Buzet to Toulouse, back to Moissac and to Toulouse and on, and on and on!!

 

Well here we are again, trying not to bore you all with more rubbish about the trials and tribulations on RICCALL!

We promised ourselves that we would give up the blog altogether this year but somebody said they liked it. So, just for you Julia, here is the next instalment.

We have had nothing to say for the last two years, what with Covid and Brexit and what not, but last autumn (2021 we were informed by our winter mooring capitaine at Buzet that a tree had fallen onto the back of the boat!

The photos looked pretty horrific but when we arrived, in haste, a few days later, the Communauté de Communes (local council) had cleared the tree from the back of the barge and the damage sustained was one bent back rail and one smashed PV panel (and less importantly, two tarpaulins which had been covering the wheelhouse roof).

The council workers jacked the rail back into an approximate position and offered to pay for a new PV panel and tarps. Great! But we have yet to see the payment. Fingers crossed.

                                                      Three men on a boat!!!

 On the plus side, we spotted little

 Kevin Kingfisher on our deck!

In  early spring we went through the whole palaver of getting a six-month French visa for this year as, for various reasons, we had decided against getting a Carte Sejour when we could have done so before Brexit struck. (Louise says “Mea Culpa”.)

The effort and cost of the visa makes it questionable as to whether it’s all worth it! But this year as our plan is to travel north again up the Rhone we just can’t rely on being able to achieve that in 90 days.

So we set off from Buzet mid April, for a leisurely trip to Ramonville, Toulouse, for a couple of weeks in dry dock, which we had had booked for ages, this to renew our ESTRIN and replace the keel cooling pipes which we think now have a minor leak (not something to contemplate getting worse on the Rhone).

We were on the Garonne Lateral Canal for two years 12 years ago, and marked up all the bridges in our canal guide as to whether they were passable with roof ON or not - ROFF. We confirmed our notes again when passing through in 2019.

This spring though as we travelled towards Toulouse, we noticed that the water level was up a bit. Even so, as we approached Dieupentale bridge, which our book told us was tight, we thought if the height marker at the bow of RICCALL went though OK, the wheelhouse would, as normal.

The height marker did indeed go through OK but three-quarters of the way through there was a horrendous graunching as the roof struck the underside of the bridge and with 70 tons of inertia behind it RICCALL graunched along for a metre or so. The boat eventually came to a sickening halt.

We were stuck absolutely fast. As we tried to manoeuvre the barge left or right, forward or backward, we could hear the PV panels disintegrating!

We rang VNF and explained the situation as best we could. They said they would send help and be with us in 45 minutes.

The bief was 17 kms long and the usual practice of lowering the water level in the pound, would take forever, even if VNF had been prepared to do it, so we got on with it ourselves.

Alex sprang into action and retrieved our tirfor, which we have kept in deep, deep store since we went aground on the Marne. Having been rescued by a team using a tirfor on that occasion, our first action on getting home that year, was to buy a tirfor on ebay (£50) and have it on the boat.

It’s a heavy old thing and by the time Alex had set it up, worked out again how it worked, tied ropes to bollards on the barge and some fence posts on the shore and given it a couple of pulls on the lever he was knackered!

But lo and behold, at that moment a young man on a bicycle turned up and offered his help. “Oh thanks, Are you sure? That would be great”.

It turned out he was a volunteer rowing instructor and thus very suited to generating a backwards and forwards leverage motion using the tirfor. Being young and strong and taking turns with Alex, after two hours overall, we eventually scraped our way back out of the bridge hole.

We have to give heartfelt thanks to Nicolas without whom we might still be under the bridge. (Of course, VNF never did make an appearance!)

When we reached Grisolles, our overnight stop, we easily discovered Nicolas in his rowing club adjacent to the canal and invited him for aperos. He was very good company, spoke English extremely well, but was preparing his team for an away competition, so could only spend a short time with us.

