Really the first chance to get back to this.\u00a0 Being on holiday is hard work even although this was supposed to be a relaxed holiday.<\/p>\n
Monday \u2013 continued\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n We are heading to Montech, we have done our first lock and are now experienced canalers.\u00a0 Woophy.\u00a0 The girls are on the ropes, David is managing them and I\u2019m on the poop deck with the wheel and controls.\u00a0 As we are going up hill the locks are at their hardest. All the locks on our route are automatic, for the first nine locks down to Montech we have a remote to activate them.\u00a0 We drive into them empty (at the bottom)\u00a0 and find a greasy pole to wrap our rope around fore and then aft.\u00a0 Hit the remote again and the gates behind us closes and the lock starts to fill.\u00a0 When it is fill the front gate opens, we release our ropes and drive out, walla, we have risen somewhere between 1.2 and 3.6 metres.\u00a0 A great system, we chug along at 8 knots or 1800 RPM. In this first section the lock are very close together so the girls don\u2019t get much rest and are finding muscles they didn\u2019t know they had.\u00a0 There was a pub at the last lock and we thought we might stop there for a late lunch,\u00a0 A small problem, not much room to park, a very inexperienced captain and a couple of boats already there.\u00a0 Its funny how you can make friends with people after they have spent the first few minutes giving you looks that could kill.\u00a0 We had to do a U turn, we had a propeller full of weed and it wasn\u2019t very pretty but we managed to tie up alongside one of the other barges with out any bad bumps.\u00a0 I think when they worked out we were Kiwi\u2019s and Aussies and complete beginners at this they became very helpful.\u00a0 The couple we were tied up against were from Bristol and I think had place their life savings into their boat and were living the dream.\u00a0 We were to come across a lot of people like this.\u00a0\u00a0 We got into discussions about weed boxes and how we should be able to open it up and clear the weed which was particularly bad on this stretch.\u00a0 But we didn\u2019t appear to have one.\u00a0 It was at this point there was suggestions that we may have to dive down and clear it but we knew where all the bilge was pumped and that didn\u2019t make that sound like a good idea so we tried again what we had already been told to do which was to alternate between fast forward and fast reverse a few times and that appeared to clear it.\u00a0 To top all that off the pub was shut between 2 and 4 so no lunch there, instead we had it on board. Cheese, bread, olives, butter, tomatoes, small gherkin things and jam, wonderful, the bread here is just the best.\u00a0 We decided not to go into Montech as were advised it was nothing flash and everything would probably be shut so as we reach there we turned right and started our journey along the Garonne Canal.\u00a0 It is all down hill from here which makes it a lot easier in the locks as you can walk off the boat at the top of the lock and easily secure your ropes.\u00a0 We handed back our remote back up where we were stopping for lunch and the locks from here were operated by twisting a pipe hanging from a wire strung across the canal,\u00a0 this was Jan\u2019s job to be like Kate Winslet in Titanic and stand on the bow,\u00a0 Never missed one.\u00a0 Our first 5 locks ran as a series with us only having to activate the first and the next four being ready for us.\u00a0 In fact it was operated by real people who would operate the lock manually for us and then hop on their bike and head down he next one.\u00a0 There was a bypass here where the bigger boats were winched up by a big train type thing but it was not operating while we passed by.\u00a0 We decided to do three more locks before stopping for the night.\u00a0 The locks only operated between 9.30am and 6pm with some even stopping for a couple of hours through the day for lunch.\u00a0 We stopped on the side of the canal at Castelsarrasin for the night, tied up, and had a couple of beers on the poop deck before heading into town.\u00a0 This was to become a tradition, Jan, bless her had brought us all berets and when we brought the drinks out we had to wear them.\u00a0 We talked to some yank from Seattle who gave us directions to a restaurant near or at some windmill but after walking for some kilometres we didn\u2019t find it or anything that looked suitable so it was back to the boat for a meal on board which Jan was a pretty dab hand at.<\/p>\n Tuesday<\/strong> – \u00a0A pretty relaxed start to the day,\u00a0 A shower and then on the bike to go and get some fresh bread.\u00a0 This was again to become a habit as that fresh bread became a stable and enjoyable part of our diet along with the cheeses and other produce we able to find.\u00a0 We hit our first lock about 10.15 and knew that we hadn\u2019t lost our skills over night although I heard an inkling of noise about sore muscles.\u00a0 We were into another small string of locks and were just getting our nose into Lock 21 when the green light changed to green and red which means we shouldn\u2019t go in.\u00a0 As it had been green and we were virtually in anyway we decided to continue and tied up.\u00a0 However we going nowhere for a while as it would not let us continue.\u00a0 We had to ring for help and eventually a guy arrived and after a bit of fiddling around said to Jan \u201cIt is fucked Madame\u201d.\u00a0 More people arrived but none with the skill to get us going.\u00a0 We were asked to back out of the lock and moor up while they worked on it.\u00a0 A couple of hours later and we right for another go.\u00a0 Another boat had caught up by this stage and we were two boats in the lock.\u00a0 They were Americans from Ney York and we got quite friendly with them as we doubled up in the locks with them for the rest of the day.\u00a0 We berthed in Moissac beside them which was a very pretty ancient river town.<\/p>\n The first job for me was to find a nurse and get my dressings changed.\u00a0 Where would you find a nurse? Why the hospital of course, at the Urgency Department.\u00a0 I had this big green bag of stuff I had got from the Pharmacy which I didn\u2019t know what to do with all the stuff.\u00a0 I had been under this blue sheet so hadn\u2019t seen what they had done with my interesting bag of goodies.\u00a0 At first nobody spoke English and I couldn\u2019t get my message across until they found someone that could.