October 2017

Having made a quick trip to the Uk to visit a friend, I returned to Capestang to await more visitors, Jackie and Peter. They checked in to an hotel and cruised with us during the day, from Capestang to Angeliers, Le Somail and Ventenac-Minervois.  LeSomail  was one of the staging posts for passenger boats during the 18th century which cruised between Trebes, Castenaudary and Negra. Costing £6, which must have seemed a lot then. Plus the passengers has to disembark and change boats, each time they reached a double or triple lock - a total of 25 times, and carry their own baggage up or down the steep slope to the next boat.
LeSomail also houses Madame Gourgues' antiquarian bookshop, a treat not to be missed. The stock is vast consisting of paperbacks and very rare editions.

Post boat.

 Angeliers had an interesting walk between a narrow street where placards had been placed on the walls explaining about the Wine revolution.  This concerned French wines, already in oversupply, being threatened by Algerian wines and other artificial mixed concoctions. In 1905 Marcelin Albert, manager of a theatrical group, cafe owner and wine grower convinced 400 wine growers to sign a petition in favour of natural Midi wines.  He then founded the Argeliers Committee, a group of wine growers who were to shake the foundations of the government. The intervention of the army shocked the public and the wine growers' revolt spread over the whole region. So tragic with many innocent people killed. 
Albert Marcelin was finally received by the president and the law authorising chaptalization revoked. But the hero of the day, having dealt with the enemy, was rejected by his former friends and ironically ended his days miserably in Algeria.

We took time off the boat to explore by car, and visited the Cathar town of Minerve, which was a spectacular place perched on the top a rock in a deep ravine.

Stunning village of Minerve.

  Next we visited the bastide of Aine with its narrow streets and tall buildings to throw cooling shadows on the inhabitants. Although Bize Minervois was a recommended place to visit, we never found the point of interest. Need to read a guide book more thoroughly!

Jackie and I also took the opportunity one afternoon to cycle from Ventenac Minervois to Paraza, where  there is the chateau Paul Riquet stayed in  while his canal was being built. Between these two villages is the canal bridge of Repudre, one of the few bridges built by Riquet himself, constructed to avoid damage to the canal caused by flooding of the little river Repudre. It was completed in 1676.   Said to be the first canal bridge ever built in France and reputed to be the second builit in the world!

From Ventenac-Minervois is one of my all time favourite stretches of the Canal du Midi, with the mountains of the Pyrenese on one side and Mountains Noir on the other.

'My mountains'

 I just LOVE them. I think it must come from being a 'northener'!

Tashi is also in heaven here in Homps when we walk down to 100 hectare lake Olonzac.  She can paddle on the waters edge quite happily.  Its deserted at this time of the year, with no water sport activities.

Just beyond the bridge is a brocante which has a wonderful array of objects for sale.  I wish I had a larger boat!! (and bigger pocket!)

Apparently there was a general strike while we were moored in Homps, but as we hadnt intended to move it didnt affect us.

We moved on to LaRedorte and were lucky enough to get a mooring right outside the quayside restaurant, treating ourselves to dinner there on Friday evening with our new neighbours also going to Castelnaudary, Frances and John on their boat Antonia.

Keeping an eye on the weather forecast we moved up to Marseillettes, but only stayed one night, swiftly moving on to Trebes. Then we made a dash for Carcassonne, having rung ahead to be sure of a safe mooring place while the high winds go past.

It  has been a most amazing stop with chaotic happenings on the canal.  First of all a workboat/peniche called Neri arrived, and attempted to pass through the small bridge below the lock into the port. His wheelhouse was too high and he got stuck. Couldnt go forward, couldnt go backwards. The 4 hire boats who had followed him were scattered all over the canal. Eventually Neri got free and moored up. He tried pumping water into his hold to lower the boat,but his pump broke! The hire boats passed up through the lock - all except one, which appeared to be out of control. It kept going aground and spun around several times. That also moored up. That night the VNF lowered the water in the pound and Neri edged slowly into the lock.
This afternoon hotel boat, Savannah, moored in front of us. Hotel boat Alegria came down through the lock, but without Savannah moving forward there was no room for them to pass, so Alegria ran aground. Savannah pulled Alegria off the bank, and moved into the lock. Alegria decided not to moor here and continued down the canal. While these manoeuvres were going on more hire boats arrived wanting to pass through the lock and time was pressing on towards closing time at 6pm. All moved smoothly through (apart from one frantic Irishman who only seemed to know one throttle position - yes you've guessed it FULL POWER) and now we can sleep easy until another day!

 

VNF official keeping a close eye on 'their' bridge!

 

Savannah pulling Alegria off the shallow bank edge.

Boats going in all directions!

 Perhaps the threatened general strike on Thursday will restore peace and calmer waters!