We finally got to Toulouse but on the journey up through the locks (ROFF for this section, no question) the alternator decided to stop working! So now we are waiting to go into dry dock together with our friends Julia and Richard on ETTIE, during which time Alex hopes to replace two of the PV panels which, although damaged, are still giving some output, get the alternator working properly, mend the leak in the overhead skylight in the kitchen, get the leak on the cooling pipes fixed and refix the rear bollards which were originally seated on wood and which is now rotten - and so it goes on!

After some carry-on with wooden blocks on the crossbeams to accommodate our keel and keel cooling pipes we were eventually in the dry dock and high and dry.

Once we got a closer look, the cooling pipes themselves were still on good shape: the problem was that we had touched something pretty hard at some point which had caused an indentation in one of the pipes, right up to and including the screw fitting into which it was connected.

This is where the slight leak was, and because the screw fitting had been so distorted it would be impossible to unscrew the pipe. So the welder did his best but the proximity of the keel and the underside of the boat meant it was impossible for him to weld the top of the joint (no room, no vision) so a very minor leak still exists.

The rest of the boat has been high pressure washed and sprayed to the water line. The ESTRIN surveyor Willem has been and given the barge a largely clean bill of health and at the same time given Louise and Alex a hefty dose of COVID which we kindly and unwittingly passed on to Richard (ETTIE) who came to supper the following night while Julia was back in the UK.

So we entered our second week in dry dock feeling weak with Covid, but it’s dry dock after all and you have to do what you have to do while you’re there, regardless of how you feel.

In terms of Covid Alex had nearly the worst sore throat he can remember while Louise had a continuous streaming nose: strange – the same disease and two totally different presentations.

When questioned, our surveyor agreed it was probably he who had infected us, didn’t apologise but hoped it had not been too bad!

It was our fault as well, of course, as we always wear masks when shopping but failed to ask Willem to take a test before coming to us, we didn't wear masks while he was with us and we didn't give significance to the occasional coughing fit he had. We let our guard down. Idiots!

We sent off for a replacement alternator from the company which had originally reconditioned ours and at huge expense it was delivered on our second Thursday in dock. At first the output was too high and the Sterling control system went into overdrive to shut it off. Then after a couple of other minor tweaks it decided to die completely, like our existing alternator. So it appears that maybe the standard regulator is somehow taking the alternators out.

We were told of an alternator expert near Villeneuve sur Lot, so we limped back to the free mooring at Escatalens where we plugged in and took the original alternator and control box up to the guys at Villeneuve sur Lot on Monday.

They had some hiccup and didn’t get to look at it till Friday, so the new diodes were supposed to arrive on Tuesday but they then said it would be Monday (6 days later than promised). And we can’t test the regulator until we have got the alternator fixed so to save time and uncertainty we have ordered a new regulator from the UK.

The next disappointment is that with the heat really warming up we thought we would get the recently installed air con working to cool the bedroom. On, no we won’t!! Over the two years or so since we installed it it has run out of cooling gas, so its not working either. So far we are onto our second air con engineer who might agree to fix it. It just needs a re-charge even if there is a small leak. It would last long enough for this summer!

We have moved form Escatalens where they switched off the water and electricity without warning (yes, I know it was all free) to Castelsarrasin. But the spot where we are moored is booked for ROSA the hotel barge next week and we need the continuity of stable mooring so we are now moving to Moissac where we are promised a mooring for as long as it takes.

This is doubly good because Alex has just succumbed to a medical problem in the nether regions which he has had before and hopefully the doctors in Moissac can sort it out again as has been the case in the UK on the last two occasions.

Who said boating was a gentle and relaxed pastime?!

Actually, it turned out over the next few days that the medical problem might actually have been just bruising from the bicycle seat when Alex rode over some rather rough ground. Well there’s a plus!

We collected the car from Escatalens with the kind help of Dee from Zeelandia, who gave us a lift there. When we got to Moissac we caught the train back to Castelsarrasin for the car, but in all this as the weather gets hotter we noticed that the air con in the car was not as cool as it should be, so that’s another thing that needs sorting out!

