"Sun Dog"

National holiday today so cannot get mast up until tomorrow. Therefore I spent time and sorted the float switch and bilge pump which had been acting up and also refitted the light boxes on wheelhouse roof (glad I removed them for the canal) prepared the mast as much as possible. Bought charts & have been promised help from Allamand to turn the mast before lifting it back into position.

Their yard is about 1/2 mile from the exit/entrance to the Med – on the right hand side of this photo

Good to know we will reach the last lock today – The Round Lock – where those continuing through the Midi go straight on whilst those heading for Grau du Agde (us) turn right.

However before the lock we had to go under the Barrage at the Libron Crossing, which is closed when the Libron River is in spate.

This was really the first day when the wind has blown strongly, and I guess it was around F5 gusting F6 at times, and the holiday boat in front of us was occasionally getting blown sideways in an alarming fashion.

As it was approaching the lockkeepers lunch time we tied up quickly and nipped up to see the layout of the lock, and asked the lockkeeper what the procedure was for boats going through. He explained where we needed to tie up once the lock was re – opened.

When back on board another 15mtr holiday boat came in to tie up in front of us, and the wind was blowing straight down the canal (from the back of us) and we nipped out to take their lines. The chap at the helm was doing fine, and I was going to take their stern line as this was key to them not losing the back end of the boat and Sara was going to take their bow line.

I asked, gesticulated, faced Mecca and prayed for the stern line – but o’ no they were insistent of the bow line first – and then the inevitable happened as the stern was quickly blown out (it was gusting strongly) and the boat was beyond being sorted out. Sara done the right thing and threw the line back onto their boat, whilst I again gesticulated for them to turn and come back facing into the wind. This they did do, and we managed to get them tied up quickly and safely, for which they were very grateful and explained that they had just taken the boat this morning, and no one onboard had ever been out on a boat before…………

I had my concerns about going into the round lock with these boats, and was mightily relieved when the lights changed to green and we went in that both holiday boats had decided to stay tied up, and we were on our own in the lock.

You might think I am overdoing it about holiday boats, but it’s a serious concern when ones own investment is at risk, and it would be a sudden and dramatic end to our sabbatical if we were damaged/rammed by one of them……. Obviously there are some really proficient boat handlers on the canal, but from there it can go downhill rapidly. End of rant!!

Funnily enough as we were tied up the canal waiting on the designated time to exit to the Herault River a couple from Largs came over for a chat, and as it turns out he races regularly out of Largs Marina where Sun Dog is berthed….it really is a small world sometimes.

Our time came round and out of the lock we went, down the short link canal, quick turn right under the bridge, and down Herault River

to Allamand Marine who have been recommended by a lot of people, and as they have limited berthing we had phoned in advance to book for the mast being lifted.

In the following photo you can see the only floating pontoon they have, and they also have a couple of docks for boats to get lifted/lowered back into the water. Only one thing to watch out for (but you can do nothing about it) is wash, not only the big fishing boats, but almost all the boats going up and down the river create a fair old wash.

Winds are too strong for the mast to be lifted this afternoon, but there might be a chance tomorrow morning – fingers crossed.

What a really welcoming people the population of Grau de Agde proved to be as not only did they put on an evening display of “Boat Jousting” for us they also lit up the sky with a large firewaork display. Whilst this was very pleasing, we thought they should really have been focussed on on tomorrow as after all it will be Bastille Day.

When we left this morning we went through a lovely village called Poilhes, and I can only assume that the semaphore station had sent a signal that a British Boat flying the Red Ensign was coming through as they had their Canon ready as we went through as boldly as Cochrane or Nelson (OK I know they would have had a white ensign)

Today we also went through the Malpas Tunnel which was kind of neat as inside you can still see the marks where the stone was cut away by hand.

We arrived at the 6 locks at Fonseranes nice and early, and on our own, only to discover that they only allow boats down the locks at certain times of the day, which meant we had to wait a couple of hours. Going down the locks we came to what I consider to be the lowest and most awkward bridge in the whole canal network.

There were ourselves and another two boats going down the locks – which are oval in shape – and if you can visualise a low bridge over the exit/entrance between two locks and manoeuvring boats into position in locks with curved walls – it was tricky. The chap sitting up in the flybridge of a holiday boat was almost seriously injured as when he turned his boat under the bridge he came within a whisker of being squashed in the curve of the footbridge………if doing these locks, you have been warned!

The locks at Bezier are really deep but they have poles so that one simply puts a line around the pole and back onto the boat, and as the boat descends the rope slides down the pole – pretty straightforward.

