​

Port Du Somail, Le Somail Canal Du Midi

PK (Point Kilométrique): 165.989

Year of Construction: 1674

Bike path side: south

Le Somail was build at the same time as the Canal Du Midi and served as the overnight stop for the mail boat and its passengers.  Since the canal had to follow the contours of the land, it was not possible to simply make the canal pass through a nearby village instead so that the passengers on the mail boat could spend the night there.

Le Somail was the stop for the third night.  The first night was in Castelnaudary, the second in Trebes, and the fourth in Agde.

Since this was an overnight stop for the mail boat, a chapel, a hostel, and a horse stable were build here.  There is also an icehouse, where ice was stored underground.  The icehouse is located next to the chapel and is circular in form.  It allowed ice to be stored all summer long.  The ice came from the mountains north of here.  The icehouse, or glaciere in French, served as a fridge for the local hostel.

Le Somail is not a village but a hamlet (hammeau in French).  It has around 500 habitants.

The bridge in the middle of the hamlet is called the Pont Vieux (Old Bridge), and it is as old as the Canal Du Midi.  The highway bridge in Le Somail is called the Pont Neuf (New Bridge), and it dates from 1771.  It is made with three types of stones:  limestone, basalt and sandstone.

Le Somail has several good restaurants which are always packed during summer time.  There are also a few B&B here.

The local supermarket is located inside a boat on the north bank of the Canal Du Midi.  The name of the boat is the Tamata.  See picture below in the image gallery.

There also is a very large second hand book store in Le Somail with over 50000 books (closed during lunch hours).

A unique hat museum with over 6500 hats is also situated in this little hamlet.  It is open from March to October everyday from 9h00-12h00 and from 14h00-19h00.

Image Gallery

Click on any picture below to see a fullscreen image.  Resize your browser window or turn your mobile device if you want to see more of the picture; the pictures are rather square whereas most modern screens are rectangular.