Having trawled the internet for local garages we did a drive round and hit on one which offered to replenish the car cooling agent the following day for the princely sun of €64. We no longer care now, we will pay anything to get all these jobs done. Unfortunately, air con engineers don't want to know when ‘boat’ is mentioned. So we learned from this and trawled on line again and made a short drive in the car to suss-out a place on the outskirts of Moissac and bingo! The lovely Christine rang her partner and he was prepared to come to the boat, the very next morning, to do the re-charge.

Pascale did indeed come to the boat (another €80 but so what?!). We also heard from the alternator repair guys to say the new regulator had been delivered and everything was ready for pick up.

So after the air-con recharge on the car had been fixed we set off for the 100kms drive to pick up said alternator.

Next day, with some trepidation, Alex re-installed the alternator and new regulator and gave it a go. NO OUTPUT!

To cut a long story short, after two days struggling to find out what was wrong, Alex eventually discovered an earth connection he had made which was incorrect and should not have been made (actually it was a tachometer output for the alternator not an earth as he had thought).

Once that was discovered, everything seemed OK until he reconnected the Sterling microprocessor controller when everything went haywire again. So - disconnect that and just run it on the standard regulator and all seems well.

At last we're off!

Buzet to Montauban and back

 

Well here we are back in France for the scintillating 2021 season!

We finally managed to get to the barge, still at Buzet-sur-Baïse, on July 7^th. There had been several power outages which should not have been a problem but we also had had a problem with out PV panel controller which had tried to overcharge the batteries (causing the Victron to shut down) and also a poor connection in the system had overheated and caught fire!

God! But it could have been a lot worse. The PV panels had disconnected themselves at the overheating connection and burned a small amount of curtain. 

The sad remains of the curtain

The fridge-freezer had melted everything in it then restarted (we could tell by the frozen pool of mixed meat juice and ice cream in the bottom!) but apart from that we got off very lightly.

The PV controller was still in guarantee but getting the replacement to us took 10 days due to the new Brexit export/import paraphernalia.

In the meantime as we were waiting for the part to arrive, Alex was sitting on the back deck minding his own business when he heard a loud crack. On looking up he was just in time to see the weeping willow at the rear of the barge on which we were moored – Lily Ann – split in two at its fork some 20 feet above the ground. One half fell onto the back of Lily Ann, while the other half fell the other way onto Dominic’s BMW and very nearly onto our own car. It missed our car by about two inches but wrecked the BMW’s rear window and boot lid.

Andy's bimini smashed by the willow tree

The weeping willow split in half

Lily Ann with half a ton of willow on top!

Our own Skoda - amazingly unmarked

Lily Ann’s bimini was completely flattened and the whole rear deck invisible under a canopy of leaves and branches. By some miracle Andy himself wasn’t sitting on his back deck under the bimini as per normal but down below so he was unharmed.

When Sara and Kevin finally got to the scene Sara did a great job of getting some local tree surgeons to clear Andy’s barge and our car from branches but as it was a Friday night, the rest would have to wait until Monday. By that time, when the VNF workers arrived to completely clear the debris the tree had settled further over the weekend making poor Dominic’s BMW a write-off – the roof light was broken, the front windscreen smashed and the roof itself was badly dented.

Poor Dominic's BMW being unearthed by the VNF team

As soon as this excitement had died down and we had finally received said PV controller we installed it and set off on what we had planned would be a trip north to at least St Jean de Losne, near Dijon.

However after three days and nights of hard work and intolerable heat we were both knackered and started to have a re-think. After the third night where our mooring (the only one available) was opposite a busy road and railway, together with a particularly determined mosquito we had had hardly a wink’s sleep.

