L'Avenir - cruising Europe's inland waterways

Final locks, Canal du Garonne Apologies for the long delay in winding up the blog for the year. We have just arrived back in Australia and these first, foggy days of disorientation are as good a time as any to ponder the past months before looking forward to the summer down-under. The eternal summer of the migrant boater is a hard life. We spent 3 weeks in Scotland en route and so France already seems a slightly hazy memory - or perhaps that's just due to the jet lag. My last post was from Moissac, a vibrant town with a cathedral, an impressive aqueduct, a large market and a beautiful river. It is possible to lock down onto the river here to moor and cruise a few kilometres which would be lovely during summer. This time we just spent a couple of days in the friendly port. River Tarn from the aqueduct  Moissac Moissac Our next stop was Valence d'Agen which was a surprisingly pleasant town with 2 market squares close by each other- I don't know why. The lit...

We are now basking in beautiful autumn sunshine in the town of Moissac (yet another town on the Compostelle Trail-have just been asked if we are pilgrims!!) on the Garonne. Well, to be precise, Moissac is on the River Tarn but, since Toulouse, the canal has been following the River Garonne and the two rivers meet here. The Canal du Midi became much quieter after we left Castelnaudary as the bulk of the hire boats cruise between there, Carcassonne and Buziers. That is the most picturesque section of the Midi but also the most hard work, particularly climbing upwards towards the summit as we were. What a relief to get there - I need new gloves for next year; the ones I've been wearing are now full of holes from hauling on ropes. We spent one night on the summit pound where there is a lovely, shady park with a magnificent avenue of plane trees and an obelisk to commemorate engineer Pierre-Paul Riquet who conceived the idea of a canal linking the Atlantic to the Mediterranean a...

Carcassonne Just watched a couple on a hire boat almost swept off the top of their boat as they attempted to negotiate one of the low, awkwardly angled bridges on the Canal du Midi. This canal is probably the most well known of France's waterways and is easily the most popular. A word of advice - if you are new to boating perhaps choose a different canal. The Midi is a marvel of engineering which means, amongst other things, there are lots of locks. Not only single ones, but doubles, triples, quadruples and even a staircase of 6 at Beziers. This staircase is a tourist attraction and is lined by crowds of onlookers watching the fun (on the UK canals they are called 'gongoozlers'). Beziers staircase locks with 'gongoozlers' Hire boats in the staircase locks with us- Beziers Looking back from the top lock - Beziers The sheer number of hire boats means that the lock keepers pack as many boats as possible into each lock but even so, during the holida...

Capestang As I write I am looking through the bridge hole of the famous Capestang Bridge. And an exceedingly small bridge hole it is too. I say 'famous' but really only to canal travellers. The dimensions of this bridge have caused thousands of words to be written on forums and blogs (and yes, I'm aware I'm adding to them), diagrams drawn and boats measured and modified. The burning question being 'will we fit through?' Judging by the gouges and scrapes on the underside of the arch the answer to that in some cases was, 'not quite.' Anyway we shall see how we go later today. We've given l'Avenir as low a profile as we can by taking off the windscreen and lowering the navigation frame, canopy and mast. The only thing left we can do is duck. (Speaking of ducks the ones around here must be the noisiest in France. Perhaps it's not hunting season here as yet.) La Maguellonne Since my last post we have travelled through yet another co...

This year's dawdling pace (we're attempting to time our arrival on the Canal du Midi with the departure of most of the hire boats) has meant that we have spent more time sightseeing and generally relaxing than in previous years. We have also discovered that local public transport is often incredibly cheap and comfortable and so we have made a few side trips. For instance, a trip to Nimes from Aigues Mortes by air conditioned coach (about an hour) cost us just over a euro. If we'd caught the train it would have been a euro. The train to the beach at Le Grau du Roi similarly cost a euro although we decided to cycle along the canal instead. The canal from Aigues Mortes  runs right down into the sea at Le Grau du Roi passing on its way through the pink tinged salins (salt pans). There has been salt harvested here since 400 BC and there are large gleaming white hills of salt outside the city walls. Le Grau du Roi. End of the canal and the beginning of the sea. Le ...

Aigues Mortes Our intention was to spend just a day or so in Aigues Mortes but the medieval town within its huge and impressive walls captivated us to the extent that we stayed there a week. We spent a  night moored on a slightly rickety pontoon on the canal that bypasses the town happy to be saving the hefty mooring charges of the in town marina.It seemed a beautiful peaceful spot surrounded by marshland and close to the picturesque Tour Carbonniere built by Louis 1X to defend the road he constructed over the marshes to the town. And peaceful it was apart from the 2 large trip boats which swept by at speed several times a day with loud commentary. One of these boats morphed into a disco boat at night at which point it sashayed up the wide canal all flashing lights, loud music and dancers having a great time on the open top deck. Then it was back to starry skies and near silence - just the occasional plop as a fish jumped. Perfect. Then... In the middle of the night - ac...

Tour Carbonniere The Saint Gilles lock is one of those that performs that neat trick of transporting you, if not instantly then in the space of ten minutes or so, from one type of landscape to another which is completely different. (Very occasionally a lock may go one better and act almost like the Tardis. You might enter from a modern bustling river and exit onto the canals of a medieval town for example). On this occasion the top lock gates closed on the winding Petite Rhone -a river overhung with shady trees and whose banks are thick with rampant shrubbery -whereas the bottom gates opened onto the dead straight canal Rhone a Sete, the banks of which are neatly trimmed and lined with tall reeds whispering in the wind. Beyond the south canal bank, flat marshland stretches away toward the Mediterranean sea with the occasional etang (small lake) dotted with birds; possibly flamingoes but at this point they are too far away to tell. Small groups of the famous wild horses of the Cama...