becoming as important as the places where we stopped.
Arriving in Homps
Homps developed as an important wine-trading port on the Canal du Midi.
Its position allowed barrels produced across the Minervois to be loaded onto boats and transported through the canal network. Although commercial traffic has largely given way to leisure boating, the port remains closely connected to the surrounding vineyards.
After 29 kilometres and 14 locks, Homps provided a very welcome overnight mooring.
We secured the boat, stopped the engine and enjoyed the familiar silence that followed another full day on the canal.
An evening beside the port
Homps offered several possibilities for the evening.
En Bonne Compagnie provided an inviting setting near the canal, with local food and wine offering an appropriate conclusion to our journey through the vineyards.
After the exertions of the day, our requirements were simple: somewhere comfortable to sit, something good to eat and a bottle that could reasonably be described as cultural research.
The Mediterranean was drawing closer, but the atmosphere remained unmistakably rural. Boats rested along the port while vineyards extended into the countryside beyond the village.
Another major stage completed
Since leaving Castelnaudary, we had travelled through 45 locks and reached the heart of the Minervois.
The journey from Trèbes had been long, physical and memorable. It had also demonstrated how much more comfortable we had become aboard the boat.
Tomorrow would be considerably gentler: approximately three hours, six locks and 13 kilometres to Le Somail.
For now, Homps offered everything we needed—a peaceful mooring, a good meal and the satisfaction of completing another substantial day on the Canal du Midi.