Subsequently when we learned that there was a shortage of water in the Canal du Midi and too much in the Rhone, we decided to take things easy again and leave the whole going north business until next year when not only would we be starting at a better time in the year, but 1) we would have a 6 month visa instead of a paltry 90 days in 180 and would have plenty of time to meander as we normally do and 2) we would be doing the Canal du Midi in low season, not in the heat of August.

So, we spent the next four days recovering from our dash so far, at the super new moorings at Escatalens where although the depth was not so good the water, electricity and mooring were free, with some shade in the afternoons and the surrounding area free from unendurable noise. So peaceful!!

Good free mooring at Escatalens - even if we did have to leap for shore

We moved on to Montauban – a lovely 8-lock descent from our night’s mooring at Lacourt St Pièrre. Bruce (Australia) and Rodney (British French resident) currently moving barge MATILDA from Montauban to Moissac stopped by for a chat and so we knew that the quay in Montauban was currently empty and that the Tarn mooring was thoroughly recommended. When we reached Montauban we asked if we could descend the double locks onto the river Tarn for a night. ‘Pas de problem’.

So from the double locks we went on up the Tarn as far as the first pontoon where we moored at the end away from the fishermen which promised shade in an hour or so.

Unfortunately, as the shade came, so did les jeunes, complete with loud taped rap and a penchant for loud talk and splashing in the river. In the end, we decided enough was enough and we moved upriver to the next and final mooring.

As we approached the mooring, the river got more and more shallow and Alex, with memories of the Marne grounding some years ago, slowed RICCALL to a crawl. But eventually the depth increased and we got to the pontoon and there was plenty of room to moor up with the other boat there already.

Peace at last - no youngsters, no railway, no roads. Only later did we discover frogs, croak, croak, on and off all night! Ah well, you can’t have everything (and after all, we are in the land of frogs!).

So, back to Montauban and a mooring once again on the quay with water and electricity for €14 a night for a couple of nights. Alex has an abiding love of all things relating to industrial heritage: locks, factories, water mills, pumping stations etc. - the more derelict the better, so it was no surprise that he decided on our last morning in Montauban to set off to investigate the two derelict locks on the Tarn within a short distance.

The first one was close and easy enough to access, but the second required a bike ride up hill and down dale! When it seemed clear that there was a lot more up hill and down kms to do, Louise decided enough was enough and a peek at the old town was more up her street.

The remains of 'Alex's' lock! . . .

. . . and the weir it once by-passed

Alex did manage to find his second lock, after much searching, but it was completely inaccessible, meanwhile Louise had her little look at the city centre. Our previous visit was 10 years ago and not a jot remained in the memory! The lovely city square was, unfortunately, being dug up and resurfaced, and although there were ‘high end’ shops a-plenty in the ancient streets, there were many shuttered frontages, ‘de-stockage’ (sales) signs everywhere and a general look of economic gloom – no surprise of course during COVID.

Lovely Montauban central square - a building site

Montauban scene

When we went to pay for our moorings the capitaine, Sebastien, handed Alex the ‘Rules of the Road’ for boaters on the Tarn which he should have given us before our descent. They were only available in French so Alex volunteered Louise to do a translation. We spent the rest of the day struggling to grapple with the nuances of French and make it into sensible English. Job done, we discovered that our printer had run out of ink! But email is a wonderful thing!

Back up the 8 locks and we spent the night at a lock mooring close to the little lock house once lived in by the owner/operators of the hotel barge ST LOUIS, Alisdair and Barbara. We’d known them from our previous time on the Garonne, 11 years ago. We wondered if they would still be in business but no, they had sold their business and moved back to Scotland. The new owners now operate the barge and live in the lovely little lock house.

We returned to Escatalens taking in a tour of the Pente d’Eau of Montech which at last has been thoroughly renovated. BUT it is now a ‘theme park’, the mechanism painted in multiple primary colours and open to the public for free tours. It was a very interesting display, if a bit ‘Disney’!

