 |
| Happy to be locking in a narrowboat again – even though it wasn’t ours đ |
Wednesday was our last day in BĂ©lĂąbre and
we just took it easy. We went
butterflying during the afternoon and went back to a promising looking field we
had seen on Monday’s circular walk. It turned out to be practically swarming
with butterflies, the main excitement being some wood whites and clouded
yellows. Neither species wanted to
settle long enough to pose for the camera so this is me posing instead:
 |
Wood whites are really delicate, and their
flight is so different to other butterflies that they are instantly
recognisable. They have lazy flappy
flights and look like they are about to collapse at any point.
In the evening we went to Liglet to spend the
evening with Noel, an old friend from when we used to live near West Peckham
in Kent. It was good to catch up as we
hadn’t seen him for about four years and it was great to see he had settled
into the village over that time. Mind
you, it was one of those French villages that have a lot of permanent residential
Brits, even the village bar was owned and run by Brits.
 |
| In the bar garden with some of Noel’s friends - just like being in our old local, the Swan |
We had a pleasant dinner back at Noel’s
and talked long into the night before retiring back to the campsite for our
last night in BĂ©lĂąbre.
 |
| Just like the old days |
 |
| Leaving the best campsite so far and just avoiding getting soaked |
We were heading south to Carcassonne,
a trip of about 200 miles and it poured until we hit the Dordogne area and then
it stopped and got progressively warmer as we neared the end of our
journey. Apart from having the chance to
look around La Cité, the famous fortified hill town of Roman origin, we were
meeting up with Mike & Aileen. They
have now been in on their narrowboat in France for two years and have recently
come down the RhĂŽne to explore the south and were now on the Canal
du Midi and had just reached TrĂšbes.
We found a campsite in TrĂšbes which is about 12km to the east of Carcassonne which,
incidentally, is the second most visited city in France after Paris. This was a larger campsite than we had been used to but was pleasant enough on the banks of the River Aude that runs
through the town as well as the canal. We
soon set up camp and headed off to find Mike & Aileen. They had just moored for the day when we
found them, a little way out of town as the town moorings were packed with hire
boats. The hire boats here are called
bumper boats as they are large plastic boats with two or three rubber rubbing
strakes round them.
We had a wander down
the canal to look at the staircase of three locks that they had just come
up. The locks on the Midi are unusual in
that they are oval shaped.
 |
| The middle lock of the staircase |
We found a good
restaurant overlooking the top lock that had been recommended and had a long leisurely meal – our first meal out
since arriving in France.
Friday was a cruising
day so, after breakfast, we walked back to where Mike & Aileen were moored. On the way I received a text from John &
Heather who had just arrived in a village near where we had been camping in BĂ©lĂąbre. It was such a shame we had missed them but as
John pointed out – it’s good to talk. Although
John and I are the best of friends we don’t talk very often and, if we did, we
would have been more aware of each other’s plans and arranged to meet up.
We were fortunate to
be spending time afloat with them as it meant we could learn first hand about
some of the differences about cruising in France. These differences are mainly in the way narrowboats
are secured in locks.
 |
| Setting off for Carcassonne |
Mike took the boat
through the first lock of the day and then kindly let me take it through the
remaining six locks to get to Carcassonne.
 |
| Bumper boats in the first lock of the day |
When going up the locks, the boat is
secured with a line from the front. As
the locks are often a lot deeper than in the UK, extra long lines are required.
In addition, they have a large loop at the end to hook over the a bollard at
the side of the lock. Once the loop is
secured the boat is kept in forward gear so that it is held into the side. This is especially important as the paddles
are raised quickly by the Ă©clusiers and hence create quite a lot of turbulence.
 |
| Typically feisty lock where the boat must be kept into the wall to avoid it being bounced all over the place |
Because the boat is straining against the
bowline, rope protectors are used to stop the lines fraying on the chamber
walls.
 |
| Karen has just looped the line over and positioned the rope protector on the edge |
I won’t go into the shenanigans
involved in getting the line up to the bollards when there are only two people
on board until we are bringing our own boat through. But, it does involve one person climbing the
lock ladder and the other standing on the roof, lifting the rope up on the end
of a barge pole and then quickly getting back down to take control of the boat.
 |
| I was happy to see stanking planks at some of the locks |
It turned out to be another hot sunny day
and we saw plenty of butterflies, the main ones of note were great banded
graylings, scarce swallowtails and cleopatras.
 |
| Me at the helm of Quaintrelle learning how to keep the boat tight to the side |
 |
| Waiting in the middle of a flight of three locks - the Ă©clusier is sitting at the lock controls in the tower |
You may have read or heard about the
many plane trees in France, especially along the Midi, that are having to be
felled because of the coloured canker, a disease brought to Europe by American
soldiers in WWII. (See this link formore information)
At one point we passed a site where
trees were being felled and were really quite scared that the branches would
fall on us as we passed by.
 |
| I’ve never seen such large mechanical secateurs at work like this |
Once we moored up we went for a wander
around Carcassonne and had a drink in one of the squares before finding a bus
to take us back to TrĂšbes.
 |
| Safely moored and back on dry land at Carcassonne |
 |
| Streets lined with umbrellas to keep the shoppers cool in the shade |
The bus was about 20 minutes late and
it wasn’t until we tried to get on that we found that only small dogs are
allowed on buses in France. This does
mean we’re going to have to rethink some of our plans for the next couple of
years. As the next bus wasn’t for
another hour we phoned for a taxi but that didn’t turn up either.
I went to catch the next bus, so I
could bring the car back to get Karen and Buddy but saw it disappearing into
the distance as I arrived at the stop; this one had been a couple of minutes
early. In the end we got another taxi
and, fortunately, he was happy to let Buddy in his car. It’s strange how non-lap dogs are allowed into
many restaurants but not on buses ☹
On the way back in the taxi, I got yet
another message, this time from Cheryl & Stuart who we had just missed seeing in Carcassonne by a
day – as John had said, ‘It’s good to talk’.
We will spend one more day in
Carcassonne and then probably head off to the Camargue for a couple of days. Finally a big thanks to Mike & Aileen for
letting us cruise with them and especially having the nerves to let us control
their narrowboat without being on board with us đ
No comments:
Post a Comment