roadquill1

Dear family and friends,
Our Ryan Air jet passed over the beautiful walled city of Carcassone just before landing. In just over a week, after we finish our Midi Canal adventure, we will spend a couple of days in that old city.

Meanwhile, a shuttle bus whisked us to the rail station in Carcassone where we rushed to acquire tickets to Narbonne. Unfortunately, the train left as we waited in a slow line, but we bought our tickets for the next train – four hours later. This gave us some time to buy a meal at a nearby restaurant, where The Bob has become our de facto traducteur (translator). He has a much higher level of competence, assurance, and general glibness in “la langue” than any of us do.

After lunch we watched, with wonder, amazement and, apprehensions for our own upcoming experience, as rental boats maneuvered through a canal lock, and then exited into a windy marina area where the maneuvering style was definitely “bumper boats”. I don’t know if we will do any better, however, I really hope that we don’t have critical crowds watching us!

Back in waiting at the train station, Sandy was wandering when she tapped a lady on the arm thinking that she knew her. After an apologetic, “I thought I recognized you…” the lady replied “You do!” It was Wendy, a lady that we had known some years back in our early days in Nanaimo. Hugs and excited chattering followed.

After arriving in Narbonne, we decided to take a taxi to the shores of the Mediterranean, rather than risk long walks after local busing. Good choice! The cab driver didn’t exactly know where to go, but he consulted a fellow driver who rapidly, and with many hand gestures, explained the route. We were off – in a lovely Audi Quatro.

Out in the country, suddenly, we were slowed by a long line of vehicles, but our driver quickly pulled a U-turn, indicating that there had been an accident up ahead. We sped around another route arriving at the Belhambra at Ayguades shortly. We arranged a pick-up with René for Saturday morning, found our rooms, settled in and then hiked to a nearby restaurant for a rather expensive and unsatisfactory meal.

And speaking of meals, most of our evening dinners average between €40 to €50. In Ireland breakfasts were included in all our stays, but we had to pick up some bran to add to our intake, if you know what I mean. (Smooth move, so to speak!) We have been eating (or at least served) too much wonderful food, and are looking forward to our next week aboard our canal boat where we can prepare most of our own meals.

We are delighted to receive the comments on the blog. It somewhat takes the place of emails, and we look forward to hearing from any, or all of you. I decided not to respond to the comments as this chews into internet access time, however we read them all enthusiastically, and check our emails several times daily if Weefees are available. (“Wifi” in Ireland, Weefee in France – apparently!) I will respond to all emails.

And now, j’usqu’a demain…