Having spent a very pleasant few days in St Sauveur Marina, Toulouse we finally moved off and onto the Canal du Garonne. The water in the canal seemed very low, which was confirmed later that day by a golden retriever WALKING along IN the canal. He had to walk right into the centre before it was possible for him to swim. When we eventually managed to moor up, the water depth was only 0.5M at the bankside!
It appeared as though there had been problems further upstream as lots of grass cuttings and debris passed us by and the water turned a very muddy brown colour.
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| Horrible brown flood water. |
Our next was at Dieupentale, where we pulled into the bankside just before the bridge. All the official halte nautique quays had been filled up with 'dumped' boats! From here it was just 5Km back to Grisolles for groceries, and the village here has a boulanderie.
To our horrow when we stopped for the night Ni discovered a large puddle of diesel on the floor under one of the fuel tanks. It appeared there was a leak! Yes, there were three areas from where fuel was dripping. So the next few, and in blistering hot sun, saw ni draining the offending old, metal fuel tank. Of course we had just filled right up before leaving Toulouse. So we now had 210L of fuel to disperse between the other two tanks and heating oil tank. Luckily we also had 6 empty plastic containers. Of course it never is that simple. The leaky tank was the one which fed directly into the engine. So pipes had to be diverted and a spare tank installed to take a feed back pipe, until the fuel level in one of the tanks was low enough to pipe the feed back into that! However mid-morning on Sunday 10th all was in place and the engine run to check all was secure.
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| Not a job for a day to be working below BLACK decks, at 32C |
So we move on down to Montech where we find friends, Muriel and Hans on their boat
Polaris. Market day on Tuesday proved a delight and I finally managed to buy some more of the herbs I've been craving for weeks. Plus a large bag of compost to replant my existing Rosemary, so am completely happy. OK, so I'm a cheap date!
Despite the dire weather forecasts telling tales of rain, rain and yet more rain, we've had wall to wall sunshine, and quite welcome the few passing clouds, as it's so hot onboard.
Although still very quiet on the canal, we've seen the most passing boats here, than we've seen since last July. Perhaps the earlier wet weather has put people off moving from their home ports. And of course there aren't many hire boat bases along this stretch of waterways, which always makes for a quieter passage.
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| Muriel and Hans join us for dinner. |
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| Muriel provided the apricot tart. |
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| Greg and I shared a birthday, celebrationary dinner at Christian Constant, Montech. |
Our next stop was Castelsarrasin, where we again met up with Brigdit and Greg, and Wendy and Alan. Another morning we witnessed the ceremony of welcome provided for the new Chief Constable of Police, for Castelsarrasin. He had moved down from the Lot. The rehersals took several hours, whereas the actual ceremony only 5 minutes. Still I'm sure it was much more impressive than anything that happens in the UK. After the hand-over the champagne corks popped and the formalities were over for another day.
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| The ceremony. |
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| Now down to serious business of drinking! |
After all the excitement the police was returned to his kennel fitted into the back of a van. he didnt seem to upset at having to climb in.
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| Fido's kennel. |
Moving on to Moissaac we had a welcoming committee, first greeted by Jim in the lock, then down on the Tarn. That evening an impromptu dinner was provided after a gathering for drinks and nibbles on Le Cochon Noir..
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| Elaine, Clive,Greg, Muriel. |
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| Hans, Bridgit, Nikki, Alan. |
