November 2018

Friday nights at the quay side Cave has again been put on the calendar. And so the winter begins. BBQ this Sunday at the Capitainerie, welcome drinks same place, on Monday evening and being greeted by the Mayor, and President of the Commune no less. I can't used to the idea that I live in a Commune!

Again I go to the AVF group every Wednesday morning, in an attempt to learn to speak better French, or even any French! A lot of the time there is spent looking at written work, which is good, but doesn't help with my spoken French.

Also now I have begun to go with another boater, Tricia, to aquagym, an aerobic class in the super new swimming pool just opened this year, here in Castelnaudary. It is very useful to go with Tricia as she interpretes the finer points of the exercises I dont understand about what we are supposed to be doing with our feet underwater. The instructor is quite good and the main movements, but he doesn't show the details. Also Marie-Therese, my French teacher from the first year we were here, attends the class. And she tells me also what to do. The first week I went Tricia and I had a problem with the locker key, and I ended up locking my arm, with the key, to the locker! This week a French lady told Tricia that she thought her English friend (me) was going to drown in the deeper water of the pool. Poor Tricia, I am a liability to her!

Friday 16th we joined 14 other boaters to have a meal at the Chinese restaurant, The Dragon, here in town. It didn't quite live up to our expectations, but was fun with the group.

Well we had wine, but the food was a bit longer in coming.

Nigel's flamebaded pineapple was quite spectacular.

Saturday 17th began the road blocks in protest at the fuel price increases. The town was grid locked and in siege. You couldn't get into nor out of town. It was the same on the following Tuesday; Intermarche blocked off, Geant also. And the queues for petrol were very long. It is reported that some shops don't have fresh  food available which is going to cause panic and lead to hoarding and complete shortages. Already it is difficult to get fuel for the car!
On Sunday 11th we drove to Saisaac to view some of the houses for sale, as they have a lot of properties for sale possibly in our price range. But disappointingly Ni says the streets there are far too steep for him to contemplate living there. So that's one place ruled out.

A French lady from the AVF group was a theatre set designer, now textile artiste, and she held an open day in her atelier on Sunday 18th to which we were invited. She creates some fantastic things, with most ideas envisaged from nature. Not necessarily to Ni's taste!

On Friday 23rd, Alain bar owner, sent an invitation to his Fete Adieu, entitling it Auberge Espanol. Which basically meant bring your own food and buy my wine! Lots of locals were also there. It turned out not to be Farewell, as the paperwork hasn't gone through to finalise the deal. He now says 20th December will be handover time. We told him that we're not taking party food every Friday until then. Although most weeks we take a plate anyway!

Cake baked by Robyn.

A bottle of English wine, brought by Elaine, and wrapped in a Union Jack!

Alain also invited Mathieu to come and entertain us.

NB all the empty wine shelves!

The days remain sunny and warm, with some beautiful sunsets.

Le Grand Bassin, Castelnaudary.

Its going to be hell come the spring if the canal isnt open towards Carcassonne, as all these hire boats will be heading in the direction of Toulouse!

Saturday 24th saw the monthly visit of the English Fish & Chip van. As usual they were delicious! We took ours back to the boat, not joining others in the bar L'Industrie for more booze! We drank our own, its cheaper.

Sally organised a Ladies Wot Lunch at La Dolce Vita on Thursday 29th November. It was well attended. Mixed reviews. However all seemed happy enough when the Maitre De took this photo!

October 2018

On Sunday 28th friend Val, invited us to a lunch time event, which she called apero Auberge Espagnole! She lived here in the town, and befriended us. She has now sold her house and moved back to the UK after living in France for over 20 years. For a while she has just rented a flat in the UK and has 'lent' us her car for the winter months. Which is a really kind gesture for which we are extremely grateful.

Ali, Ni and Val, taking food for the party.

Pool house party.

As it was such a bitterly cold day and their was no heating available we all just kept our coats on. Val did warn us that would be the case, so all was well, and the alcohol helped!
 
And after Ni's quick trip to the UK to attend his aunt's funeral, we moved slowly back towards Castelnaudary for our winter mooring. We stopped as the usual favourites along the way, Montgiscard, Negra, Gardouch  Renneville, Ecluse Mediterranee and Ecluse Laurens before arriving at our lovely mooring in Castelnaudary!

Us and the solitary bad tempered swan!

I think that he is hoping that someone else will hand feed him cooked spaghetti like Jim did last winter from the back of his boat 'Relax'.

While we were at Renneville we had two wildlife visitors. One was a beautiful black mink who wasn't at all frightened by our presence. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera to hand. But I had it by me when we the second visitor leapt onboard.

Froggy would a wooing go!

In the woods above the canal I spotted huge drifts of wild cyclamen. I've never seen them in such profusion before, quite stunning.

