APRIL 2017

Good heavens April already. Where did the time go? I guess we were so busy we didnt have time to write up a blog.
We enjoyed a 'Haggis' evening in the restaurant 'Sparks' with other bargees. Later in January a car was hired and we toured the medieval city of Fanjeux and Saissac,

Saisaac Chateau

 Passing through Revel we went to the emptied lake at St. Ferreol. So we need more rain to refill the lake, which had been emptied for repair work. Work done deliberately during the winter as this lake feeds the Canal du Midi.

We also visited Couiza, Quillan, and Chalabre.
Friends we wintered with in Briare visited for a few days, and took us to Castes and Lautrec. The latter home of the artist Toulouse-Lautrec. So called we were told, because he married into the Toulouse family to consolidate family estates.
Most of the rest of February and March seem to have been taken up with medical appointments for one or other of us (Ni, Tashi and me).
However the tedium was relieved for Ni by him visiting Bristol to share in the 18th birthday celebrations of our eldest grandson, Toby. 

Toby surrounded by cards and presents

Ni also managed a quick trip up to Dorset to see friends. On his return he gave me two sets of presents to be opened on Mothering Sunday. On checking when this was I found it was Grandmere's Day on 5th March. So I opened one present then and the other on 26th.  Twice the fun!
On 17th March we saw the first 'bumper' boat cruise through the port, a sure sign spring is on its way.
Our long awaited new doors for the wheelhouse finally arrived, but there was still much to-ing and fro-ing as the final touches were applied.

The old door

New doors

In between all these goings on, things got slowed down considerably due to Ni having a serious problem with his psoriasis, which required hospital treatment, and I was found to have dangerously high blood pressure.  So with both of us doped up with pills and potions we eased our way through the last few months of winter and into  spring.

To round off the end of our winter mooring the hotel boat, Louisa, which was moored with us for the duration, hosted a dinner party, and an enjoyable evening was had by all.  We had fabulous food, in good company.

Louisa's last night in Castelnaudary, winter 2016/17

To my delight, my trip to Carcassonne on 31 march, I found Buddlieas, Peonies, Roses, Wisteria and cherry trees of all colours in full bloom, with clematis in full bud. These alongside the spring bulbs. I still find it amazing that the blossoms are out and highly scented, at the same time as the spring bulbs.   This is all going on to the back drop of the snowy mountains still keeping their cool watch.

The snow capped Pyrenees - I LOVE them!

Walking the dogs at St. Ferreol

We're hoping that the lake will soon be filled up as its a feeder for the Canal du Midi. Otherwise there wont be enough water on the canals for us to move along.

Making the most of the few days we hired a car we picniced up in the mountains, toured the lower slopes of the Pyrenese, and visited Lavelanet which was previously a thriving industrial town producing fabrics, but now reduced to a few working factories and a museum.

Punch cards for Jacquard woven materials.

We also managed to visit friends, John and Lissie on Puddlestone at Capestang, and joined Jenny and David onboard Louisa for a drink.

We thought it would be a good idea to invite people to an Easter sunday drinks & nibbles, so we did!

The cool breeze didn't chill our guests enthusiasm!

Having invested in a new electric bike, we thought we ought to try it out.  

 It was a great success!

No more struggling uphills!

2017 JANUARY

Well the Christmas lights have all been switched off, and decorations taken down. It all looks very bare.

Cold weather, down to -7C, and snow has been forecast, so the water taps along the quay have been turned off! At a predestined time each week they will be turned back on for us to top up our water tanks. Like a military operation.  However we are keeping our spirits up by eating the remains of our christmas food, now on our third Christmas pudding.  The second one we cooked was unusual and very tasty. It was lined with cherries!

As we couldnt buy any Xmas puds here I made one myself. The first time for many years. It was a great success especially with the addition of brandy butter! Neighbours took pity on us and donated two puddings, and youngest son brought another one from England.  So we are enjoying them with a variety of additions, cream, plain or flavoured yoghurts or icecream. One can never have enough puddings we say.

Our next culinary treat was Galette des Rois, to be eaten traditionally on 6th January, (12th night) to celebrate the arrival of the Three Kings.  They used to have a bean (feve) hidden in them, but now substitued with a small ceramic figurine.  The person who gets the 'feve' wears a gold crown and becomes King or Queen for the day.

Maria - Queen for the day!

DECEMBER 2016

27th December, I can't believe where the time has gone. Since November it's been outings, shopping, planning meetings for the Christmas lunch, and now it's all over. First we had the grand switching on of the christmas lights, timed in the port to co-incide with the towns lights at 6pm on 6th December. There was a competition among the boats and the winner was an Australian boat 'Le Kaighoni' with their Santa's Grotto!

Townsfolk are bringing their children to see all the port boats lights, as they are more spectalular than those in town!

After much planning, discussion and cooking The Grand Christmas meal was held for 16 boaters in the dance studio Quai 10.  A 'Fancy Hat' competition was also included in the days entertainment.

Robyn, The Winner!

To add to the amusement, the judges decided that we should treat the event like a Crufts dog show and 'parade' around displaying our hats. Quite appropriate as only one person present doesnt have a dog! More games were played and many prizes, not surprisingly, included dog treats.

