It is almost exactly a year since I wrote about a lovely walk that we took around a local lake, Saint-Ferréol. I blogged about it here: https://fancyingfrance.com/2021/10/21/a-walk-around-the-lac-de-saint-ferreol/

Recently, we visited anther reservoir called ‘Le Bassin de Lampy’. It is in the middle of a large forest and is wilder and less busy than Saint-Ferréol. It was constructed between 1777 and 1781 and is one of the sources of water for the Canal du Midi.

The original reservoir designed to support the canal was the Lac de St. Ferréol. A link was later needed between the Canal du Midi and the Canal de la Robine at Narbonne. Hence, the building of the Lampy reservoir which covers 24 hectares and contains 1,600,000 cubic metres of water (when full)! It flows into the Bassin de St. Ferréol.

It was a beautiful October day when we visited Lampy, plenty of sunshine but not too hot. It was easy to park beside the lake because there were no other cars there! We appreciated how peaceful and picturesque the setting was, but we were shocked by the low level of the water.

We decided to circumnavigate the whole lake! It was flat but care had to be taken to avoid some of the muddy areas. Zeph hadn’t read this memo! Can you spot him in the photo below?

The sign below states very clearly that swimming is forbidden but, I believe that swimming is actually allowed between 15.00 and 19.00hrs in July and August. Apparently, a lifeguard is also provided at these times.

Our circular walk ended at the dam. At this point, we would have welcomed a drink but the one and only café at the Bassin du Lampy was closed for the season.

This was a very enjoyable autumnal walk, especially as there were no loud noises to frighten Zeph!