C'est fini!

Saturday, September 30. Cloudy, sprinkle in the afternoon.

Wow, what a sleep!!!

Down for breakfast at 7:45 where Dave and Alyssa joined us a bit later. The coffee was heavenly, my oh my, how we love and missed a good cup of coffee in the morning.

I believe Dave and Alyssa did a bit of a wander about again, as we did later, much later. We just felt like relaxing and lounging in the peace and tranquility of a small, clean room to try and put together the thoughts and recollections of the last 19 days. That is impossible at this time.

Fellette and I have had the opportunity to have have several "Trips of a lifetime" in the last 30 years or so. There is much to see yet in this great and wonderful world that has escaped our eyes. But the more we travel the harder it is to be swept off our feet, unfortunately. In cities around the world, beautiful and pleasurable, for sure, but one can only have so much of beautiful sidewalk cafes and people watching. Or at least I can and Fellette expresses the same.

It is rather like watching the Ed Sullivan show some 40 or 50 years ago. For the first few years it was all new and never-seen-before stuff, but as it went on we subconsciously compared to previous shows (or experiences). Same for a beautiful city like Montpellier, lovely but oh so familiar.

Now, life on a canal boat in France was absolutely something that we have never experienced before and likely will have no urge nor need to relive it.

Around noon we did venture out into the streets of this part of town and to our amazement we were closer to civilization than we thought. Yesterday's stroll was so not where we thought we were.

There are some strange things that happen in France, or here at least. Now this is Saturday, right? The restaurant area was open for lunch until 2:00. We were looking for a place to possibly have dinner but five of the six places that we checked were "not open on Saturday night". Damn Napoleon!

In reality, we are off to bed early tonight, long travel day ahead tomorrow.

We bought tonight's dinner and were shortly back at the hotel where we had lunch, again in our room. Dave and Alyssa came down for a catch-up and a drink and then they tumbled off to their own space to prepare for a 4:00 am wake up for the 5:00 am taxi to the airport to start the 20 hour journey to Vancouver airport. At least we hope it only takes 20 hours!

The schedule says we land in Vancouver at at 1:50 pm on Sunday. If we get on the plane from Amsterdam we have a good chance of being on time. In the meantime, we have France to get through! (Sorry, I could just not resist that final jab at the Gaul.) Is that how you spell gall?

No breathtaking photos for us today, just delighted to be here in reasonably good shape.

My brother is now driving to Venice and has another six days before he and Janet are in Vancouver. Good friends Jim and Gail are at sea on the way to Corsica, (nice place) and have another 19 days before they arrive back in the USA.

Not sure if there will be a blog tomorrow or not, it depends on many things. Thanks for joining us.

Photos are of us relaxing and having a real leisure day; bringing home dinner; fresh food is the mainstay in French cuisine I would say, this is fish and shellfish; Dave in our room for a visit and a last glass of wine together; last decadent tarte for dessert, we split it.

Changing Venues...

Friday, September 29. Lovely summer day.

Say goodbye to Le Boat around 8:45. Don't really regret say adios to our little home for two weeks. It was great but it was enough.

The car journey to the train station took longer than expected due to a navigation system that refused to speak to us today. However, we had lots of time and the rental car return was without issue.

We waited patiently for the 11:25 to Montpellier to arrive, which it did. The only thing was it was basically full. Some of us did find seats, some sat on their luggage. To me, other man on the train looked like a terrorist to me: swarthy, shaved head, maybe, and of course the prescribed macho beard. The women were a mix of Muslim and French, I suppose.

We arrived to this rather large city and somehow made it to a taxi rank where we were soon at our hotel and in our room. The room seems enormous after Le Boat but is is a simple clean hotel room without any hint of luxury. After a bit of sorting out we walked some unknown distance to a restaurant where we had a hearty lunch.

The main area of interest was close by that was explored thoroughly. Nothing spectacular but a nice place to stay and visit if this is an area of interest to you. It is just, what can I say but: French!

I made my way back to the hotel independently because of a bit of a hip/leg thing that popped up again today and was hindering the group. A bit of a relax in the room, a meal, hot shower and tomorrow is another day; our last day actually. Sunday morning we get up very early and make our way to the first of three airports that day to get us home.

Fellette, Dave and Alyssa explored the town for another couple of hours before we all had in-room dining in the privacy of our rooms.

