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| Le Somail |
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| Commune : | The hamlet of Le Somail is on the territory of three neighbouring communes :
This was not entirely to the liking of the residents who petitioned, unsuccesfully, for Le Somail to become a commune independant of the others.
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| | In early 2005, the 'Syndicat Intercommunal de Gestion du Hameau du Somail' put up its own website www.lesomail.fr. This is a useful and informative site but it is only available in French. |
| Location: | Le Somail is on the Canal du Midi and the D607 some 2 km north of St Marcel - see the sketch map |
| Visits: | It looks like a village and it is a village so it is never closed and you can go there anytime. The part by the canal is heavily invested in tourism and the enterprises thereabouts are clearly more open in the summer season than at other times. |
| Comments: | Your first impressions may be that Le Somail is too commercial. But stay with it, the people are friendly and Le Somail is certainly worth a visit and a good place to relax by the water on a hot summer's day. |
| Economy: | Mostly tourism but there is clearly lots of viticulture around. For the viticulture, it will be classified AOC or otherwise according to the commune in which the vines are situated.
The region is also a producer of soft fruits.
The book industry is well represented with one of the largest repositories of second hand and antique books in Europe. |
| Shops and services: | mostly services : hotels, chambres d'hôte, restaurants, bars, builder, estate agency. But also
- a museum of hats
- second hand and antique bookstore, Le Trouve Tout du Livre
- pleasure port for cruise boats with all services
- battery recharge services for electric powered boats
- all terrain cycle rental
- self drive hire boats
- artist painter
- pottery, artisanal
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| History: | Le Somail owes its existence to the Canal du Midi, constructed by Pierre-Paul Riquet in the 17th century, starting in 1666 and taking some 14 years to be opened in 1681, just after his death in 1680. Commercial traffic used Le Somail for night stopovers using the Auberge established there. Other commercial support services based at the hamlet of Le Somail were stables, ice plant, warehouses. The peak of commercial traffic on the canal was in the mid 19th century. Today, the commercial traffic is entirely tourism based. |
| The old stone bridge, le Pont de St Marcel, 17th century, Le Somail | 
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 | The 18th century chapel at the end of the old bridge, Le Somail |
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