Moissac to Gardouch

On our last day on the Tarn we set off up to the disused lock to give the engine a decent run (at the speed which will be needed on the Rhone) and also to practice deploying the anchor.  We laid out the anchor and chain and sat for a while with the engine off and the current flowing past the barge at about 2kph.  Then Louise could stand it no longer (not being a fan of anchoring) and Alex wound up the anchor.  What an effort!  He had to have a reset when it was out of the water, but not stowed, before he could finish the job!

We motored back down the Tarn and coming round a corner found a bevy of rowing boats had come up the river unknown to us.  I should think they wondered where we had come from, as they weren’t about when we went upstream and we had come from a disused lock!  Our average speed upstream and down for 1150 rpm came out at 10 kph.  In extremis we could probably hit 11 or 12kph.

We had met an English couple, Maria and Howell at the quay-side fish and chip night.  Most people  who are going to eat take their own picnic tables and chairs and gather on the quay for a jolly get-together beside the travelling fish and chip van – “Cod en Bleue”!!! -  and Maria had invited us with Ken and Rhonda to supper the next day.  So after our day on the river we went to their house in Moissac.  I’m sure they wouldn’t mind my saying that the outside of the house looked rather unprepossessing like many French houses, but what a fantastic job they had done on the inside and to the beautiful little enclosed patio garden at the back.  We had a lovely supper with plenty of convivial chat.

The following day we set off up the double lock from the Tarn on our return to our eastward travelling direction on the Garonne Lateral Canal.  Mark and Annie of Anna waved us off and took some nice photos as we emerged from the lock and entered the next one.

There is a group of 3 locks which operate in sequence a few kilometres out of Moissac and we knew the middle one had a bridge with very little airdraft, in addition to being an arched bridge as many are, but we had got through it before (if close) so knew we could do it, but care would be needed. 

These locks all have a severe bywash current which pushes the barge over to one side as you approach.  Last time we did this bridge we stopped with the bows of Riccall just in the entrance, let the current knock us over by 45^o then eased straight with plenty of rudder as we went in, to get the roof bang in the middle where it has to be to miss touching.  This time Alex decided to do it as per all the other locks with a bit of speed, to maintain a straight line.  The bows entered fine but as the wheelhouse approached, the stern was being pushed well off-line by the bywash current.  At the last minute Alex had to apply full rudder and full power to get to the centre of the bridge.  Phew! Missed our wheelhouse roof by half an inch!  (We still haven’t learned.)

We had another close call just before Grisolles (now there’s an enchanting name) – a bridge we had been under 3 times before, but perhaps the water level this time was higher.  Who knows?

Lock 7 l’Hers, was on double red as we approached but, as if by magic, a VNF van approached and got it going for us as we arrived.  We learned later that this lock never works (some major and irreparable problem obviously) and VNF have to intervene for each and every boat.  How they saw us we don’t know as there were no VNF vans around that day that we saw.  On the topside of the lock was NOORDSTER moored up so we stopped too and had lunch and a chat with Sam.  Sam was single-handing the barge down to the River Lot for the summer season.  Many English boats like to go onto the River Lot as it is very picturesque – and although this is certainly not the only reason, mooring, water and electricity are all free!

When we got to Toulouse, and to the l’Embouchure, a large wide open port on the outskirts of the city, there was a small ex-hire boat, JUNIPER, moored where we hoped to moor, behind SANCTANOX - the office peniche which had made us so welcome last year.  But there was just enough space to moor and Cliff from Juniper helped with our ropes. 

JUNIPER had gone through some shallow water on the other side of the port and had picked something up on the propeller and Cliff and Deb had been waiting 3 days for a diver to come and free the obstruction.  That afternoon the diver duly arrived with aqualung and all, and Alex was amused to see him cross himself before he plunged into the murky water.  After much wrestling with hacksaw and pliers etc he came up with the remains of a very old tyre which had been firmly attached to the propeller.  Alex and Cliff decided there was not enough tread on it to make it worth keeping!

But José and Camille of Sanctanox had welcomed us with open arms as we arrived and invited us all for an apéro that evening.

The next day JUNIPER left and Camille said we could plug into Sanctanox’s electricity supply and gave us the code to tap into their wifi as well.  So kind.

They came to us for drinks the following night at 6pm and 5 bottles later left at 10.30.  Alex, who had snaffled the lions share of the wine was OK the next day (probably still drunk) but very much the worse for wear the day after: so much so, that we had to decline José’s generous invitation to lunch with Camille and him at his business partner’s haute cuisine restaurant.  Oh dear, how very embarrassing!  (Alex promises he will never ever indulge again – till the next time! No, No!)  And we had stayed on two extra days on the promise of such a special lunch.  The restaurant J’Go sources all its ingredients from local suppliers, many of them in the adjacent Victor Hugo Marché which is the wonderful covered market Rick Stein highlighted when he visited Toulouse.