The photos are self explanatory I think. It is not like Rome or Venice. It is France's eight largest city with a population of about 600,00 people. I am absolutely positive that many, many people would love to see the wonders and marvels that are the soul of this place.

Forgive me if I sound a bit jaded today but big cities are just not my/our thing but it sure is a nice way to end the vacation.

Last sleep afloat...

Thursday, September 28. Cloudy.

An easy relaxing day today, for some of us. We are checking in our boat today, or checking out if you prefer. They will come aboard and check how many engine hours we had so they can calculate the fuel consumed. They will also do a visual check for visible hull damage and other issues. Our check took two minutes

We are also required to leave the boat in a clean and orderly fashion. We left it in better shape than we found it for sure. The girls did a wonderful job in the bedrooms and toilets. Dave did they deck scrubbing and I was the hose holder. I also claim partial fame in doing the morning dishes and cleanup of the kitchen gas burner. My back or hip is still offering some impairment in my movement so I am using that as a crutch.

The cruise in summary has been a success I would say. There have been a few issues that we learned to overcome and live with. The cramped quarters are certainly a big factor in this cruise. Privacy is almost non existent inasmuch as we are never more than 25 feet apart.

The weather has been marvellous all the way except one rainy morning a million years ago. The scenery has ranged from spectacular to industrial. The food has ranged from Spartan to gastronomical and the wines have been inexpensive and good. Also somewhat plentiful.

The beds are possibly the hardest to get used to, they are narrow and the mattress is more a pad than a mattress. And the pillow: I will try and forget about that, but at 2:00 am in the morning it is my best friend.

The toughest thing for us to get used to was the toilets. I did mentioned earlier that there is no holding tanks on the boats in the canal as there is no holding tank pumping facilities. That invention has not yet made its way to Gaul.

Tomorrow morning we leave our nautical home and drive to Beziers, some20 minute drive, Fellette and I are to be dropped at the train station with all the luggage and Dave and Alyssa return the car to the rental outfit, remember 'The Arrogant Frog Rental Car Company?' They then take a cab to Le Train Station and presto magico in 45 minutes we are in Montpellier for two nights before heading home Sunday. The

I guess that it is about time for some air traffic controllers to go on strike for a two hour shut down at lunch time inasmuch as we will be flying in a few days.

Photo 1. Dave and Fellette scrubbing the boat prior to check out.
Photo 2 Alyssa at work.

The road to Carcassonne and back...

Wednesday, September 27. Beautiful Summer-like day.

We left Le Boat by rental car around 10:00 and arrived at the main attraction there which is a walled medieval city. Alyssa had the foresight to programme in the parking lot next to the ancient city where we parked.

The drive took us an hour and a half. The route chosen was through the countryside and parts of it were lovely. We did not stop the entire time so I have no photos of what we saw.

Upon arrival in this city, established some time before the birth of Christ, we went separate ways for a half hour during which Fellette and I thoroughly enjoyed the stroll and got lost. There is of course a touristy map but we only used it to get back to our prearranged meeting place where we met up with Dave and Alyssa.

The size of the place is impossible to capture with a camera. The guide book sates that the ramparts circling the city are 3 Km long, the outer walls 1.7 Km and the inner walls 1.3 Km. You figure out how big it is. Nice place to visit and spend more time in the surrounding countryside though.

There we had lunch... a very long lunch. Close by sat a British Couple from Northamptonshire. After a brief conversation we established that they often were at the Spencer Arms in Chapel Brampton where my grandfather was born. Small world.

The journey home was uneventful other than a few mixups but we made it home in good condition. Dave handles the rental Citroen very well and is at ease on the French roads.

For some strange reason my back/hip/ on my right side is causing discomfort. Not sure the reason: the bed, walking, the bike, my kidney, stress or whatever. Hopefully not a kidney issue that last reared its ugly head some 44 years ago.

I do know that I am not programmed to ride in the back seat of a car for long journeys particularly when there are photo opportunities aplenty. However circumstances dictated the arrangement and I think that I got enough photos at our destination. It is best for all concerned that Alyssa be in the passenger seat to help navigate the routes chosen. Fellette is happy anywhere in a car but does like to drive.

Dinner on board tonight. We only have two sleeps left before turning Le Boat back to the rental company tomorrow afternoon in preparation for an early departure by our car to Beziers to return the car and get the train to Montpellier for two nights.