Somehow, I managed to knit 8 pairs of socks in between all these activities.

Aided by a light refreshment!

Tashi had to have another opertion for a blocked pore which led to a cyst. After several trips to the vet, and a huge bill for anti-biotics, plus heart pills as it was discovered that she had an enlarged heart, she is now well on the road to recovery.

Feeling poorly.

Trying to decide which toy to play with first!

And so to the last event of the year - New Year's Eve socialising.

NOVEMBER 2016

It seems like there is lots of activities going on here in the port, but which to chose from? That is the problem. I fancy the stretching excersises in the studio, 'Corps Accord' ,  which is alongside our boat on the quay.  That was until I heard the 'disco' evening in full swing, then I decided to stick to walking Tashi.

This is one of the most socialable port we've visited during the winter lay-up. Friday night is 'pub' night, with other events interspersed, a welcome from the officer of the Capitainerie, then the Mairie, drinks and dinners with neighbours.

I joined the AVF for an annual fee which entitles me to some free courses, including one-to-one French lessons, and cinema visits at half price.

The town was full of excitement and anticipation when President Hollande visited to commemorate the commissioning of the Canal du Midi, here in Castelnaudary. There were soldiers and veterans marching through the town on the morning of 19th. After lunch the President, and a large cavalcade of cars and motor bikes, arrived at the hire base of Le Boat in the Grand Bassin.  Then he walked to the Pont Vieux where he could see the port, sheltering the wintering boats, and canal beyond continuing on its way to Toulouse.

23 November
Nearly the end of the month and the temperatures are still mild at 16C yesterday evening.

OCTOBER 2016

Back in Toulouse again.  This time we were kept entertained by the pompiers at their quay side head quarters. They had hired a photographer to come and take photographs, presumably for publicity purposes. First they tried to launch their dingy to demonstrate rescue skills on the canals. Luckily it wasn't an emergency as the trailer release mechanism jammed and it took quite a while before the dingy was in the water.  Then the photographer was raised from the back of a fire tenden which had an extending ladder, other pompiers went onto the passerelle and fixed ladders in place, then the'shoot' began.

There is always something interesting going on in Toulouse. The weekend hosted two trade fairs, one for antiques, which was selling both the weird and the wonderful objects. The other was a ceramics fair where there was a variety of things for sale from the very finest china to huge outdoor displays.

Statue behind the ceramics displays.
 
This being October there was also a fun run in support of Breast Cancer awareness, and we encountered people, of all ages,  dressed in pink, with pink wigs and decorated faces.

A visit to the natural history museum and botanical gardens was an interesting place to go. Though sadly at this time of the year many plants in the gardens were dormant.

Red beans, like I've never seen before.

Unknown plant.

There was also a beautiful red squirrel hopping about, reddish brown with almost a black tail, but when I reached for my camera he disappeared into the tree tops.


Its beginning to feel like winter has arrived now with nights getting darker earlier at 7.30pm and not getting properly light in the mornings until 9.am.  The overnight temperatures also plunge with the lowest being down to 7.5C one morning, but luckily most days are still warm and sunny.  We have had our heating boiler serviced, and filled up with fuel, so all we have to do now is get to our winter port of Castelnaudary.

We had planned to leave Toulouse on 14th October, but Ni hurt his back so our departure was delayed until 16th when we were lucky enough to again get the mooring against a wall at Montgiscard. We decided to stay two nights to help Ni recover, and I got busy with cleaning fluid to get rid of tree sap that had spattered brown spots all over our cream roof tops!!!

Two days later we headed off to Negra, and this time got into a mooring space on the Locaboat pontoon, so had water and electricity. As the weather was good it gave me a chance to catch up with the washing. It was so peaceful here now the tourist season has ended.

and we enjoyed the autumn colours

Sun rise at Negra

Negra autumn trees

As the weather forecast foretold of storms and high winds, we decided to make a dash for Castelnaudary, just stopping for the night at the Lock Laurens.

Sunset at Laurens

Last mooring of the season at Laurens

So finally we arrive at Castelnaudary. We are SO glad to have arrived safely. Other boaters have succumbed to illness, injury, and had problems with their boats, some serious, others minor. So it's a great relief to be here safe and sound, and be welcomed by the lovely Capitaine, Odile!

Gesina's home for the next five months.

Soldiers of the French Foreign Legion on the canal bankside at Castelnaudary.

As with many place along the Canal du Midi, originally called the Royal Canal of Languedoc, Castelnaudary is a town with a savage historical past.  In 1355, during the Hundred Years' War, the town was burnt down by the Black Prince, son of King Edward III (blame the English again). The beginning of the 17th century saw an uprising against the King's rule and in 1632 a fierce battle took place at the foot of the town. The inventor of the canal, Pierre-Paul Riquet, transformed Castelnaudary into an important port thanks to the building of the Grand Bassin, with its 1.75 acres of space allowing mooring for many trading ships. The industry that benefitted from this facility were wood-drying shops, rope-makers, dry docks and carpenters. Drinking troughs were also provided for the cattle. Nowadays the town relies more on tourists, boaters and its famous dish of Cassoulet.