We set off from Toulouse on Saturday in windy but fine weather and got to the east side of the city and our hoped for mooring between two ‘stationnement’ peniches at Vic.  Later it started to rain and when we looked at the forecast it said rain the following morning then light showers for that afternoon, followed by two days of rain.  We decided to make a dash for Gardouch, so when the rain stopped at 11.30 we dropped the roof and set off.  There were a couple of spots of rain on our journey, but we reached Gardouch just in time and as we raised the roof again, the heavens opened! So we are here for two more days till it stops.  Will it ever stop?  It’s as bad or worse than being in the UK: maybe the same as in Wales or the Lake District – or are they still having a drought?

The plus side is that when we were last in Meilhan one of our close friends (no names given!) gave us the access code for the wifi in the house opposite this mooring.  She had talked with the charming lady who lives there when they stopped here many months ago and had been offered and accepted the code.  So we have been able to spend our ‘house-bound’ day entirely on the internet catching up with emails and other essential matters of admin.

Farewell to all that!

We set off downstream (north-west) for Meilhan on what was to be our final trip westward to say goodbye to the good friends we have made down here on the Canal Des Deux Mers.

On the way we stopped just downstream of Charles and Caroline’s boat CONNIE and they came for supper.  There had been a slight mis-communication about our exact timing and venue for this meeting as Louise had mistakenly used their land-line for a text, and Caroline had emailed us after we had disconnected from the internet!  But we combined our suppers and it all went brilliantly and in the morning we continued on our way.

At Meilhan, Lucie and Malcolm of BODY & SOUL had invited us for supper and Mark and Annie of ANNA came for pre-supper drinks.  Alex had asked Lucie, as she passed on her way to see a sick friend in the village, if she knew of an osteopath locally who could deal with his sore leg.  On her return she said she had made an appointment for 8.30 the day after next in a town 10 minutes away and she would give Alex a lift to it (and interpret!)  Brilliant.  Thanks Lucie.

Lucie made us a lovely supper and the following night everybody came to Riccall for drinks.  Alex managed to allow a Crémant cork to escape unchecked at some point and it shot up, hit the ceiling and rebounded right onto Lucie’s glass, shattering it all over the floor, much to everybody’s amusement. (They thought he had done it on purpose, but no!)

Then the following morning Alex and Lucie set off for the osteopath: a most unusual experience for Alex as the fellow was treating him and two other patients in different rooms all at the same time, and also answering the phone every 5 minutes or so, stopping whatever treatment he happened to be giving, to do so.  But at the end of it all, he seemed to have effected a cure and Alex walked thankfully away without a limp and only €40 out of pocket.

Later that morning we set off east again leaving the port with much honking of horns!

We spent a last few days at the port at Buzet saying goodbye to other friends and picking up stores with the use of Tom’s car (L’ESCAPADE).  He had offered us unlimited use of it, partly because he is a very nice guy, and partly because Alex had looked after L’ESCAPADE during the winter.

Again we left the port with much honking of horns – so much so that ‘Madame the Dragon’ from the house opposite came out to see who she was blocking in with her car this time!

At Agen we moored on the two well-spaced bollards opposite the hire base.  A small cruiser was moored on the two close-together bollards and we discovered over the next couple of days that the lady in the cruiser (no evidence of a partner) had managed to get a concessionary ‘stationnement’ at that spot and had even had an electricity supply installed for her sole use since we were last there in the autumn.  Lucky woman!  It’s a super spot, within a few minutes walk of the station and the town centre, with the only downside being the dog merde all along the grassy bank.

At long last we made sure we did the ‘tourist thing’ in Agen, with a long overdue visit to the small medieval area of the town and other notable buildings and squares.  We’d missed out on these high spots on our previous visits, and had hoped to eat in the Café du Gare (famous from Rick Stein’s DVD of this area) only to find it closed permanently!  The recession has hit in France too it seems.

At Boé we moored up behind SOMEWHERE and had a couple of days of good crack with Ken and Rhonda.  Alex borrowed their car to locate and transport a new battery for the generator, the old one having suddenly died for some reason.  Then after a night at Valence d’Agen and only just getting under the bridge with the roof on (again!) we set off for Pommevic, about an hour away.  We had decided it would be a perfect spot to deal once and for all with the water tanks as they were still producing tainted water.  Electricity and water is free at Pommevic, and there is a small ditch well below the level of the canal beside the mooring, which was important for Alex’s plans.

So we bought 10 litres of eau de javel (thin bleach) and added it to the water bit by bit as we filled the tanks up.  Then we ran all the taps till we could smell the bleach coming out, topped up the tanks and left them to ‘stew’ overnight.  The next day Alex rigged up an outlet from before the water pump and created a siphon with the hosepipe down into the ditch.  This meant we could empty the tanks without running the water pump for hours.  It took a bit longer than we had expected (4 hours) but saved overworking the pump.  Afterwards of course we filled up with fresh water, but decided to carry on using bottled water for drinking and cooking until we had re-filled the tanks a second time.  Quite an effort at the time but now, two weeks later, it seems to have worked.

