Westward Ho!

Well, we intimated in the last blog that our trip to our winter mooring might be a tad rushed! And so it turned out. We normally just hate hurried boating, but in this case, even Alex agreed that we would make a beeline for Buzet.

To this end, our traverse of the Midi and Garonne was at lightning speed – 8-hour days with barely half an hour for lunch – and this is France – home of the extended lunch 'hour'!

So to give all our avid readers an idea of our progress this blog will be largely photos with the occasional comment for good measure.

Crossing the Etang de Thau from Frontingnan to the Midi . . .

. . . where this is the state of the canal that greets you!!!

However, a little further west and the sea beckons - this is Vias on the last day of the French summer holidays.  

Then it was the Malpas Tunnel with its curious eroded entry and exit section.

Capestang proved no problem this time and with the confidence of having sailed through twice before, we continued on to an overnight mooring west of the town.  The skies darkened, the storm clouds collected, the wind howled, the thunder and lightning started and we were so fascinated by watching the storm that we completely forgot that ALL of our portholes and roof windows had been opened during the day and were still open!  Downstairs the boat was drenched - water everywhere, sofas soaked, dining table awash.  Fortunately the bedroom had been spared (the wind was blowing from the other side) but the clean up took some time.

The weather resumed its  loveliness for several days, which was just as well because roof off days were ahead!

And here is the wheelhouse ready for a roof-off which we couldn't avoid despite the appalling weekend weather which suddenly descended.

We had to wait for what seemed like hours for the lock to be available and then this is what emerged!  We had, and still have, no idea what kind of craft it was, but it was clearly in the early stages of a process of refurbishment, doing 2 km/h and driven from behind by a small craft which had to be disconnected for entry to each lock and then re-connected on exit!  How laborious a trip, and in that weather!!!

Ah, that's better: the Midi as we know and love it!

But not like this - after the removal of the diseased trees.  So very sad.

At one of our stopping places, we were astonished to see, at dusk and closure of the canal,  the arrival of a lumberjack crew!  

The crew arrives at dusk to remove another diseased tree . . .

. . . and they worked till 10pm with their chain saws, then all was quiet.

But - by morning when we got up - even the remaining trunk had been quietly removed!  How did that happen?

Midi-style curved lock - Riccall in roof-off mode.

At the parting of the waters - the summit - there is a large parkland area devoted to an explanation of the engineering works of M Riquet, 'builder' of the Midi Canal.  Here the waters enter the canal from the reservoir high in the hills and the following bust is an artist's interpretation of the features of M Riquet, set beneath a Statue of Liberty-style headdress.  Very impressive!

The rest of the days to Toulouse passed with the usual routine - roof off in the morning, lunch stop somewhere and a late finish - roof on for overnight and the next thing tomorrow. We kept up the pace and were astonished to find that we were almost the only boat around.  The lockkeepers seemed to know we were coming (the power of the mobile phone) and had locks open and ready for us and on one day on the approach to the summit, we covered 20.5 kms and 20 locks!  Yes really! We were tired but very smug!!!

But then, after Toulouse, where we stayed two nights,
we were onto the Garonne - with a typical canal scene ahead.

So we were now on the homeward straight and covered the next 100+ kms and 44 locks in just a week.  Safely moored up in Buzet alongside LES VIEUX PAPILLONS (our old friends from 9 years ago) we ate Kevin's fish and chips at Au Bord de L'eau and prepared for the homeward trek.

Not much detailed information in this blog, but the following stats will give an overview of this year's progress!!


Stats for 2019

1752.2 kms      375 locks     5 tunnels     6 moveable bridges