Boschplaat being towed into port by Somewhere.

 Our first Meet and Greet at the pub L'Indus

Sunday afternoon saw a Party in the Park. This was to celebrate the 1st birthday of Bodi (short for Bodicea, a Spanish Water Dog). Yeti, and Tashi, both Tibetan terriers, Haggis, spaniel/poodle cross, and Delilah standard poodle, all attended. Party Dogs:-

Delilah

Bodi

Haggis

Yeti

Tashi, the old Lady!

SEPTEMBER 2016

From Mas d'Argenais we headed to the charming port of Fontet, which is also a park home and has well tended parkland around the port, and all facilities. Unfortunately the lake, which is used from swimming the summer, was closed due to a bacterial infection. But we could use the outdoor shower to cool down. We went with friends to Marmande for a Chinese buffet lunch, than after relaxing in the shade of port side trees, wandered around to the museum of matchsticks models at Fontet. These truly amazing structures have taken years of dedicated work to construct and care for. Their centre piece being the Palace of Versailles for which they dim the room lights, and light the interior of the Palace and play appropriate music, adding a video of fireworks. A charming little museum run by three dedicated men, one who presented me with a heart shaped souvenir made from match sticks, which he made while we watched the video.

Fontet mooring.

Sadly we said 'goodby' to Jenny and Simon, who we've not seen since they, and we, left Holland. Goodness knows when we'll meet up again. Jenny, looking reminiscent of the Mermaid of Copenhagen, came to wave us on our way!

Between the two ports we passed a fabulouse looking house:

and solid looking pigeon loft:

Hooray, made it to Castets-en-Dorthe, the end of the Canal de Garonne. The only further place to go is onto the river towards Bordeaux. We will not travel there as its tidal and salty, not good for our 'Old Lady' .  The port was very fully with just enough space for us. On wandering around the village I spotted a magnificent pigeon loft in the grounds of a chateau. These lofts historically built to encourage pigeons to roost in, as the people had a double use for the birds, eating them and using their dung to fertilise the crops.
The Capitaine here was very helpful issuing us with a colour brochure full of information on local events, markets and waterway hints. He also kindly takes orders for deliveries from the boulangerie, which is much appreciated (but did encourage us to order pain au chocolate, which we wouldn't otherwise have ordered, not good for the waistline!).

Castets-en-Dorthe mooring

Pigeon loft

And so we retrace our journey to Bordeaux, hopefully stopping at places we missed out on our way down.  One such place was the charming little hamlet of Caumont-sur-Garonne.

As this is also an Aire, there were more camper-vans (21) than boats - only 3!

Now we are retracing our steps back to Castelnaudary, and when we got to Villeton we found the moorings completely empty, and the restaurant/pizzeria closed for winter.  As several boats passed by and the temperature was still 37.1C we found this very odd. Some stopped as they wanted food, so they carried on.  Obviously the restaurant owner made enough money from the summer season guests, and has gone off to enjoy the fruits of his labour!

We were held up in Buzet-sur-Baise by the mini-tornedo which hit early in the evening. The sky went dark, then the wind blew, so we battened down the hatches, quite literally and watched the storm rage around us. The fallen trees jammed the canals, and electricity was cut stopping lock operations, so the pompiers were called out to install emergency generators.

Our second visit to Agen allowed us time to go around the Musee des Beaux Arts which was a real treat. The museaum founded in 1876 is housed in four Renaissance carefully combined mansion houses, opening onto inner courtyards. The collection comprises paintings, scultpures, furniture and pottery/china, from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. The miniatures, and collection of scent bottles, and ladies ornaments from Roman times were amazinly intact. Wearliy we wondered back to the boat, just stopping into the Cathedral to rest for a while, but weren't at all prepared for opulence of the interior. Every surface was decorated from floor to ceiling with colours or gilding. A nun stopped by seeing our amazement and offered an explanation for the images. She told us it was originally an undecorated collegiate church. After the banning of following religious practices, the figures were added to help keep the faith. They depitct characters from both the old and new testament, and also include other religions.   So after the Revolution Napoleon decreed that the church be open to the ordinary people, and now it belongs to the townsfolk.

Relaxing after a day out in Agen!

Lamagistere

One of our favourite moorings, empty now, but even when we stopped back in August there were only a few other boats moored.  A wonderful place for us as there is a disused quarry now a lake, with landscaping around the perimeter, and a good walking surface where we can take Tashi for a stroll. The tree give lots of welcome shade in the summer heat. And basics can be had from the shops just a short cycle ride away. What more could we ask for, heavenly!

Our return stop in Moissac was at the quay down on the river Tarn. Comfortably hot at this time of the year, which was just as well, as there no trees to provide afternoon shade.  However it did prove to be more useful a stop then we had envisaged. There were hundereds of little fish 'tiddlers' nibbling away at our hull. You could hear their tap-tap-tapping day and night. They are better than any anti-foul as they cleared the weeds from our hull completely.  So now we are thinking of a way to keep some fish onboard in a tank, and lowering them in a net to gobble up any more weed that grows!

Peaceful river mooring, Moissac