\u00a0 Then I got told off for going to The Urgency Dept and told I had to go to a consulting nurse.\u00a0 Nobody seemed to be able to tell me where to find one.\u00a0 They finally agreed to get a nurse from the front of the hospital to attend to me, one who had the same name as one of my cousin\u2019s who was really nice and friendly.\u00a0 She gave me a\u00a0 lesson in dressing wounds, some more bits for my bag and I was on my way\u00a0 Back to the boat and beers on the poop deck before heading into town for a look around and a lovely meal outside under the stars.\u00a0 The restaurants in this part of the world don\u2019t open until eightish so for us hard working sailors it\u2019s a late night.<\/p>\n Wednesday<\/strong> \u2013<\/strong> We sleep in a bit and our American friends are long gone before we set sail.\u00a0 We have to wait while this quaint bridge is swung open and it a beautiful drive up through the town at 3 knots and everything so peaceful.\u00a0 We have the Garonne river on our left and it is not long before we are hitting full speed.\u00a0 Bikes are going past us and even walkers catch up to us at the locks.\u00a0 The girls are getting pretty good by now and we whip through them.\u00a0 There were bike tracks along the canals and they are mostly lined with trees and as we are in Autumn the leaves are changing colour and dropping,\u00a0 A truly beautiful scene. We have lunch tied up along the canal and decide to spend the night at Boe.\u00a0 We went looking for a meal in town but in the end got some stuff at the supermarket and went back to the boat to cook it.\u00a0 We had only just got started and the gas ran out.\u00a0 A call back to Le Boat and they were very apologetic, there should have been a second bottle on board but alas that wasn\u2019t the case.\u00a0 They were going to bring a bottle out but we weren\u2019t prepared to wait the couple of hours or so that would take and said we would use the electric barbeque and they said they would have it out before nine in the morning.\u00a0 Being an Aussie Jan was a dab hand on that and we eat well again.<\/p>\n Thursday \u2013<\/strong> Dennis got lost finding us so it was 10 before the gas arrived and we were on our way.\u00a0 We went up through Agen which was an interesting stretch through the town and harbour. Again so peaceful and serene.\u00a0 It also took us over a long Aqua duct over the Garonne river, pretty impressive.\u00a0 We had to wait a while before crossing as there was a boat coming in the opposite direction and no room for passing.\u00a0 There was a string of five locks on the other side so the girls got a good workout.\u00a0 We passed Chateaus , farms, \u00a0small villages and vineyards and all so lovely.\u00a0 There had not been much activity on he canals and we only saw three or four boats a day actually motoring.\u00a0 There were lots of boats tied up along the way.\u00a0 Some looked like they hadn\u2019t moved for months, other had people living on board, some with beautiful gardens, real show boats.<\/p>\n An impressive bit of backing by the captain saw us get a great berth at Buzet for the night.\u00a0 We had been lined up to park as the fourth boat out, but ended up with our own berth against the wharf.\u00a0 This was by far our prettiest birth amongst the beautiful old birch and walnut trees.\u00a0 Beers, cheese, bread and more on the poop deck before walking off into town.\u00a0 Unfortunately the vineyard closed at six and we missed that but stocked up and headed back to the boat for our own wine tasting.\u00a0 Dinner at the local that we think opened especially for us.\u00a0 We had a choice of either duck or salmon.<\/p>\n Friday \u2013<\/strong> We could have gone down on the river today but decided not risk it as things hadn\u2019t been going all our way.\u00a0 This was going to be our last day on the canal, sad really.\u00a0 We got up late, I headed out on the bike to get some bread.\u00a0 Have I said you could almost live on bread alone here, and wine and butter and cheese, and ham, all so yummy.<\/p>\n After about an hour we berthed at Damazan and went for a stroll.\u00a0 One of the many old towns along the way and all steep in history.\u00a0 Coffee in the square and back to the boat for lunch on the poop deck.\u00a0 We meet up with some lovely French folk who had berthed in front of us and were to share our locks for the rest of the way to Le Mas d\u2019Agenais, pulling in there about four o\u2019clock. This was as far as we were going on the boat.\u00a0 The Base Manager was a Kiwi guy, Phil Gibb from Hunterville, used to be in the volunteer fire brigade with Vaughan\u2019s (the Brother in-law) brother.\u00a0 We presented him with our Kiwi flag which in directly had been the cause of the injury to my hand.\u00a0 We went for a wander up in to the village and found this pub with some ex famous guy playing on a guitar.\u00a0 After we had brought them drinks they were our best mates.\u00a0 Well there were two of them the other was not so famous.\u00a0 Dinner back on the boat.\u00a0 A soup we had been cooking since Damazan and a clean up of what we had left, yummy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Really the first chance to get back to this.\u00a0 Being on holiday is hard work even although this was supposed to be a relaxed holiday. Monday \u2013 continued\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026 We are heading to Montech, we have done our first lock and are now experienced canalers.\u00a0 Woophy.\u00a0 The girls are on the ropes, David is managing them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holiday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hailes.co.nz\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hailes.co.nz\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hailes.co.nz\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hailes.co.nz\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hailes.co.nz\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hailes.co.nz\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39,"href":"https:\/\/www.hailes.co.nz\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions\/39"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hailes.co.nz\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hailes.co.nz\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hailes.co.nz\/europe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}