Winter in Toul and UK

I am afraid that this may be rather a mundane addition to the blog updates as, of course, we haven’t started our cruising for 2010 yet, but due to popular demand (three this time!) …

We are on to our 4th master plan for the year ahead, and we think that as we have now actually booked our winter mooring on the Canal du Midi (well beyond actually, on the Canal Lateral à la Garonne) we are now committed to getting there!

We had been going to set off south early this year and perhaps leave Riccall somewhere for part of July and August to avoid the heat and hordes of ‘bumper boats’ otherwise known as hire boats, on the Midi, but as things turn out we have had to change to a late assault on the south. Apart from other family considerations in the UK in June, Louise has managed to break a tooth! So we are hitching a lift back to the UK with boating friend Sonia who is here in Toul for a couple of weeks de-winterising her and John’s boat, Chocolat. Louise will get her tooth fixed and then we will return in the car and keep our cruising to this north eastern area until June when we can return to UK again en voiture for Emily and Ric's wedding.

Finally we can get back here by rail and set off, meandering slowly south to arrive at the start of the Canal du Midi at the end of the July/August horror scene. Just in time (it now appears) for the onslaught by the Swiss holidaymakers!

That’s when the real fun begins for us, as we see how much we have to cut off Riccall’s superstructure in order to get through the bridges!

The weather here in Toul is warm and sunny (although we have had a couple of days of rain, with more to come). We have lunch on the back deck and evening drinks in the well deck, which gets the evening sunshine, giving us a glimmer of the summer to come.

While we were here with the car in January, Alex and friend Ben did indeed suss out two more forts in the vicinity: the first still had the remains of a mushroom-topped gun emplacement, whereby the whole thing could be raised up out of the ground, fire, with a very short 100mm barrel, then disappear back down again. Apparently it took about 5 minutes to get the gun raised, fire it and down again. But this one was rusted solid. The second fort we found was much bigger and very overgrown, but the main part was three storeys high which was quite impressive. Even Alex has now fought with enough forts to feel fraught at the thought of another sortie.

One of the features of our mooring here at Toul is the water (well I suppose as we are on a barge, water is something of a necessity!). But in this case, it is the cleanest water we have come across so far in Europe. It really is crystal clear and you can see right to the bottom where all the weeds are, and watch the fish swimming about. In fact it is lucky it is so clear, because our DBA burgee blew clean off the mast while we were away and was nowhere to be seen on the decks of our boat or any of the others around. But Alex noted the direction of the prevailing wind and peered carefully into the water, down the side of the boat. At last, a glimmer of red was seen amongst the weeds and out with the boat hook. Eureka! and out of the depths with the flag! More importantly, this clear water also gives a chance to make sure that all looks well with the propeller.

While we were in England we spent several spells with family and friends including a very pleasant few days with Alex’s cousin Mary and her husband Martin in the depths of Glen Prosen, including a super mid-winter barbecue with old friends Hector and Jeannie MacLean in their gazebo summerhouse on a hill in warm March sunshine with hills topped in snow. Then further north to renew our friendship with Pat and Graham, our erstwhile neighbours from Harrogate, now living the peaceful rural life in Scotland. We headed back south the next day with the sun glinting on the beautiful snow capped mountains and got out just in time, apparently, as Scotland had 80cms of snow that very night!

A few days later we popped down to Barrow on Humber to have an excellent evening and day with friends Paul and Diane, who had also dropped in for a night with us a few weeks before on their own way south from Scotland.
Our next adventure was a birthday surprise for Alex involving trains. We caught the Doncaster to Cleethorpes service, that Mecca of seaside resorts, where we had pensioners’ fish and chips! Then the really interesting one – Cleethorpes to Barton on Humber – a single carriage diesel running for much of its route on a single track through the intriguing countryside in that neck of the woods.

Paul and Diane met us at Barton station (its very close to where they live) where the train waits for 10 minutes before retracing its steps. So we had a bit of crack with them and before we knew it the whistle blew and we were off. Another change and then the Trans Pennine Express to Manchester Airport picked us up and took us back to Donny. Then off to Harrogate for an evening meal at our favourite restaurant, Quantro, and a night in the Harrogate Travelodge – which was booked well in advance by Louise (thinking ahead as usual) and thus only £19! More importantly it’s only a two minute walk from Quantro.

So all in all, we’ve been pretty busy with a lot of socialising in England, (being entertained by or entertaining Derran, Angela, Michael and Sylvia, Maurice and Judy, Mike and Jean and seen some if not all of the children) and then more socialising back here in Toul, but we’re now geared up for our first short trip when we get back from the UK after Easter.