From Valence to Canal du Midi
In February we drove to the South of France to look at the harbours for the coming season. We stayed at a small Hotel up in the mountains between Carcassonne and Narbonne some of the buildings are from about 1100 – Waw.
We went to Rome in the beginning of March for 4 days; we haven’t been there since 1970 so it was nice to re-discover the city again.
NUSER-II had to have antifouling and inspecting of the anodes etc. So late March we had the boat on land for a week. The boat was not very dirty under the waterline. We cleaned it and got the antifouling. The Zinc anodes were covered with a layer of lime so our good friend Jürgen was right; we have to change to aluminium.
We
took some trips to Ardéche – a wonderful area west of the Rhône River
many people are saying that it is the new Provence.
Our “neighbour” from Paris – Susan – paid us a visit – it was lovely to
see her again; we realized how much we have missed her and our talks.
On the 26th of April Christa and Jürgen came to join us on the tour to Canal du Midi. We left Valence the following day – but first we said goodbye and “see you” to our friends at the harbour.
There was some wind and the Rhône had “white tops” – going downstream was no problem. After 2 days we arrived at Avignon – the old Pope town. The pontoon-harbour “went away” some years ago in a heavy flood. You can still moor long side just outside the town wall (and so we did). We stayed at Avignon for 4 days including first of May. It is a wonderful – must see town.
After a stop-over at St. Gilles we went through the Camargue where we saw pink flamingos, wild white horses, black buffalos and French cowboys.
We stayed 3 days at Aigues Mortes a very interesting town dated back the times of the crusades. Inside the town walls the town is very “Disney” like but very nice sure worth to visit. The tour up on the walls shows how these kinds of towns were build with straight roads. Outside we saw the huge “mountains” of salt gained from the Med a few kilometres away.
On our way from Aigues Mortes to Sète we took the canal parallel to the Med again we saw the flamingos etc. Just before a bridge and a very narrow part of the canal we had to wait for a high cargo ship going under the bridge. It was speeding up in order to go under. (Something about it is “digging” down the water going full speed). After this we went through a floating bridge and a lifting bridge. It is only open twice a day so there was a long line of boats waiting.
At Sète it was not possible to go into the harbour because one bridge was under repair. We had to stay outside having only one bollard to moor at. It was a long and stormy night. The next day we crossed Etang de Thau (a huge saltwater lake). For the first time in since getting to Germany we could set up a course. Kilometre after kilometre we passed the huge oyster banks and then at
09.29 on the 6th of May we reached Canal du Midi – J
With 2½ years delay we have reached our goal – but 2½ years we would not have been without – thinking back of all the wonderful people we have met and the places we have seen including the many locks J we have been through.
Canal du Midi is just fantastic – it was built from 1667 to 1681 by Pierre Paul Riquet. See more at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canal_du_Midi
We came through our first round lock with 3 gates and after this we were passing under the big plane trees listening to the birds….
We arrived at Béziers on the 7th of May and the next day we said goodbye to Christa and Jürgen and thank you for 11 wonderful days together.
After Béziers we went trough the seven Fonserannes Locks (follow the link ahead to learn more). The incoming water is very heavy so you to be careful with the robes – it is not for the “weak” persons. We had been through this lock back in 2000 when we rented a boat to see if this kind of life was something for us. This time we had no problems with the locks. It is something of a draw – people are coming in buses to watch the boats.
The following part of the canal is just beautiful – plane trees at both sides, wine fields, red poppies in the corn fields, yellow iris and …
Capestang was the last town we reached in 2000. There have been a lot of changes since then now it is a base for rental boats. The day we left the town there was a flee market around the “harbour”.
The locks on the canal are difficult to go through upstream. The bollards are often far from the lock edge, most of the lock keepers are not helping with the robes so one person has to be put on shore to handle the robes and the locks are ovals.
We reached Carcassonne on the 14th of May. We thought we had a mooring place for a year – the harbour master had another opinion of a year contract – so we had to find another harbour. It was not easy because of the many hiring boats (400 on Canal du Midi). After several days (by car) we found the last free harbour on the canal. It is in the middle of nowhere between Carcassonne and Toulouse. 10 km to nearest town with shops; 15 km to a self service laundry but the harbour is safe and quiet.
Helén and Uffe joined us the last week of May – celebrating Jytte’s - and Uffe’s birthdays. Together we explored Carcassonne and the old Cité Médiévale a renovated old town. We all left Carcassonne heading for our new harbour after the first two locks it were raining cats and dogs we moored waiting for better weather. After two hours the captain said: it has stopped so let us go. The captain was wrong it was only a break – we became all very wet.
The next day was sunny and warm and after a long day with 14 locks – 11 single – one double – one triple and one quadruple we arrived at Castelnaudary home town of the French dish - Cassoulet. The day after we reached our little harbour. Close to the harbour there is a park with 200 years old plane trees and an obelisk to honour Pierre-Poul Riquet creator of the canal.
It has been a wonderful spring tour – we have got used to doing the ovals locks – at the autumn tour we will start with locks going downstream – piece of cake. Some of the bridges are very low so twice we have taken down the windscreen just to be sure.
When we are back at Canal du Midi mid August we have to take care of some problems. The seawater pump is leaking again (we had it fixed in Paris last year) – the hot water tank is also leaking and finally the thermostat has to be repaired or changed. But after 3 years – we guess it is not that bad.
This year we will spend the summer in Denmark seeing family and friends. We wish you all a wonderful summer and a lot of adventures.
Love
Jytte and Rudy
Canal du Midi - June 2008
Updated the 30-06-2008