Wow, are we really going to be in a real bed and a bathroom bigger than a linen closet soon? Methinks our shower at home is the same size as our berth and toilet on Le Boat. It's certainly been an adventure!

The photos that I included were: The entrance to the walled city; another view of the walls; shops aplenty, pate anyone?; guess who; very quaint and windy narrow streets to get lost in. What the French Internet does with them tonight is anyone's guess.

From boat to automobile...

Tuesday, September 26. Beautiful day, outstanding...

A taxi came for us at the Le Boat station around 9:45 and by 10:00 we were at the U-Drive office in Beziers. The name of the place was 'The Arrogant Frog Rental Car Company'. Or that should have been the name. The male attendant was rude, arrogant, made no attempt to be of help to us and made no attempt at all to accommodate us in English even though Alyssa was doing her very best to to be polite and communicate with the jerk.

He made some attempts to change the navigation system to English speaking and then gave up.

Dave is the designated driver and Alyssa is the navigator. We are just along for the ride. Driving in France is quite civil but you have to keep up with the crowd. We made it to the Train Station where our printed voucher was exchanged for four proper tickets that will be needed three days from now when we get the Train from Beziers to Montpellier for two nights.

After that it was a merry walk into up and around the city where it was a typical French city and full of French people oddly enough. We enjoyed a drink and a lunch and started the stroll back to Le Car by Le Train Station.

A zippy drive back to Le Boat after a quick stop at a French Supermarket that really is a super market.

We had an afternoon at leisure, at least Fellette and I did and Dave and Alyssa also had theirs by going on a bike ride to Le Sea.

Not much in the way of photos today. Tomorrow we head for Narbonne, a bit further afar than Beziers, heading to Spain.

Photo 1. Last night, pizza for dinner.
Photo 2. Monument to those lost at Verdun in WWI.
Photo 3. Street market on a downtown or uptown street.
Photo 4. A photo of a building that I have absolutely no idea what it is or was.
Photo 5. A street poster showing the beauty of the city in some magical way.
Photo 6. Mon Cherie in the park on our walk back to Le Car.

Please excuse my cynicism but I am truly amazed at the lack of any attempts to make foreign visitors understand anything about where they are going or what they are seeing. Ces't le vie.

The internet does not like my photos and usually drops some.

I wonder what the internet will do to this blog? Yesterday's went twice, one incomplete and I got a third copy in some garbled form.

Bike ride and relax...

Monday, September 25. Morning fine, afternoon drippy. 

We are still using Le Boat as our floating moored hotel room. 

This morning after breakfast we went on a bit of a bike ride to a town about 6 Ks away. This town is also of ancient roots as of course the area around it expanded over the last 600 years. 

Nothing spectacular to see really. We next continued along the canal footpath some distance westward, towards the city of Beziers, our destination tomorrow by cab, to pick up the car and explore the city. 

Fellette and I stopped for a break as Dave and Alyssa pushed on some more. While stopped I examined a giant machine working the vines, with the permission of the operators. 

This unique giant of a machine straddles the single posts and vines and slowly makes its way down the row brushing the individual grapes off their holding stems. Amazing mackinaw. I suppose that smaller vineyards still pick by hand but from what I see the process has been pretty well automated. 

The Grape Harvester then transfers it load of grapes into a wagon which I assume is destined for the factory.

Speaking of grapes, I looked up the Great French Wine Blight. About 1860, French farmers began to notice some plants dying in the vineyards.  Within 15 Years over 50% of the vineyards in France were affected.

The cause of the blight was determined to be the exchange of grape vines between the USA and Europe, all with good intentions. I am not an expert but I believe there was a difference between European stock and native North American root stock. In France they discovered tiny lice-like insects feeding on the roots. Hence the disease Phylloxera...imported from the USA in the importation process. 

Speaking of blights...

The Midi Canal was built, I should say dug and was completed in 1681. They wisely planted Plane trees along the can to shade the canal to stop evaporating and stabilize the banks of the canal.

The trees did well and are magnificent looking specimens, gigantic in size. They are all dying and being cut down at an alarming rate. All are destined for elimination within 10 years and being replace with other varieties. They have a blight. 

Those trees earned the Midi Canal its UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

The reason for the blight is as follows. Are you ready for this? In WWII the American Army ammunition boxes, or some of them, were made of sycamore. Some were obviously disease riddled. This diseased wood eventually attacked and killed some Plane trees, and it spreads and spreads. 

