Our last stop before starting the Camino de Santiago was Marseillan. We went to see our friends John and Fanny who live there. Here they are.

john and fanny at an outdoor restaurant in marseillan

Canal du Midi

We thought it might be nice to arrive on foot so we decided to walk from Agde train station along the Canal du Midi.

John’s directions included an encouraging instruction to “walk under an underpass where it looks like you might get murdered”. It did but we didn’t.

It’s not a long walk but we managed to double the distance by getting lost. Luckily, it’s a pretty walk so there was plenty to keep us entertained.

Tom walking the Canal de Midi

Boats on the Canal de Midi

Marseillan

Marseillan is an excellent port town, close to Montpellier.

Marseillan harbour

It’s got a lovely church and pretty houses.

The church in Marseillan with a man on a bike in the foreground

Balcony in Marseillan with blue railings and shutters against a yellow building

A street in Marseillan showing the colourful doors and shutters the houses have

It’s the home of Noilly Prat.

The sign on the wall of the Noilly Prat factory in Marseillan

And Marseillan Plage has an excellent roundabout, which has an artwork celebrating the traditional Marseillan game of Capèlet.

Artwork on a roundabout near Marseillan based on the game of Capèlet

The men of Marseillan play Capèlet twice a year. They drunkenly compete to climb a greasy pole over the water and try to grab a stick with a bowler hat on it from the end. We saw it a couple of years ago. See?

Capèlet being played in Marseillan in 2015

Driving to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port

John and Fanny are always brilliant hosts* but they were super-super kind this time. They housed and fed us, they let us ditch our big bags with them, and they even drove us to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port.

With their kids away, we got to listen to normally-outlawed, banging tunes.

And we arrived in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port with plenty of time to see the sights and eat Tapas together. Mmmm.

The La Nive river in Saint Jean Pied de Port

Tom, John and Fanny in a street in Saint Jean Pied de Port

Tom, Fanny and John sharing a joke in a restaurant in Saint Jean Pied de Port

After all that, it was time to say goodbye and prepare for the Camino.

*If you fancy going to Marseillan, you should stay in John and Fanny’s flat. They’ll be nice to you even though you know us.