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To Mid-Midi

Dear family and friends,

We are now actually over halfway through our thoroughly happy, stately, and very satisfying cruise through southern France – from Narbonne to Trêbes.

When we arrived on Saturday morning by taxi from Ayguade, we were about 1/2 hour early, but we got a quick overview of the rental issues for our boat and then Dan and Rita Haaf joined us.

Since we couldn’t take possession of the boat until 4:00pm, we wandered into the market areas of Narbonne, ate lunch in the square, and purchased all the supplies that we would need for a day of two. At the appointed time, ‘Nick’, a multi-lingual Aussie walked us all through the issues that we needed to know, and then we were on our way. I took the first turn at the “command” position at the helm, and we headed off up the canal – nicknamed the ‘kindergarten canal’ by Alice (not the Midi yet) towards our first lock. I managed to bump through our first bridge underpass. (These are the kind where those on deck must duck their heads…or lose them!)

There is a set sequence of events for entry and exit from locks, and it is quite a tension-builder to approach your first lock with people standing around the lock – waiting, and watching – and judging! My boating companions were newbies at this process also, but luckily a boat ahead of us had started the sequence, and it just remained for us to get someone on shore to catch our lines, and then enter the lock without creating a fuss.

As an aside, to the amazement of the three of us who would be rotating turns as “Captain for a Day”, the vessel doesn’t respond for a few seconds to wheel movements. This can set up an oscillation whereby the vessel takes increasingly wider swings. It takes a few minutes at the helm before confidence in your control of the boat’s direction grows to competency level. That’s my story and excuse for bumping my first bridge and I’m sticking to it!

We also learned, in this Kindergarten Canal, that the ‘bow thruster’ is very handy at pushing a wayward prow back on to the desired course. In addition, the crew had to learn the sequence for opening and closing locks, since we were sometimes the first boat to arrive at an unmanned “automatic” lock. At one point, something went wrong, and 4 boats sat in the lock with crew members shrugging at each other until someone was actually able to reach a technician on a phone. He came and quickly fixed the problem.

Thus, we made it through the first 3 or 4 locks of the Kindergarten Canal, but it was enough for one day, and it was time to make our first stop at the tiny village of Sallèle d’Aude. We pulled up along the bank, secured Elegance to the shore, crossed a bridge into town, and found our dinner at an outdoor pizza restaurant.

Dan did not sleep well with some nearby traffic noise, and city lights, but the next day dawned, and it was his turn at the wheel. After about 5 more locks, and traveling a bit further north, we turned east onto the Midi Canal and towards the town of Bézier – a number of hours east of us. We travelled for about 5 hours in total, and “shore-moored” for the night. This involves driving steel stakes into the ground and securing the boat to these.

We were celebrating our first day successes with toasts of wine and juice when Rita announced that the stove had quit. A thorough examination of all possible sources of the problem convinced us that we were out of propane. None of us had cell phone plans, and the only building we had seen while riding our bikes earlier, was a short way ahead of us. So, I hopped on a bike, returned up the path, where I encountered another boat shore-tied. I knocked on the hull, and painfully explained to 3 lovely young ladies that we had a problem and that I needed to make a phone call. One of the girls pulled out her iPhone, and handed it to me, explaining in English that she didn’t speak French (but her accent also made it clear that English wasn’t her first language).

I finally made it through to the “Le Boat” rep, Nick, who described how we could meet at a small village where he would deliver the full tank of propane. All was well that ended well, and we were able to finish cooking and eating our supper within the hour.

The rest of this early half of our journey saw the three guys taking turns (one day about) at the helm and in command, as we continued our slow cruising along the planetree-lined Midi Canal, first to the east to Bézier, and then back west towards Trêbes.

At the eastern end of our journey, we wandered through Bézier, and its marvellous Cathedral, and later, celebrated Dan’s birthday with a wonderful lunch just off the square behind the Cathedral. Then, we walked back to the boat climbing past the 7 locks that raise boats from Bézier up to the Midi. It is quite a sight, and a fascinating bit of engineering. (There is a horrible tale of slaughter of Cathars in Bézier, in the early 13th century. Look it up!)

In the following days, we often stopped to wander through the streets of small villages. We stopped at epiceries and boulangeries occasionally stocking up on baking goods. Most of our meals, however, were made on board, and were much more satisfying than the few that we ate in towns.

At one point, after mooring, I was trying to unlock the bikes on the foredeck so that anyone who wanted could go for a ride. Unfortunately, the keys to the locks were mixed up, so I had an ashtray containing them with me on the deck. A suddenly swing of a bike wheel knocked the ashtray and keys into the water. For an hour or so, I tried to fish them out from the edge of the canal, but was only able to locate the ashtray. Luckily, we had keys to two if the locks, so all but one bike were usable

In one small village, Bob was wandering around with a garbage bag in his hand, looking for a trash bin, when he heard a truck approaching from behind. Suddenly, the bag was snatched from his hand by the outrider on the garbage truck who called out, “J’ai votre sac!” Bob, trying to save our last garbage bag hollered, “Mais j’ai besoin de le sac!” The young man laughed and waved “Ayer un bon jour!”

To Trêbes.

During our last few days, the weather was changing, and one or two mornings were chilly with occasional fine misty drizzle.

On Wednesday, we decided to moor early, to rest and to wander through the nearby village. A strong wind was pushing us off the bank, but we hammered the steel mooring pegs in and tied up securely. About an hour after tying up, as we all read, or slept, I noticed that our bow was swinging out and away from the shore. This was one of those “All hands on deck” moments, and we jumped to get control of the situation. However, the bow was now too far from the shore, and I had to let go of the bow line, which fell into the water. When Skipper Dan tried to use the bow thruster to swing us back, the line got caught in the bow thruster, and we lost control of the bow. We let the bow swing downwind, and remoored it facing the opposite direction. Then, we called Le Boat for a diver, who came within the hour, and freed the line. Rescued again! A young couple sitting on a bench nearby were fascinated with our antics, and pointed a camera at us for much of the effort. I imagine that the episode is up on Facebook, or YouTube somewhere.

On our last day on the Canal, Friday, the sun never showed, but we were able to find our Le Boat Marina, back Elegance 566 into a space, and then head out for our last supper. (Everyone who had the “cassoulet”, a specialty in this area, enjoyed their meals. Sandy and I did not! Reminder to self…”Don’t eat beef again in France!”)

By 9:00 on Saturday morning, we were all packed, the boat was clean, and we found our way to a bus which would take us to Carcassonne for Chapter 4 of our European adventure.

We have now landed in Beaucaire, but next, I must tell you of Carcassone. But, for now…G’night to all!

Love and best wishes, as always!

La Plume et la Coutourière