Another suggestion is that boaters on the canal tied their ropes to the trees, causing bruising and exposure to disease.  

Regardless, some 4000 trees a year are destined to be cut down. The cost to cut and replace the trees is estimated at 200 million euros. 

And know you know...

Another comment on the blog. It appears that somehow the transmission of my blog gets garbled and the pictures end up first, whereas I place them last, and the captions that I put under the pictures are eliminated.  Maybe the French censors?

Some day I should send it without an attempt at correcting all the auto-corrections it has done!

Photo 1 Fellette emerging from our Berth up front.

Photo 2 Dave and Fellette riding along the canal beside the doomed Plane trees.

Photo 3 Grape harvester and operators on their lunch break.

Photo 4 Fellette on her bike break.

Potpourri...

Sunday September 24. Three months till Christmas Eve. Foggy in am, very hot by noon.

We spent a very quiet and very cozy night tied up on the canal. After a very lazy morning we set off on foot in search of the ancient village of Vias. Vias is now of course surrounded by modern homes, but no multi- story buildings. It was a pleasant walk. It also was founded by the Romans long before there was any canal.

Much to our surprise on a Sunday, stores were opening and it looked like any other weekday, we loaded up a solitary back pack and the bags we had and trundled back to Le Boat, with
treasured groceries.

Once back to the boat we did our own thing until after lunch when we sailed the remaining few kilometres to our final port where we will turn the boat over on Friday morning. There we head to Montpellier for two nights before flying home.

We will rent a car for a few days and use our boat to get some sightseeing in the countryside, using Le Boat as a motel and restaurant.

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People and dogs...

I will not use any nationalities so that I will not be accused of bigotry. However, we are in France.

People all over the world have and dearly love their pets, we know, we have had dogs that became a detached member of our family. In one country in Europe, that I know of, it does not seem to be in the national psyche to clean up dog droppings. We always cleaned up after our dog did not go in his designated area on our five acre property.

It seems in one country they do not cleanup even if their cute little Shitzu does his business in the middle of a public sidewalk, let alone a footpath.

Perhaps there is hope for us fussy neat-freaks inasmuch as they seem to have doggy-bag dispensers in some place. Maybe it is generational and the younger people may learn to use them. We live in hope.

I have written of this before but it is such a nuisance that I had to get another shot at it.


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World War II...

In 1939 Europe was overrun by Germans and France fell very quickly. I have discovered the reason! It is built into French babies right from birth to have a siesta or whatever they call it here, between 12:30 pm and 4:00. The Germans knew this and so they planned their attacks between those hours.

Yesterday this inbred siesta thing was made clear to us at the lock that we and three other boats were trying to enter. The lock was shut until 1:30, so the lock keeper could have his lunch. 1 1/2 hours!!! Not as bad as the stores that only reopen at 4:00.

We arrived at the end of our canal journey around 1:00 today,

Dave did a great job of mooring Le Boat, backing it in and we were soon at our home for the next few days.

We soon were on a four mile hike to see the Mediterranean Sea that brother Graham is on a few hundred miles from us right now.

Dinner on the boat after we all showered and got used to life ashore. We pick up our car on Tuesday for a few days of touring.

This blog may appear disjointed and likely is, it was written at several tries over several hours. Also this darn internet is presenting some problems to me.

Our day in pictures...

Our day in pictures.

Saturday, September 23. Cool in am, lovely later.

We stayed in port until 11:00 am and then took the short passage to the Midi Canal. Our first experiences there were less than pleasant. It looked like we were sailing up the back end of a human digestive system. (Oops, sorry if I offended anyone!] it did get a bit more pleasant as we progressed up the canal.

The Midi appears to be much different than the Rhone to Sete canal that we have been on for a week. It was vast stretches of open country and a bit of semi-industrial areas that could be considered unpleasant.

We saw very few fellow boaters during the previous week. It was a rare occasion when we passed a boater. On the first hour on the Midi we passed more boats than we saw for a week on the Rhone to Sete Canal.

This is a comment, not a complaint. We seem to have become accustomed to our own space it seems: on our own and quiet,

As the afternoon progressed and we moved up the Midi I could not believe how the clearances between our boat and the hundreds of years old concrete and stone walls closed in on our boat.