The way we set the boat up was that on one side of the boat we had our long lines fitted, and on the other, our standard mooring lines. So that if it was a lock with poles we went to one side of the lock, and if not we went to the other so that we could use our longer lines. This proved to be a good set up for us on the way through.

When tied up at Villenueve we had a good old walk around to stretch out legs, but as the skies darkened we headed back to the boat and were treated to Mother Nature giving us one of her firework displays as both sheet and forked lighting lit the skies and then the heavens opened and gave Sun Dog her first fresh water wash for a long time, as due to the water shortage washing boats is banned.

We set off again with Angelique with the chap on the holiday boat taking time out to gather his thoughts as “ I can see all the risks, and don’t want any of my family to get injured” Barry and Kath decided to stop at Hompes, so we waved our goodbyes and carried on.

En route we ended up going into the locks with a big steel barge and another large holiday boat, who were also struggling a bit. Chap on the steel barge was single handed and would only put a stern line on and was using his bow thrusters to keep the bow aligned. This was all a bit to close and tight for my liking, as steel on one side and granite wall on the other, our fibreglass hull would be very vulnerable. At the next lock I parked up to let them through themselves and managed to get alongside some tree roots and had enough depth.

It was baking hot and where we parked (under a tree) gave us some shade. Then along came a complete half wit gunning his boat and creating a huge wash and despite my attempts to get him to slow down he was oblivious to the possible damage to our boat. To say I was not a happy bunny would be an understatement and my international language was easy for all to understand.

We stayed parked up for lunch on instruction from Sara and she calmed me down somewhat until I became quite philosophical in that we had chosen to come through the canal system. After lunch we were lucky to be going through the locks ourselves much to my relief.

Now the “rules of the road” in the canals are, that traffic going downstream have right of way at narrow passages and under bridges, but this is only applicable if people read this and understand what this means.

Approaching a curve in the canal followed by a low bridge I was lined up to go through the bridge when I almost passed out at the speed of a holiday boat charging under the bridge and straight at me. I was trying to reverse back around the bend but this boat (believe it or not) actually increased speed. I was left with no option other than to gun Sun Dog hard to avoid being rammed. There was also a risk in hitting the prop with the stern of the boat dipping under such a quick burst of power……boy it was so close to a catastrophe!

At the helm was a young boy on his own with no adult supervision, so it was hard to apportion blame to him.

The busier the canal is becoming it is, in my opinon becoming not only frustrating at times, but the risk of our boat being damaged is increasing by the day. One reason for the cavalier attitude might be due to the fact that apparently holiday boaters pay Indemnity insurance which covers all and every eventuality, therefore with nothing to lose………….

Also from what we had read, on the way into Capestang we would reach the lowest bridge on the canal which was going to be a go/no go bridge. In truth it was wee bit tight, but because I had removed the navigation light boxes from the wheelhouse roof we were fine.

This was a really long day and I was glad to get tied up in Capestang……and in sufficient depth of water.

Set off at the same time in the morning with Angelique, and we were making good progress through the locks until we caught up with a family on large hire boat who were having all sorts of issues controlling their boat into the lock, in the lock, and exiting the lock, which made progress really really slow. Chap said it was their first day and that they were complete novices. They came really close to losing control in one lock and both ourselves and Barry and Kath tried to give them some guidance, but I think it was all too much for them to take in, or they simply didn’t understand. There are times when the patience of a Saint is required.

This slowed our progress down considerably as normal locking through a lock would take say 5 mins – every lock was now taking around 25 mins. Multiply this by the number of locks in a day and time does get lost.

We eventually arrived at La Radorte and Angelique went into the alongside berthing just outside the town and we went to follow them in. Whenever going into the sides of the bank, I always go as slow as possible and nudge the bow in first. I was doing this and could feel her touch the bottom, but as Angelique (draft 1.1m) had made it in fine I thought it might just be a small hump if mud and gave a wee bit more throttle, only to become really stuck. No problem thought I. All I will simply reverse, but when I did so I could hear and feel something hitting the prop so I stopped not wanting to risk any possibility of damage, and asked Barry to come alongside and pull Sun Dog off the mud.

This they kindly did and instead of berthing here we carried on around the corner where there is a bit more depth.

In return for this we decided to treat them to a meal at the restaurant alongside the canal where we all had Pizza and chips – not very healthy but I have to say that we really enjoyed the meal and also their company.

We got back to Carcassonne around midday and the boat was feeling a bit empty and quiet with the boys having left to go back home; therefore we decided to make a move onwards, eventually arriving at Trebes for the night where we tied up opposite the “Le Boat” hire depot. It’s very hard not to hold your breath when the total novices start manoeuvring their hire boats in such close proximity.
Trebes is a lovely town with restaurants on the side of the Canal. Here we met Barry and Kath off “Angelique” a retired couple who have been living aboard their boat for the last five years and we had a good old natter before heading off to bed early as we were both really tired.