Later in the afternoon we saw a barge coming towards us from the lock upstream.  It was SASSI and we helped Bob and Chris moor up and invited them for cups of tea.  After a short while, and in a very heavy downpour we saw PEABODY appearing from the other direction.  We made the introductions as Bob and Chris hadn’t met PEABODY’s Ced and Suzie and the two barges breasted up together.  Then we put together our intended evening meals and all had supper on RICCALL.  Another jolly evening, despite the appalling weather.

PEABODY left before us the next morning, but by the time we got to the first lock it had broken down, so we had to tie to tree roots and have an early lunch while we waited for VNF to repair the lock.

The weather here has been truly dreadful – just like in the UK.  We had had three solid weeks of miserable, cold and wet days before we set off from Buzet and the awful downpours continued for most of our journey to Montauban.  The pilgrim route ‘Le Chemin de St Jacques de Compostelle’ runs beside the canal here and over the last few days we have seen literally dozens of rain-soaked pilgrims trudging their way west in the inclement/atrocious weather.  We did at one point seriously consider offering warming teas/coffees and probably should have!  But there have been oases of calm and even warm weather too, and despite everything the trees are greening up and the spring flowers are here in abundance.

At last we reached our first booked destination – Montauban.  PEABODY, who was ahead of us had warned us that it was a bit full but we had booked a place so had to go anyway – with all our trains and flights to the UK for Alex’s sister Julia’s 60th birthday booked and starting from Montauban.  As it turned out the hotel barge ROSA was on ‘our’ quay but we doubled onto her and Alex rang Tom the captain who we know slightly.  Tom was quite happy for us to stay moored alongside and said he’d extract ROSA when he had to leave without our help, as we wouldn’t be back until a day later.

Julia’s 60th birthday was a momentous milestone for her as she has MD and the doctors had predicted only about 20 more years of life when she was 18.  Julia is an example to us all of how to live life to the full even with a severe disability.  She never dwells on what she can’t do but always makes the most of what she can – hence a jolly birthday party for 120!!!

The party was to be held in her friends’ barn with an attached marquee.  Most of the preparation had been done by the time we arrived early on Friday afternoon but nevertheless Alex mucked in with Steve for the rest of that day and we both helped the next day for the party to begin that evening.

It was a great success but the weather was terrible with gusts of wind and rain trying to join the partygoers!  The two space heaters made little impression unless you were right next to them, but Julia was duly astounded when we unveiled her present - the sculpture of a stag at bay which all her family members had contributed towards.  Standing nearly 8ft high to the tips of his antlers, he is the marvellous creation of one George Hider from Somerset and all out of scrap steel!

Monday was spent un-doing the party – marquee, lighting, sound systems etc etc. then it was the journey in reverse.

Our flight back on Tuesday coincided with the French May bank holiday so at Toulouse airport we discovered that there was no navette into the city.  A rather expensive taxi ride got us to the railway station but the flight had been delayed and we had missed our booked ‘slow’ train.  An extra €5 however, swapped us to the next TGV which was so fast that we arrived back in Montauban only an hour or so after we would have via Plan A.

ROSA had gone and RICCALL was now well moored to the quay.  Our power lead had been plugged in but not switched on unfortunately, but as it had only been overnight, the batteries were still well up, thankfully.

On Thursday we set off to tackle the nine locks of the Montauban flight but had to stop for another early lunch at the first lock as VNF were working on it and had stopped for the obligatory French lunch. We had another couple of minor hiccups before we got to the top lock.  At one lock we were helped by the gentleman who lives in the lockside house: he made the necessary telephone call to VNF to report the lock failure, but more importantly, he understood the answer!!  We had a bit of chat with him in our imperfect French and as we left he presented Louise with a small bunch of tulips from his garden.  How kind of him.

We’d been invited to supper by Alisdair and Barbara of the hotel barge ST LOUIS, not aboard the boat but at their home, which is a super VNF canalside house.  It’s a lovely setting and they can moor their barge there.  Lucky them!  Supper was great, cooked by Barbara, ably assisted by their two crew members Cheryl and Val.

We had roughed out a plan for getting to Avignon for July and realised we had time to return to Moissac (retracing our steps somewhat) to spend a few days on the lovely River Tarn moorings there.

Today is the holiday to commemorate V E day and each town and village holds a small ceremony at their cenotaph to mark the occasion.  The Maire and other dignitaries of the town were present to lay their wreaths and the old soldiers provided a guard of honour.  There were armed soldiers, police and a small crowd of onlookers and with the Marseillaise played over the loudspeaker it was a very moving occasion.

And at last the sun has reappeared, the rain has stopped and it’s warm again.  We are alone on the river quay.  Most boats won’t come down to this quay until the water and electricity have been reconnected after the winter inundations (there is still a small fear of further rising river levels) but we don’t mind that and it’s just magic!