Eventually I asked Dave and Alyssa to take the helm as I was feeling out of my comfort Zone.

We moored for the night at some remote bank of the Midi, got on our bikes and took the canal footpath route back to Agde, reputedly amongst the oldest village in France. The five K ride was a good test to see if my prostate was firmly in position. That question is as yet unanswered.

We had a delicious BBQ dinner on deck compliments of Dave and Alyssa: Dave lit the BBQ and Alyssa did the rest! Dave and Doug kept their dignity by doing the dishes!

Our day in pictures...

End of the Rhone to Sete canal and beginning of the Midi canal...

Friday, September 22. Cold in am, hot by noon.

Summer is definitely past and fall is in the air.

We all slept well after a very expensive french dinner, with dessert. So much for will power.

The morning was spent without incident, sailing past kilometres of neatly laid out oyster farming racks. We are told to adhere closely to a narrowly defined boating channel that looks great from 3000 feet or a nautical chart but is beyond comprehension while sailing along on it. Bloody French! [Its a joke!]

Before noon we were moored up in the picturesque town of Marseillan. The population is about 8,000 to 10,000, 7500 of whom were sitting in the 1000 yard stretch of boat harbour in cafes and restaurants, looking at this scruffy yet elegant and confident troupe of Canadians traipsing by in search of photographs and food.

We were partially successful in that we found a couple of pastry shops that sold a Subway-like sandwich and other essentials for a light lunch. There we spent some of the Euros that sister Moe gave us a few weeks ago to spend on the trip. We still have a few Euros left that may help with the wine tab tonight. Thanks Moe, from all of us.

The voyage is getting easier for us all as we become accustomed to life aboard and each other. Believe it or not, we are exactly half way through the boat part of the journey and are home in 11 days.

In spite of overspending last night it appears that we are destined to another night of eating ashore. The girls seem to have latched onto the vague and ambiguous edict that thoult "Shalt not discharge any water from your boat into The Great French Salt Lake", however, on either side of the Lake are canal boats such as ours that are only restricted from discharging water into the canals while in ports. In other words its ok to use the toilets going in and out of port, but not while moored.

As a matter of interest: I have obviously given up in trying to pronounce all the French names of cities, ports, food etc., let alone spell them on this darn iPad. he iPad keeps trying to auto-correct me and that leads to anger issues and we certainly would not want that would we?

At this writing, around 3:30 pm our time and 6:30 am Vancouver time, Friday, I am the only one aboard, doing the blog on a serene and sunny boat. I can barely feel the rocking and the chatter of the people as they stroll by, pacing the quayside. The other three have gone off on their bikes in search of the unknown. I am in heaven, time for a nap!

Correction

We are moored in Bouzigues, not Frontignan as stated in the previous blog. 

Sailing the great Salt Lake...

Thursday, September 21. Cool in am, lovely day in all.

We had an early morning departure as the darn bridge only opens for a few minutes twice a day.

I am not so sure if this boating life is my chosen passion in life. When getting ready to line up to go under the bridge we cast off our moorings and tried to stay put in the canal that is flowing to the sea until the bridge is raised. It is very hard to keep a boat that is 39 feet long in a stationary position. With this boat and my experience, it is impossible. I am sometimes very frustrated at the helm.

Once we got through the bridge the scenery was not very inspiring for some time but easy navigating. Eventually we managed to get into a very large body of salt water that is not the open Mediterranean but there is an ebb and flow from the sea so it is really an inland salt water lake. They pull 20,000 tons of oysters and mussels from it. The water is very shallow and there are very restrictive boating channels that we are supposed to sail in.

This morning, we were completely bamboozled and baffled by where we were in the lake in spite of maps that look great but do not reflect the reality of what we saw on the water. Thanks to some friendly small boat fishermen we were directed into the channel and the confusion on the boat abated.

We were soon docked safely at a very friendly and picturesque town called Frontignan. It is about as French as you can get. We docked, changed into street clothes and strolled the town stopping for a cappuccino before returning the Le Boat for a light lunch on the sunny deck.

Dave and Alyssa went for a bike ride to explore the town, Fellette read and I, with Fellette's help, tried to sort my photos out in some sense of order rather than have 600 photos in one album without knowing what was where.

The journey continues to be exciting: not knowing what is around the next bend of the river and when and under what circumstances we will be moored the next night.

Great day today, what's up tomorrow? Who knows, or cares.