This is a favourite spot for fishermen at Renneville, especially those who like to camp out overnight on the edge of the canal. One day a young man came and set up all his elaborate equipement, rods, line, tent etc and then launched a radio controlled boat to drop the float into the water. I think he spent more time playing with the radio controlled boat than actually fishing. Still it kept him and us amused!

We were very relieved to arrive safely in port, as always. But particularly this year in view of the terrible disasterous floods that Trebes just two stops downstream. We were there this time last year, so there but for the Grace of God goes us. Our heart goes out to all the people involved both boaters and householders. Absolutely terrible.

Such a sad sight......

We dont expect problems like this on the Canal du Midi.  One always thinks that in a flood boats will just float above it. But this was a combination of high winds and just too much water from the overflowing river Aude.    It's the worst flooding there since 1872. The Rhone is renowned for sudden rising waters, but the C.d.Midi doesnt have the same reputation. So shocking!

September 2018

This time we stopped at Ecluse Escatalens where there is a lovely LONG mooring with grassy sides, no cyclists and hardly any walkers, so very peaceful. That was until the farmer on the opposite bank started up his water pump, drawing water from the canal, to spray his fields. It is rumoured that the VNF are planning to supply two electricity and water points at this mooring, which is sorely needed. As there is no water easily available between Montech and Toulouse.So we decided to move on up to Montech. It was home from home Philip, Eric and Lisa, Junior, Bob, Cary and later joined by Sally and Glenn, also Nicolas and Sally sadly saying goodby to their boat and heading off back to Zimbawbe. We also met new faces Dee and Andrew, and Malcolm and Jane(?). Nigel and Tricia, plus Steve and Jo cruised passed, so we're all heading for our winter hibernation.

We stopped a couple of nights at Dieupentale hoping to dine at the port restaurant, but it was closed for 'Conges' maritail or otherwise!

When we moved on upstream to St.Jory we were greeted at dusk by the sight of little while moth like insects swarming in their thousands around the street lights. Not sure what it is possibly White Ermine, but each morning there are hundreds lying dead all over our boat. If they are washed off immediately in the dew all traces disappear, but if left it takes scrubbing to remove their sticky bodies.

Not snow nor rice, but heaps of dead moths!

 Arousing welcome awaited us when we reached the Port de l'Embrouchure the junction of the Canal de Garonne and Canal du Midi where we stopped for lunch. There was a jazz band with singers playing in the park. Very Seurat!

Narrow bridge on the left is end of C.d.Garonne, right goes to ecluse de Garonne and down onto the river, and central is the one we take along the C.d.Midi.

So on 11th September we entered the dry-dock for the third, and hopefully final time, to have an hours work of metal work done to the hull. Unfortunately when we were positioned over the sleepers of the dock floor, no-one in charge was watching as the water drained away, and our 50tons of boat settled down onto our rudder. Not a good idea! It was pulled completely from the bearings and bent rather badly!

There's a bow thruster under that forest of weeds!

So the water level was raised again in the dock and we moved even further forward. Sadly this meant non of the ladders, nor gang-planks we had onboard reached the side walls. We had to climb up and down our extending metal ladder. But it was too much of a struggle to carry Tashi up and down, so much to her disgust her doggy 'hoist' was unearthed and fitted each time she needed to go out. We could either hold the handle and carry her up and down, which was a bit difficult with her now weighing 16Kgs. So we opted to put a rope through the handle and lower or raise her up and down. She was very unsure about the whole procedure, but needs must.

 So on 12th, Ni's birthday we arrived safely back into the marina.

25th. Autumn has definitely arrived. I know because it's also 4 changes of clothes a day. I've never got the art of layering apparently. It was only 11C first thing this morning and felt really cold with a light north westerly wind blowing. Jacket needed to walk Tashi first thing, and socks onboard. Slippers seemed a step too far, like admitting it was cold! During the day it got back up to 32C so stripping off time, then piling it all back on in the evening! Nice to have cool nights for sleeping though.

We were delayed in Toulouse until the end of the month because Ni flew to the Uk for Auntie Gwen's funeral. It's a good omen for Ni's hopes of living until he's 100yrs old, as Gwen lived until she was 104yrs old!

August 2018

We travelled as far as Golfech, and after the drama of replacing our inverter and battery, decided to return towards Castelnaudary. We were feed up with the drips from the plane trees causing horrible brown, sticky spots all over the boat, when we were trying to clean it prior to painting the topsides!

As Ni stepped ashore to cast-off the ropes he saw this snake in the water trying to swallow this poor unfortunate fish.  We left them to it!