Nigel slipped on the wet grassy bank, and dislocated his shoulder, so we stayed a few more days in Carcassonne for him to rest.

Finally we got on our way, and enjoyed the beautiful autumn days cruising, arriving to the welcoming site of the Grand Bassin, with the spire of the Collegiate St-Michel looking down on us as we approached the old 17th century bridge.
 

Grand Bassin, Castelnaudary.

The Grand Bassin is a man-made lake of 1.75 acres, unique along the 150 miles of the Canal du Midi. It was here that Canal was officially opened to navigation on 19 May 1681. The town's Councilors paid 30,000 livres to have the canal passing through the town and creating the Bassin. During the 18th century it was a busy port hosting wood-drying shops, rope makers, boatmen, dry docks, and carpenters. Drinking troughts were also provided for cattle.
 
We awoke on 31st to our first frost of the season, with boat roof tops sparkling as though they had been sprinkled with tiny diamonds. Luckily the clear night skies also bring clear sunny days.

Pont Vieux, Castelnaudary.

It always seems amazing that we, and larger boats, manage to squeeze through this tiny bridge, set at an angle!






 

September 2017

When we finally decided to move on from Salleles d'Aude, where we had moored by the bank next to the museum of amphoralis, we found to our horror that we had gone aground. This became more problematic by the hour as it was a Monday and lots of hire boats were leaving Narbonne coming upstream and emptying the canal of water. So I walked to the next upstream lock to activate if and let more water through, in the hope that this would be enough to float us off the bank. But each time I managed this another clutch of hire boats came upstream.  By this time we were listing dangerously and worried that our ropes would break, lurching us across the canal.  After Ni's efforts at 'wriggling' the bow thruster and rudder he eventually managed to get us back into the water and onto one level.

So we gently made our way downstream to Capestang, stopping at the peaceful spot just outside Argeliers.

Ferme le vie

Nice dog walking here, with almond trees lining the paths. Unfortunately we dont have any nut crackers onboard. NB to self: buy nut crackers!

We arrive at Capestang ready to greet next visitors, and are kept entertained by the antics of hire boaters.

Not sure what they were trying to acheive here.  I know we call them "Bumper Boats" but that's just plain ridiculous!!!

On a lovely sunny evening Nigel decides to have a barbeque. But we didnt have the right kind of charcoal and the meat was literally smoked rather than cooked!  Not too keen on that method.

Capestang has some interesting buildings one of which is this one with a beautiful trompe l'oeil on two sides. Tashi was completely fooled at first and kept barking at the little dog in the bottom left-hand corner.

Trompe l'oeil at Capestang

August 2017

We reached Carcassonne in time for Sarah, Shaun and their boys to visit.  The extremely hot day ended with a slight shower, threatening thunder storm. But this didnt affect us, as we were in a restaurant while the whole storm passed us by.

Someone left a lock gate or overflow open overnight causing severe water shortage in the canal, and a stoppage of boat movement.  So we had to wait over an hour, floating in the middle of the harbour in a stiff breeze, before we were able to leave Carcassonne.
This got worse at we arrived at Trebes, and with the backlog of queued boats, it took 4 hours to get through the staircase lock.  Tempers were getting very frayed by this time.

Then we were on a tight timetable to reach Narbonne in time to greet Andy and Marina.  Our stay in Narbonne was not any more pleasant that our previous winter stop there.  Unfortunately for us there was a big summer festival being held by the quay, with very loud music playing well into the early hours.  So we moved our boat out of port to moor by the theatre. There we had a group of loud, bad tempered tramps, and one even jumped inside the boat one evening when he saw Ni taking Tashi for her evening walk.  I dont know who was the more surprised at his appearance!  Obviously he hadnt realised there was anyone else onboard.  So we cut short our stay, and vowed never to return to Narbonne by boat.

Tashi enjoyed her day at the seaside!

So we scuttled back up to Salleles d'Aude where we stayed for nearly two weeks. This transpired to be an expensive stop over as our engine batteries needed replacing.  Then we got a tanker to fill our heating fuel tank with red diesel, and phone dongle and phone top-up was renewed.

On Assumption day (16th August) some good citizens of Salleles d'Aude followed the procession carrying a representation of the Virgin Mary.

JULY 2017

On Wednesday 5th at 1.30am a man tried to steal our bikes from the back deck of our boat. They were not locked to the boat, but locked together. So he had to lift both bikes ashore. he must have been a strong man to lift both of them. Because one is a Dutch bike with a back wheel lock which stops the wheel from spinning, he had to drag them along the tow path, and damaged them, also in trying to break the locking device it was broken, but luckily for us not opened. The noise of him taking them ashore woke Ni who ran after him. The man dropped the bikes and ran away. So now we put the bikes inside every night, which is very inconvenient, but as one is an expensive electric bike, the best precaution.  We are now more inclined to shut every window and door. Whereas previously in this heat, we left the offside door ajar with the safety catch in place. I dont want to live in a fortress, but better to take precautions.

