After the Marseillette lock, the canal twists and turns like an enchanted river as several tight bends guide us through the countryside. The green and yellow foliage and the blue sky are reflected in the emerald water. It’s magical ! So magical that we decide to tie up for the night at this very spot in order to enjoy the scenery for the remainder of the afternoon. Our bivouac is luxurious. Sitting around the small table at the bow, we savour herb teas and liqueurs and relax to the sound of classical music on the boat’s CD-player : the sky which is lit by thousands of stars, the mild air, the night-birds … all this is conducive to conversation. Not a ripple on the water, not a single unnatural sound, that’s quintessential cruising on a pénichette. For that night alone the trip was worth making.

The next day is our last day !
On one of the walls at the Saint-Martin lock an inscription gives us a historical perspective : 1869 !
We come to the double-lock at Aiguille, whose keeper, Joël Barthe, has been sculpting for 11 years. Beyond a welcoming border of red, yellow and orange cannas, we discover, little by little, his idiosyncratic and witty works of art. His property is peopled with extraordinary beings, some human, some animal, all with strange details and all produced using recycled materials. Joël Barthe sucks on his pipe, his gaze fixed on a faraway, imaginary world. Sitting in a huge wooden hand, he operates the lock with his fingertips. Exiting the lock, we see a crocodile lying in wait for the boats.

A few hundred metres farther along we stop the Saint-Sernin to visit the small village of Puichéric. Under a blazing sun, the square tower of the old church chimes out each passing hour, reminding us how time flies.
Thus far, in 410, stretched the kingdom of Alaric I, the Visigoth who conquered Rome ; and the mountain we can see in the distance was called Pech d’Aric. Legend has it that, after being defeated by Clovis, the last Visigoth king, Alaric II was buried there in 507 together with his wives, his elephants and his treasure. We really are in a land of treasures, for we are not very far from Rennes-le-chateau.
For the moment, however, we are surrounded by the Minervois vineyards as we enter the town that was formerly named Puigeirig. It’s a little before midday and the streets are deserted, apart from a ginger kitten which tags along for a while. We cruise past the walls of Paul Riquet’s own castle, which was built using stones from the old city-walls which had been destroyed by the Black Prince and the English in 1355. However, another stronghold probably existed on the site long before that, in the 6th or 7th century, for the very name of the village appears in the patronymic ‘Puicheric Podium Theodoroci Terreci’ , the ‘Pech de Théodoric’ (Theodoric’s Mountain). Theodoric being, as everyone knows, king of the Ostrogoths (454-526), a somewhat rowdy and aggressive individual whose power-base was at Ravenna in Italy and who wanted to re-establish the western Roman Empire to rival Constantinople. What a long way the Ostrogoths had come since the decisive battle of Campus Mauriacus (451) !

To cut a long story short (as Pepin the Short himself might have said – though much later [715-768]) : having dipped into ancient History we arrive at Notre-Dame (Our Lady’s) church , only to find the door closed, since it’s lunchtime. So, we follow a path through the vineyards and return aboard, famished. It’s worth noting, however, that the church is named after Notre Dame de Beauvoir, who was travelling to La Chartreuse d’Escoussans in 1700, but decided to stop and settle in Puichéric.
We, too, would like to stay on here, only tomorrow morning we have to give back the boat and it would be better to arrive at Argens this evening so that we will be up and ready first thing tomorrow. We still have a few kilometres to go.