At Escatalens we met Malcolm and Debbie of JANNA II and spent some time with them. They live aboard and are slowly turning their huge 30m barge into a home, but as we know, it’s a long slog. They have come to know someone from the Mairie and have managed to arrange  to spend the winter there – a lovely spot. Good for them!

JANNA II - Malcolm and Debbie's barge

Finally we got back to Buzet where we had rearranged to moor for another winter, the only problem being lack of space as we had become a very late booking. Eventually, it was agreed that the far downstream corner, amongst the banana trees would be the ‘best’ i.e. only spot. So, after a night moored on Mike and Bev’s barge SPES, we set out to reverse into said location – not easy with no bow thruster but with skill, determination and a great deal of luck we made it into a very tight spot without hitting another boat. Amazing!! (Louise says – don’t be modest, excellent boat handling by Alex.)

They DO provide shade!

So then it was a case of cutting a gap through the middle of the banana plants so we could get off the barge and also manufacturing and installing a decent mooring pin to the rear of the barge (a length of scrap 3” steel tube cut to length with a cap welded to the top and the whole thing hammered 3 ft into the ground seemed appropriate).

Alex thought the same at the front would also be a good idea rather than relying on, the rather low stump of the weeping willow left by the VNF, and that has now been installed.

Having established RICCALL in this rather difficult mooring we decided to spend the remaining few weeks we have left here (of our 90 days!) visiting friends in the area by car.

The first trip was east to Aigues-Mortes via lunch with friends Terry and Carole at their favourite restaurant and a night with them at their house at Cazouls-lès-Béziers. We then spent two lovely nights with Jim and Jehan on LES VIEUX PAPILLONS then headed back towards Buzet. It was a very long trip from A-M to Buzet and the traffic had been so bad on the péage on the way over that we decided to book at night in a hotel at Castelnaudary on the return and use the N roads, visiting several of the major ports on the Canal du Midi on the way.

Terry and Carole

Splendid lunchtime view

At one port we met a British couple who after a happy chat from the shore invited us aboard for a coffee. In the course of the subsequent conversation, to our consternation they divulged the fact that they were anti-vaxers (and Trump supporters)! We left as soon as politely possible. We didn't think anybody outside America had any truck with Trump but supposedly there has to be one or two. And as for anti vax.....Well !!

A few minutes later we met another British couple outside their beautiful house on the quay in the same port, who were equally horrified by our encounter and restored our confidence in the vast majority of the population who understand that maximum vaccination is the only way forward to return to some sort of normality.

Once back at Buzet of course work never stops.  Alex’s latest idea is to finally get the fore-deck re-painted. Louise thinks he feels it is now let down by all the work she has done in re-painting all the hand rails!   (And besides all that, we have at last repainted the whole wheelhouse roof. PV panels off as well while we were at Escatalens)

WOW!  

Coronablogus!

We had been in two minds as to whether to continue with our blog this year but as Alex has now had a year off while Louise did the honours he has decided to put pen to paper again and see what transpires. (Bad luck readers!)

We decided, in view of the situation, that we would rather not stop off at some cheap hotel on the way back to RICCALL, moored at Buzet, for a two-day trip, but do it all in one.

We still had four carnet tickets left for DFDS crossings, and when Alex asked the booking office, they assured us that they were only filling the ferry half full and the 5.50 am crossing was nowhere near fully booked. Great - social-distancing should be OK.

We arrived at Dover and, as usual, were pulled over to have the car checked by security. “Did you load the car yourself?” Yes! “Are you carrying any guns, or knives or weapons of mass destruction?” “No, but we may be carrying Covid 19. Should that be classed a weapon of mass destruction?” “Open the bonnet please”. That’s a new one: it’s usually the tailgate they want to look into. “Did you fit this engine yourself?” “No, but it was there when I bought the car!”

Good thing they didn’t inspect the boot. We had two disillusioned boat people in there trying to escape the Brexit fiasco and get back to civilised Europe.

