13th May

And so we headed onwards and southwards...

The scenery just got more and more beautiful so that we just ran out of superlatives!! The snow capped Pyrennes could be seen in the distance as a backdrop to endless vineyards scattered with tiny villages and walled towns.

We tied up in one such village only to find ourselves at the door of the local wine seller..... best red at 1,30 euros a litre!!! Then the next day when we looked up and saw blue crows we were seriously worried! However, our bird reference book tells us that they were Rollers - a bird that is rare but breeds in this area...so maybe all that wine sharpened our senses...? We were also delighted to see IBIS flying overhead they too breed here. Yet despite all the exotics, the most amazing sight was watching a family of swallow fledglings - they were perched on a bamboo cane over the canal all day while their parent fed them; the next day they started their first trial flights - amazing!

Then, we were plodding along when we realised that the sea was only 1 mile away to the right!!THE MEDITERANEAN!! Serious WOW!! Found a mooring next to a campsite ane we just cannot tera ourselves away at the moment - good fishing, good beach, fantastic weather, why move?

29th May

Leaving Carcasonne was fun?? This is a notoriously shallow section of the canal - made worse by the water level dropping after we had moored! We helped friends in their boat get off the mud earlier that morning, thinking that their boat was so much deeper than ours and that we would have no problem…well we did! The lock keeper was very cross about the low levels and blamed it on young lock operators who lack his professional understanding of lock keeping - his family had been lock keepers for three generation and this did not happen in their day…get the picture? Well he ran off lots of water - we tugged and pushed, other people stopped and tugged and pushed [a bit like the story of the enormous turnip]; we revved the engine ahead and astern. The lock keeper ran off more water……after about an hour and a half we slowly slid through the mud and were off!! What a performance!!

Then we were just about 10 km further on when the canal crossed a little river [a tributary to the River Aude] on an aquaduct. Looking down into the river we could see about 5 carp cruising in the shallow side waters….
…so that’s as far as we got! We are tied to some trees in delightful country side, and Paul is in fishing heaven!!! So still kind of stuck, but for different reasons.

27th May

Our dear friend, Chris Terrey, joined us in Toulouse and spent all of last week with us. As soon as she knew of our plans she said that she would join us to see Carcasonne - she’d always wanted to go there. After a rotten year, it didn’t seem possible that she would be able to make it…. But she did!! We travelled from Toulouse along the canal du Midi, calling at Castelnaudary, to Carcasonne.

It was lovely for us to share her delight at every lock, lock keepers house, old bridge, other boats, rambling rose….etc. The views were wonderful along this stretch of the canal - we could even see the snow topped Pyrenees in the distance.

Chris also enjoyed trying out real French food in France - different breads [she even started going to the bakers!!], cakes, baked beetroot, fresh peas and beans from the market, duck breast, celeriac….and one or two bottles of rose!! But only Paul tried the Cassoulet in Catelnaudary - three people eating a huge bowl of beans and living in the confines of a small boat? I don’t think so!!! Our best eat was when a youngish chap came from his house near to where we were moored carrying a basket of freshly picked cherries, to see if we’d like to buy some - they were delicious [even before they were washed!!!???]. We had alovely meal in Carcasonne [thank you Chris], then sat outside at a pavement bar until about midnight, enjoying the delicious warm night air.
It was a lovely week - despite the toilet??!!