L'Avenir - cruising Europe's inland waterways

The day we arrived in Toulouse the Tour de France was hurtling towards the city. In the hour and a half it took us to cruise the last 5 kilometres and negotiate the 3 locks to the port the cyclists were about 60 km closer. We have seen the Tour before. Some years ago we were lucky enough to be in Paris for the finish which was exciting - the atmosphere that is. Despite positioning ourselves early, where we thought we'd see plenty of the action, by the time the cyclists appeared the crowds were so thick and comprised of apparent giants that we felt lucky to glimpse the top of a helmet or the flash of a leg. I say we but one of us gave up and repaired to a bar to watch all the action on tv. The best thing about the day was that the roads all remained closed for hours after the race finished and it was quite magical strolling around a Paris bereft of traffic. Having learned from our previous experience, this time we decided not to try and watch from the finishing line. Instead, ...

We have cruised the section of canal from Buzet to Toulouse many times - it's a little hard to find anything new to say about it. We always enjoy the section as far as Montech but after that it's long, straight and frankly a bit tedious. This time we had stops in  some of our favourite places. Serignac Eglise - twisted spire The pretty bastide village of Serignac where it's good to see the restaurant in the square expanding and clearly doing well. So well, we thought, that they could afford to serve foie gras as an 'amuse bouche.' Except it wasn't an 'amuse bouche' it was someone else's starter given to us by mistake. We insisted on paying (as we'd eaten it) but they were more insistent that we shoudn't. Market Hall Valence d'Agen Valence d'Agen The day to visit Valence d'Agen is market day (Tuesday) when there are stalls in the  2 market halls and throughout the streets. During summer there are lots of oth...

After our visitors left a sudden executive decision was made. 'Enough of this heat. Let's head north.' Of course we can't just 'head north' by boat due to the not so small matter of a mountain range in the way. We first need to go east - all the way to the Mediterranean. Since that decision snapped from idea into action the heat has built up into a wave and swept north - all the way to Scotland. There's no escape. Yesterday Paris suffered in 42 degrees and Edinburgh had its hottest ever day of 31.6. We have loved our summers on the comparatively (with the Midi) quiet Garonne. The attractive small towns and villages have some really good markets - Castelsarrasin, Moissac and Valence d'Agen in particular and then there are the night markets- food stalls, communal eating and live entertainment- which are less frequent but not to be missed. Add to that various summer events organised by the village social committees which always welcome visitors and ...

The Matthew - Wapping Wharf Bristol What happened to June's blog posts? Did we expire in the extreme heat? Did we give up and flee to cooler northern climes? Or was it that we were simply just too busy to write?  Onboard we had our own small weather event (metaphorically speaking). A whirlwind, tiny in size but bursting with energy - our 21 month old granddaughter. In the tradition of naming hurricanes etc let's call her Miss A.  I did spend a few days in the sensibly cool climate of Bristol but as Miss A's parents were tied up with business meetings I was fully occupied- mostly chasing after her. Run Granny Run! Catch me if you can. Wapping Wharf Bristol  I like Bristol, particularly around the vibrant, old port area where there are many old boats on display and a couple of ships (including Brunel's SS Great Britain) to visit.There was also plenty to keep a toddler interested. Each day we did the rounds of the statues of local worthies all of whom had t...