And so to the ferry. Yes, they were only filling if half full but they had also closed off over half of the available space on board! Only two loos open for the whole passenger list. But to be fair, distancing was not a problem as it really wasn't too crowded at all.

We normally set the sat-nav for Le Mans where we overnight then on to Buzet but this time it was straight to Buzet. We had done about 40 kms before we realised that she (Lintilla we call her) was taking us via Paris, rather than Rouen. Bloody hell! Too late to go the other way now. Paris was OK as it turned out and the route chosen brought us back to our normal one well south of Le Mans so that was OK specially as we could fill up at a cheap Super U en route which we had used many tines.

We hit Bordeaux at rush hour so a bit of a hold up there but on the peage from there to Buzet we hit rain, then torrential rain, then torrential rain with golf-ball sized hailstones. Some of the cars had stopped under bridges, double parked! on the hard shoulder! Half of the others like us were doing about 50 kph with all lights blazing and a further lot were pretending it was a lovely sunny day and whizzing past in the outer lane doing about 110 kph. We kept expecting our new windscreen to shatter at any minute.

When we eventually got to RICCALL 20 kms down the road the sun was shining with not a cloud in the sky. Two minutes later another deluge so we sat in the car waiting for a chance to dash on board.

The boat was like an oven but Terry and Sandra had switched the fridge/freezer on the previous day and Terry, bless him, had put our gin and tonic in the fridge so sustenance was at hand.

The new air-con unit, fitted on a visit in February, proved its worth and within half an hour, the bedroom, at least, was as cool as a cucumber.

Alex contorting to fit the condensate tube to the outside!

Now after three weeks of vigorous cleaning, doing various repairs, refurbishments or renewals to RICCALL Alex has decided it is time to start cruising again. We have also been to the shops for stocking up. My god! After weeks of lockdown with deliveries followed by weeks of Click and Collect, suddenly it’s masks on and into the fray: no other option here in France – home delivery has barely reached France yet. So we had to make the most of it – almost every day it was off to Action or Lidl or Leclerc for something that we had forgotten on previous trips.

But while we’ve been here in Buzet a couple of kids have been fishing close to the back of the boat (very unsettling – you sort of feel overlooked). Anyway, one morning the younger one had obviously caught something a bit bigger then usual. We watched impassively as his mate ran off to borrow a net and the little lad struggled with his catch. Finally, after about half an hour of fighting, what was something pretty massive, they managed between them to land the damned thing. A 1.47 metre catfish!!! The lads were dancing around high-five-ing and hugging each other and I guess they’ll probably never catch anything so big again in their lives. Even us – anti-fishermen – were impressed.

The big fish is landed at last

How much does this one weigh?

But we are off now and no sooner have we got going than there is a problem – the alternator isn't operating – all LEDs flashing on the Sterling controller so after 15 minutes we have to stop and moor on the roots at the side of the canal while Alex disappears into the engine room to try and find out what is wrong.

Aha! A loose wire during one of the earlier refurbishments – all fixed, have lunch (our default position when faced with problems) then onwards for a few more kilometres, but not before we were surprised by a full-sized (30m) commercial barge sidling past as we were moored up. The ropes just held but we never expected anything as big, as the most we’d seen for the last few weeks had been a very few hire boats. In fact it turned out that the commercial is no longer a working barge in the traditional sense - it is now a floating advertisement to encourage the use of canals for the purpose they were designed for – carrying bulk freight - and it runs on hydrogen, which, we believe, it makes on board!

Termente

Another surprise for us when 30m l'Astrolabe passed by - a hotel barge of sorts.

Another whopper!

And another!

Moored at Mas d’Agenais, Alex has, at last, put the metal detector (£10 in a charity shop) to good use. He was sure there must be a hidden ring or bollard nearer the road bridge than the official moorings and having found a likely lump of stone, the metal detector, and much digging, proved it. A lovely big red ring for when we return this way.

Anyone for the chop!

