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On leaving Castelnaudary we wait to enter the four lock
staircase. |
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The VNF has new rules in place to conserve water so we
expect longer wait times, but finally the lock opens and we start our 15
lock day! |
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Past the 4 lock staircase. |
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Monday evening below the lock of
Treboul. We stayed here when ascending the canal. |
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This is how the sun-flower fields looked on the 17th of
July |
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and this is the same field today. Another result of the
European heat-wave. |
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On Monday evening is starts to rain - real rain not just
thunderstorms and so we decide to stay on Tuesday in Treboul and wait for
the rain to stop. The forecast said the weather would improve
Wednesday and the forecast was right! |
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Betty could not live a day without doing some ropes so
she helped a rental boat through the lock. |
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In the afternoon Shari and Betty decide to start a big
cooking project. |
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We light the fireplace and Marc enjoys a book. |
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It is Wednesday morning and we set off early. At the
first lock we meet a creative lock-keeper (or may be it was the bickering of
the wife of the owner of the small boat that influenced him).
He decides to put another boat into the same lock with
us, which is not a problem, but he decides to do it by his rules! Small boat
into the lock first, on starboard side, us second. He even wants the small
boat to leave first and us second.
I try to convince him that we have locked with other
boats before and that his rules won't work. First it is hard for us to enter
with another boat in the lock, but not impossible. What is impossible if for
the other boat to leave first. Unless the can fold it in half there is just
no space to squeeze between our bow and the lock-door.
So we stay put and wait, and wait .... - finally they
realize that we would stay for the winter in the lock if we would go by his
rules and so he asks if we could leave first - which we can. |
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The bridge and port of Bram. The port is right after the
bridge which makes things narrow enough, but then a rental boat decides to
leave the port and try for the bridge while we are in it, which makes
passage impossible. Lucky we have a very loud horn! |
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So much for the excitement of the day and we continue on
a very quiet green stretch towards our Wednesday evening mooring. |
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The port of
La Segala. Since a small rental boat uses half of the wall, we have to
get creative to stay off the shallow edge and use a wooden pole to keep
distance. |
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A quiet spot in the middle of the Gabardes wine country. |
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On Thursday we head into Carcassonne, a impressive
stretch of the canal cut deeply into rock. |
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The vegetable market in Carcassonne and |
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other attractions. Not quite native, but as colorful as
the vegetables. |