Well we arrived in Carcassone on Friday 1st, after the boys had spent a few days peddling their wee hearts out on the bikes, and after the disappointment at not being able to get a swim in Castelnaudry they were really getting desperate by the time we reached Carcassone. One of the first things we did after checking in with the Capiteniere was to visit the Tourist Information centre to find out where the swimming pool was and also how best to get there. We were you wouldn’t believe it, but we were stunned to find out that the pool is closed for refurbishment and was due to open this month, however they are running behind schedule!!!

We felt so sorry for the boys, but a solution was at hand (thank God) in that up in the hills above Carcassone is a man made fresh water lake with sandy beaches etc and could be reached either by bus or around 15 euros in a taxi. Therefore on Saturday morning we had a picnic prepared, packed all the swimming gear and towels and headed off for “Le Lac De La Cavayere”.

We were all taken aback at how lovely the lake was, being surrounded by trees, picnic tables, pedalos for hire etc – simply lovely – and the sandy beach was lovely soft and clean, with lifeguards at all the buoyed off swimming areas. To say it was a relief for the boys (and for us) would be an understatement and by the end of the day they should have grown gills, given the numbers of hours they spent swimming and messing about in the water.

Only one downside to the lake side is that there is only one snack bar facility and it is looking a bit tired and run down, so if you were ever thinking on visiting the lake, I would suggest going with a cool box with drinks and picnic.
Sunday 3rd we visited La Cite, the world famous medieval city,

with the boys taking us around the Museum of Torture – well what else would you expect from two teenage lads?

This proved to be very informative and gave a good explanation on the “Inquisition” and all the gory instruments used to extract what they wanted to hear……pretty gruesome, and my appetite was slowly waning as we went around looking at all these horrible exhibits. After exiting all appetites were duly restored and we had a lovely meal in one of the many restaurants. The balance of the day was spent exploring the city eating ice cream and doing touristy things.

We had a crew meeting tonight with the boys having to choose between;

Option1: Pushing on for Bezier where they could swim in a pool or perhaps even the Med if we could find suitable public transport.

Option2: Stay on at Carcassonne for the rest of the week.

Bet you are struggling to figure out which option they chose??. Well I’ll put you out of your misery, they chose Option 2.

O’ and by the way, every morning Prentice and Reyce rotated between bedroom duties and going with me to the Patisserie where they would ask for our daily requirements in French – which they managed really well. I’m sure the “bonus cake” for doing this had no influence on the outcome!!

Monday 4th: Murphy’s Law struck today as unfortunately the weather was poor – i.e. raining so we spent the day playing cards and looking forward to tomorrow hoping the weather would come good.

Tuesday & Wednesday: Both days were spent back at “Le Lac De La Cavayere” only difference being we were opposite the sandy beach at a cove where there are Aquaglide Inflatable’s – trampolines, chutes, castle structures and so on all secured in about 8 metres of water making it really safe for diving and messing about in the water which the boys managed with aplomb on both days.

They even managed to find time to relax in a hammock……………..

Everyone paying for this facility is issued with a good quality floatation waistcoat. Sara and I relaxed in the shade of the trees where, as you can see in the photo, there were hammocks and reclining chairs/loungers. This was good value, as for 10 euro’s each the boys could play away to their hearts content for up to four hours – albeit they managed over five without saying their time was up. Coming out only when they felt the need for food and refreshments, before heading back in again. I will refrain from making any reference to the time spent with a certain couple of blonde girls from Wales.

Thursday: This was going to be the boys last full day, but unfortunately today was overcast so the Lake wasn’t an option, so the boys opted to revisit La Citie to purchase gifts for their family. We all had a really enjoyable day once again in this remarkable place and watching some of the street performers.

Friday was spent travelling to Toulouse as we had booked a couple of rooms at an airport hotel – carefully chosen as it had a swimming pool, where the boys challenged the oldies to a swimming underwater competition…….just remind me what the score was boys

We were all up early this morning as the boys flight to Heathrow meant we had to be at the airport at 0630 – thus the need for the hotel rooms. The boys flight was on time and we parted sad that they were leaving, but delighted that they flew out to join with us on our adventure through the Canal.

Thanks guys it was great having such quality time with you both.