Its still festival time here with the 10th festival des sports traditionnels taking place on Saturday and Sunday 8/9th.  There were demonstrations, intiations and tournois; courses camarguaises, courses landaises, joutes languedociennes, palet gascon, quilles de 8, quilles au maillet, rames traditionnelles, tambourin, representing sports from both Occitanie and Catalanes.  Plus a procession from the centre of town to the stade by the side of the canal, where all the water sports were operating.

What on earth is this all about?!!!

June

What a very bizzare evening tonight in Castel. We went along to meet other bargees for our weekly Friday night gathering at the quayside Cave, only to find the owner sitting on his doorstep looking very dejected. "I'm closed" he told us, " but for you - I open". So he ushered/hustled us inside. Having been such a hot day we welcomed the coolness of the Cave. Then others came along two by two. All of us ushered inside and locked in. I've been to a 'Lock In' before, but never a 'Lock Out'. Eventually 14 of us gathered, bought wine and drank. The owner wasn't feeling well he informed us, but wouldnt disclose the nature of his demise.  Affairs of the heart we wondered, exetensialist angst, a very French disease? Perhaps we will never know. Whatever it was he was 'closed' for two days. In the meantime the chosen few, who were allowed to buy his wines came and went. For a cave that was closed he did very well this evening. One lady even purchased a whole case of wine!

My flowers are surviving the heatwave, with much watering from the canal, and additional plant feed!

 Our visitors chose the hottest days to visit us, and we all sweltered in the heat, as the bimini for the upper was not yet repaired!

Susie organised a picnic for the AVF members, and yes, it was another scorching hot day!

Hosted by Cax and Marion at their beautiful camping site, Les Armengauds

 Traditionally it its Fete Musique in France on 21st June, hence the town was alive with events all week long and many events were advertised for this festival week.

The peniche Tormente arrived in port and provided music and caller to give us a French version of country dancing!

Sally and Charles, on Bluegum, called in for two nights, on their way north. Sad to see them go, having spent three winters with or near them, and wonder if we will ever see them again. We walked to see them through the staircase lock.

Even Tashi looks sad at losing 'her' friend!

Well the much awaited Lacher de Lanternes never happened. We went to the Grand Bassin and waiting in anticipation, but were told it was 'abandonment'. It seems it was deemed to be too dangerous.  Definitely, as its SO DRY here and the wind was blowing quite strongly.  Plus the pompiers were having a party, with lots of food and drink available to all, so wouldnt want to be called away!  The music from their party blasted throughout the whole town, and we were warned that it would go on until the early hours of the morning.  It certainly looked spectacular with fireworks and strobe lights flashing through the trees.  So at 2am we closed all our windows and roof lights to blot out the noise. Luckily we did because IT RAINED, HALLELUJAH!!!!! (You won't here an English person say that very often about having rain.) At last, now it will be a bit cooler.

Pompiers Party

And final visit from our winter neighbours.

Wiestke' back!

May

Well we finally left our winter mooring in Castelnaudary. It was sad to leave friends, but nice to know that we will see many along the way during the summer, and others returning for next winters layup. One of the best winter ports we've been in.

We didnt get very far the first day. The engine exhaust was smoking so we stopped so that Ni could investigate, had lunch and decided to stay the night, below Laurens lock. Tashi reconnected with 'her inner dog self' and went off exploring the canal bank sides. But she did keep looking back to make sure we hadn't set off without her! The next morning we went up through the triple lock, but the wind was so strong, and it took such a lot of hard work to hold the boat in position, even using the engine, that we decided to stop until it was calmer.  Unfortunately this was under trees, and just before we left a huge dead branch from an overhanging tree crashed down onto us, and split our bimini in half.  Half an hour later and we wouldnt have been there.  Isn't hindsight an annoying thing!

Laurens lock, le Fort

Ecluse Renneville

 In the orchard behind our mooring there were both red and white acacia trees. I've never seen red ones before. I bet when the property was occupied there were bee hives in the orchard.

During my walks along the canal at Renneville I found several different types of wild orchids, a rare treat.

The locals did their best to keep us amused while we moored at Renneville.

A very sociable, sociable!

Film set using the canal at Ecluse la Planque

Trying to find some shade, on a VERY HOT day!

Back in Castelnaudary it was time for visitors. Cor and Mieneke came down from Briare, and took time from their tours to visit us.

Tashi, looking good, on her 10th Birthday!

Next to pass through Castel were Charles and Pamela on their boat Xenia.

Dinner onboard Xenia

Lovely to see them, but sad to think that as they are on their way back to the Uk, this may be the last time we meet.

Xenia leaving Castelnaudary

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!