We spent two nights just before the rail bridge after lock l’Avance. This is one of the few ROFFs on the Garonne Lateral and we also had to wait for a space to become available at Meilhan. At one point we saw an unusual train crossing the defunct bridge!! 

A tractor?  Yip!

So, four days later we finally got to Meilhan (an average of 1¹/₂ hours cruising per day – but hey, what’s the hurry?).

It didn't take long for us to realise that the attitude to Covid down here in south west France is and has been decidedly relaxed. We had been very strict about following all guidelines at home, so we approached socialising very cautiously indeed, and didn’t go anywhere near the crowd of people who appeared at Meilhan for a music evening. We just stayed aboard and enjoyed the music from our back deck.

Moored at Meilhan

A very tight fit needing guidance!

After a week in Meilhan, having entertained Mike and Gill of CAROLYN for lunch and Nigel and Trish of SIRIUS, Dave and Claire of ARIANA for drinks (always following strict distancing guidelines on our spacious back deck!) and had supper with Steve and Judith of PORTHOS on their spacious deck, we decided it really was time for a change of scene.

So we headed off towards Castets, the last stop before the tidal river down to Bordeaux, on a very hot Monday and were glad to stop upstream of Ecluse 48 Auriole in the shade of the trees. The only downside to an otherwise perfect mooring was the plethora of biting insects. It was just 6 kms from Meilhan, but we saw from our waterways guide that we had marked one of the bridges ahead as a ROFF way back in 2010 when we had done the route with Louise’s sons Richard and Robert. So we decided to stay the night. In the morning we lowered the roof and set off only to find the weed so bad on the next bief past Fontet mooring that we were reduced to about 2 kms/hr. We contemplated turning round at the Fontet basin but then spied the weed cutter. As we passed it we asked if it was clear from there to Castets and they confirmed that they had done the whole section. So we struggled on hoping that the cutter would have finished that bief by the time we came back!

We measured the height of the ROFF as we went through and it seemed absolutely fine so we know not why we did an emergency stop with the boys to lower the roof last time we were there.

Last time we were at Castets the port was being re-furbished and we were not charged a mooring fee as a result. There was only one other plaisance there – SALTIRE with Keith and Louise on board, with whom we are still very friendly. This time the place was packed - no space for a boat like us but as we turned round to retrace our steps a fellow on a Dutch-registered barge suggested we could moor alongside for a night. After some confusion this turned out to be the Capitaine, who was very French (not Dutch) and therefore spoke no English. We were charged €24 for the night with no leccy or water which we thought ridiculously expensive.

However, we did notice Stuart on VAGABOND who invited himself for a drink with us that evening(!). Great entertainment and he did bring his own tipple!

We had thought we might do the tidal stretch of the Garonne from Castets to Bordeaux this year but the Covid situation is such that Bordeaux is virtually shut down and the tides were not auspicious by the time we had got to Castets so that might be a trip for next spring. Bordeaux is one of the French cities which has had mandatory mask wearing imposed everywhere, indoors and out. It just wouldn’t be the same to try to enjoy a beautiful city in those conditions.

We decided to make an early start for the return journey and do the whole trip back to Meilhan in the day. We left the roof up and passed through the suspect bridge with inches to spare but when we got to the weedy section, the weed cutter had disappeared and had NOT done a very good job. We were reduced to about 1 kph at one point and kept having to reverse the prop to clear it of weeds. But we made it in the end and got back to our mooring at Meilhan for a bit more distanced socialising with Steve and Judith for supper one night and Richard and Sue, friends in the area for lunch on another day.

In a break in the weather we investigated the site of the 2016 breach of the canal, the tunnel connecting the riverside to the town and the old Garonne river mooring and cobbled cart track . . .

. . . and then while we were sitting on deck - what should come by but this . . .

The weather has now decided that it really IS autumn and has turned cool and VERY wet, so we intend to return to Buzet over the next week or so for RICCALL's winter mooring.

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