Today we set off in the usual fashion with the boys cycling along the tow path and Sara and I moving the boat – however we didn’t move far or fast for the first 30-45mins as we had to wait on a large boat coming up the four locks on the far side of the basin. It was good to get moving once it was through the locks.
We worked our way through the locks until lunch time when we parked up at a lovely spot just before a real pretty lock. Lockkeepers lunch break is from 1230 – 1330.

and here are the boys ready to set off again

Our planned destination for today was a town called Bram which we reached around 1600 and parked the boat and went into the cafe/restaurant that is alongside, but in truth it was a bit shabby, so another crew meeting was held and the decision was to try and reach Sauzens before the lockkeeepers went off duty at 1900. We didn’t make it in time so moored up just before the lock, had a lovely meal, and then the boys went out fishing again. It wasn’t long before Prentice landed a decent sized fish. I’ll let you know later if there were any further fish landed……………..

One of the main reasons for going to Castelnaudry was due to the fact the town has a large outdoor swimming pool and the boys were almost getting desperate to have a swim. So in the morning Sara headed up the town with the boys and went via the swimming pool, only to learn that no-one is allowed to use the pool if wearing any kind of shorts, Bermuda or otherwise! They have a sign showing the “acceptable swimwear” and this consists of speedo type tight trunks. Strangely enough these are for sale at the shop next to the pool for the bargain price of 60 euros a pair….and yes you did read that correctly.

We would have bought these for the boys, given their need for a swim – but what do you think the chances are of getting teenagers to wear these trunks? Yep absolutely none! So that was swimming out of the equation until we reach another town that might have more relaxed rules and regulations.

Fishing was the next best thing, so we found out where the local fishing shop was and headed off to buy some extra lures, as a few have been lost by getting snagged on the bottom of the canal. The chap in the shop was very helpful and gave the boys a chart of fish that could be caught in the canal, and suggested a couple of types of lures. The boys spent the balance of today and the next fishing all around the canal and the main basin where there is a base for charter boats.

While they were away fishing we had a colourful visitor………………anyone ever seen a white duck before?

As for the facilities here they are absolutely spotless (best so far on the canal) and there is also a washing machine and dryer, along with an outside space should you wish to hang the washing out to dry. The Capitainere is a very friendly and helpful woman, and as a bonus speaks excellent English.

If ever you consider stopping here, I would suggest parking the boat on the side opposite the Capitainere’s office as there is a fair degree of shade under the trees in the afternoon.

Our intention this morning was for Sara and I to set off before the boys were up and try and make a bit of headway before they were up, and thus make some distance before the heat built up. Once they were up and had their breakfast, we pulled in after a lock and unshipped the bikes and off they went as happy as sand bunnies cycling along the path and stopping at each respective lock.

As we worked our way along we again had to tie up as the lockkeepers (who have been at every lock since Toulouse) stop for their lunch from 1230 till 1330; so we parked up and done the same in the shade of some lovely Plane trees – almost like having a picnic afloat.

After lunch we set off again, and the sun was baking so we were all looking forward to reaching Le Segal, and hitting the showers and supermarket as shown in the book. When we arrived it looked lovely. However the lions share of the available alongside berthing is reserved for barges so there is not a lot of room. We tied up and whilst Sara and the boys set off to find the supermarket and showers, I lifted up the floorboards to access and clean the raw water strainer, which again was pretty packed.

Within what seemed like minutes they were back to say that there were no supermarkets, no showers or shops of any kind and it looked like part of the town had been demolished and was a bit of a construction site. What a bummer! I think the only good thing that can be said for Le Segala is that it marked for us the last of the “up locks” and everyone from here on in will be downhill which is a whole lot easier.

Last uphill lock…….yippee

We had a crew meeting and the outcome of which was that we decided not to stay here tonight (why would we there is nothing here!!) but push on instead for Castelnaudry. En route we passed Port Lauragais, and have to say that this complex looks spacious new and has loads of room. In fact we thought about stopping here, but the boys are keen to get to Castelnaudry to find a swimming pool to have a good old splash around……….something that would be a health hazard if done in the canal.

We were managing to get a good run through the locks and indeed in the space of one hour we worked our way through eight locks with the boys taking the lines and then casting them off we were rocking along and only had to wait at one lock for boats to exit.

This was a long day (10hrs) and the boys, we calculated must have cycled about 20 miles or so.
When we arrived in Castelnaudry we tied up at the public port, and Sara and the boys headed off to the supermarket as the ships stores were getting pretty low, and everyone was looking forward to a good meal. Once duly fed the boys were off again with their fishing rods, and as I type this I cannot say whether they have been successful or not……………..

Just along from the boat I noticed, what I believe are Coypu alongside the wall so I crept along and managed to get a couple of good shots.