We stopped overnight at Moissac and caught up with acquaintances old and new. The weekend of 10th -12th was Boat Rally time on the river Tarn. I 'hitched' a ride with Jacque and his wife, on their pretty little Dutch Tjalk Aramis. David and Louisa were also there to give help to Jacque through the descending locks should he need it, as his wrist was still in plaster. We went for a little trip up the Tarn before we joined all the other boats already moored on the quayside. Despite the threatening clouds, the long awaited rain didnt arrive that night. It very unkindly waited until Sunday when the Grand Fete on the promenade, featuring bands and food stalls had to be cancelled due to the approaching storm!!!

David walking back to the wheelhouse, to check progress on our cup of tea.

Tracing what we thought was a leaking washing machine turned out to be much worse. It was a problem with the frontstem post. So we called into the boat yard at Castelsarrasin for help, and after lifting our front, they the only remedy was welding over the outside, which, for various reasons, wasnt possible for them to do. After an extremely HOT afternoon sitting in the blazing sun, and with the application of some water silicone gel, and heaps of quick setting cement, we now head back to Toulouse dry dock!

So, in the meantime we spend our time moored in the peaceful little village of Saint Porquier, between Castelsarrasin and Montec, while we alternate between cleaning the horrible brown spots of the hull, and just relaxing and enjoy the solitude and view!

Despite being so remote, we've had plenty of visitors: Cary and her two whippets, Nigel (B) minus Alfie, Jo and Steve on their boat Somewhere with their two Maltese terriers, and Jane and Dell with no dogs, in their boat Amethyst, who very kindly shared a bottle of champagne with us.

July 2018

Moissaac is in full summer mode, with abundance of flowers everywhere, festivals and markets. The summer sun and heat has done nothing to deaden people's enthusiasum.

The bees just love these teasel flowers.

Festival time.

Port full!

Vie de grenier bargain.

Street juggler at the sunday market.

Le Chochon Noir, Gesina, Polaris,Effie,Drumsara, Daisy on the Tarn.

Pretty full down here also. Jim (Capitain) asked how long we are - 20M - you'll be OK there's 21 M gap between Le Cochon Noir and Polaris! He wasn't kidding!!!

There was very pleasant company here, with those we already knew and two Nic and Sally (another one!) on La Pomme de Mer. Although they've been along this stretch for several years, we'd never met them before, and probably won't again as sadly they have sold their boat and are returning to Zimbabwei.

We move along to Pommevic for the weekend and wait for the thunderstorms to pass. Moored on the opposite side are Nigel and Tricia on Sirius, Paul and Jane on Le'Escargot,  and a couple we don't know on Victoria.

Valence d'Agen was quite empty when we pulled in, not like two years ago when they were doing the annual summer pagent and all boats were gone. Sadly the pagent no longer takes place. We don't know why, but cost must be one factor, as they put a huge effort into organising things. But it seems such a waste having spent all that money on concrete paths to support the tiered seating, poles for lighting etc. and now for non of it to be used. And our side of the port is all over grown and derelict. Very sad.  On Saturday there was a huge street market all around the town, with animations and amusements for the children. All very colourful.

Empty port at Valence d'Agen

The colour of the water is due to flood water pouring down the canal. Someone must have had a LOT of rain. We hear that friends are in flood on the river Baise, and movement is halted!

As we had no access to water here (we're too big for the pontoons) I found a launderette so we now have some more clean clothes. Next time it will be a linen wash!

Unfortunately there was a very unpleasant incident behind us, caused by a boat flying a British flag. Saul Trader  from Gloucester tried to insist that the Swiss boat behind us move up to let him moor. But the Swiss man had chosen that particular spot as it was the right height for him (he was disabled), he could get a TV signal, and shade from bullrushes. Whereupon Mr Saul Trader shouted a tirade of abuse at the Swiss, angled his boat - all of 40tonnes, agaist the small ex-Locoboat and tried to shove them along. Much yelling, pushing and shoving ensued. All in port were agog. In the end Saul Trader leant againt an unoccupied small Swedish yacht behind the Locaboat for the night, and moved off the next day. When he came along to us for sympathy, I'm afriad in one of my rare moments of honest opinion, I didnt sympathise, but told him exactly what I thought of his outrageous behaviour. He wasn't best pleased. The next day however I felt justified in my opinion when a visiting friend confirmed that Saul Trader had a reputation for such bullying behaviour. Perhaps someone should have stood up to him before!

Bully boy tactics!

Tashi slept through it all, afterall 'they' do make a lovely pillow!

I think she needs the sleep as we are experiencing lots of thunder storms over night, and none of us are getting much sleep! They've been going on now for over a week, but at least I don't have to water my flowers every day!

June 2018

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.

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.

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.

Muriel and Hans join us for dinner.

Muriel provided the apricot tart.

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.

The ceremony.

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.

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..

Elaine, Clive,Greg, Muriel.

Hans, Bridgit, Nikki, Alan.