As far as Fellette and I, and both our parents were not boaters, so we did not have childhood experiences on the water. As adults we also did not have life aboard small ships or boats.
Fellette and I did not really have any expectation levels about this trip. Certainly I had some hopes and expectations but I have learned years ago that that can lead to let downs when things turn out different as 'expected'. I do have hopes and expectations when we do most things but this was completely different than anything ever contemplated.
Dave and Alyssa are boaters and have been for some time and seem to know all about things nautical. So it balances out I think.
Life aboard so far...
We usually wake up, or get up, first, boil the water on the gas stove, which takes a while. The coffee maker is a Bodem that only holds three cups and some have hot milk so the coffee making takes a bit of time but it fills the time and is now part of the morning routine.
Dave has been known to take an early morning run on his bike to a nearby bread shop (boloungrie) for bread and croissants. Nice thing to do and adds to the French Experience. But one can have too much of a good thing so we now have less bread.
We are either in port or sailing on any given day. On an Day in port we determine our activity based on weather and do what we do.
On a sailing day, we have breakfast and get underway, hopefully with a pre determined destination in mind. The canal has kilometre markers every K if we can find them so that is a great aid to us. Most are not visible.
The boat has a maximum speed of 8 kilometres an hour or one K every 7 1/2 minutes. It is slow, but the scenery and slow speed makes for a pleasurable experience.
As I mentioned earlier the steering is quite an art which I am slow to master. Wind, current and change in speeds alter the control of steering and one can end up zig zagging for a short while, not a good thing when passing boats going in the opposite direction or anchored work dredges etc.
I seem to end up at the helm on open water and Dave takes over in congested ports and dockings. Fine with me.
Lunch can be either while under way or we can pull alongside and tie up to the bank with steel spikes we drive in, we did this once.
Showers: one has three choices; don't shower; shower at communal port facilities or shower in our combination toilet/shower. So far Fellette and I have chosen the later. We are quite happy with it.
Today was a good travel day for us as we covered some lovely scenery and at a good rate. We seem to have had a tail wind somehow as we arrived sooner than expected
Tonight we are moored alongside a street in a town called Frontignan, near Sete. No power or water but we filled up with water, the boat holds 1000 litres. We will have dinner aboard tonight, enjoying the warm weather and quietness of a little French town.
Off early tomorrow morning as the only way out is a draw bridge that raises twice a day for about 15 minutes each time.
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