Summertime in Southern France

If only I could bottle the summertime memories!

The delicious shade under the trees in 40+ degree temperatures; lazy evenings spent in conversation with friends on the canal bank; summer markets, bustling with activity; sampling local delicacies and superb wine that we know is grown on neighbouring vines; dancing under the stars at the night markets; revisiting history in the medieval Bastide villages; exploring the countryside in the areas of Aquitaine and the Dordogne and the varying magnificences of the abounding chateau and castles.

If only!

Bees Knees wintered (2012) in the Port of Castelnaudary, home of the renowned savoury French dish called Cassoulet. (Not that exciting, believe me!) Also home of the French Foreign Legion, who still wear those fabulous dress uniforms and look like film stars. (Much more exciting! I remember Beau Geste.)

Like many other barges at the end of summer, we chugged quietly along the canal, all leisurly making way towards our various winter residences. 

We were assisted in the uphill stretch of canal towards Toulouse (the apex of the Canal Deux Mers) by our stalwart friends Fiona and Chris, who once again flew in on one of those conveniently low price flights from the UK, on their way to Malaysia, where they had left their yacht for a few months.

We duly arrived to take up our pre-booked space in the port in October, and settled in for the five winter months, under the watchful eye and the friendly efficiency of the Port Captain, Odille. Contrary to expectations the high winds that can on occasion thrash down the waterway rarely materialized;  we had hardly a touch of frost - and no frozen water! Sunshine and balmy weather turned out to be quite normal.

Going uphill is only a little more strenuous than downhill because somebody generally has to jump off the boat to manage opening the locks. A couple can certainly manage, (we did it all on the way from Holland - up and down all the time!) it's just a lot more fun when friends are around. We four took it in turns to pedal along the canal bank between the bridges and lock gates, and alternated driving the barge by just watching the world drift by.

ANNA is a 27 meter barge that moors up close to us in Caumont, and Annie and Mark, together with their two lively dogs chugged away in the glory of Autumn sunshine and russet leaves - towards their winter mooring,.  Quite by chance they had also booked a space at Castelnaudar.

Countless small celebrations came and went in the Port over those winter months. We met new friends, cemented older friendships, and generally enjoyed much that the little town and the surrounding countryside had to offer. We all enjoyed plenty of laughs and many fine meals together, banishing any winter blues before they arose.

We visited Cathar country, where knights of old fought in the crusades, and marvelled at the ruins of huge castles built high on jagged rocky outcrops.

There was excellent skiing in the Principality of Andorra, with lots of snow and a great many well developed runs of  various skill levels, making it very popular. We found it easy to get to in just a couple of hours by car, and it is about the same from the airport in Toulouse.The miniature country is also a duty free area, so many comodities such a liquor, cigarettes and petrol are sought after.

 
Although I personally didn't participate on the slopes, Nick had a great time snow boarding while I reveled in the glorious sunshine in one of the many convenient cafes high up on the slopes.

Other friends also enjoy their family skiing trips in the French Pyrenees, which may not be tax free, but is also very enjoyable.
 
Sand and sunshine were always welcomed when we made the occasional foray to the coast, visiting Aigues du Mortes; the beaches of the Mediterranean near Agde and the Camargue area.

Friends Julie and Ron together with Stella and Stuart and their dog often accompaied us on these little outings.

 Our walks along some of the very extensive hiking and biking trails in the foothills of the Pyrenees were varied and we enjoyed our expeditions. Mitzy the boxer dog really enjoyed these outings, always manging to remain well behaved as a good dog should.  

 Meanwhile, our prolonged conversations with the VNF (Les Voies Navigable de France) bore fruit at last and we finally acquired our "stationnement" on the canal near Caumont. This means we are technically able to stay one that mooring for up to five years, subject to a yearly renewal of the contract with the VNF. The cost is reasonable and we are making several good friends in the area, while still maintaining the ability to cast off and travel whenever we wish. It at least gives us a winter mooring, and complies with our boat insurance conditions.

  In the Spring we took a car trip to the UK, visiting friends and relatives. The driving in the UK seemed quite strenuous as we were accustomed to much less traffic on the extraordinarily quiet back roads and far less congested  main road in this area.

Northern Wales was particularly beautiful and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit with Fi and Chris. We admired the countryside close up with a couple of leisurely walks in the hills - again enjoying the sunshine - even if the temperatures were a little cooler than expected.

Friends and relatives welcomed us and we enjoyed catching up with the family news and views.

lovely house

cooking hams

Moules and frites at the market

Artichoke

Baskets galore

Friends visiting from Down Under

 

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Racing CV2

Local veg on the canal side

Many modes of transport on the canal side

Beer anyone?

Puy-L'Eveque

Hunter at home

Market day

Mike's 70th - A Hippy Birthday

Bees Knees Secrets - Upgrades, Information, and More.

Splashing, sandblasted and painted

The Barge is 16.5 meters Dutch built, hull made of iron, riveted, and probably dated at about 1920; the steel topsides being added at later date  It is a Rietaak and was most likely used to harvest reeds when first built. The two stars on the front indicate it was privately owned and fully paid for in earlier days. Draft .8m and height 2.75m, so we can pass under all the bridges with room to spare. We just have to remember to let the mast down when we are traveling.

Engine water cooling pipes

 We bought Tureluur  in Holland - and had it surveyed, sandblasted and repainted in the yard of D.Van Bruggen, Kampen.

When we splashed we motored to the marina near Kampen and proceeded to rid the interior of a lot of useless junk, (well it was pretty useless to us) and find out a little about the various systems and controls.

Mercedes engine

The engine compartment is located under the rear deck, with a large lid in front of the second steering station providing easy access. The area is spacious, with extra storage at the very rear. 

We cleaned out the back storage space and have installed a 55 liter tank for the cheaper heating diesel fuel. This is supplied to the Maritime Booster water boiler, which in turn supplies 6 radiators inside the boat, keeping the temperature pleasant throughout with the help of a thermostat.

The engine is a Mercedes OM 314 - 4 cylinder - 80 hp, rebuilt by Drinkwater in Holland. There is a 300 litre diesel tank. Filters have been replaced.

Greasing the hull under the floorboards

Mike has added a Xantrex Link Lite battery monitor - there was no way of knowing how much power was in the batteries; and we finally had to replace the batteries - a heavy old job, and we are pleased not to have to do it again for a while. We now have 540 amp hours in three 12v batteries, and 2 batteries of  2 v for140amp hour for 24 v starting. A 12 v programmable battery charger and a 24 volt battery charger have been installed.

Old galley, corner sink

Much of the wiring has been replaced and there is an upgraded 230v electrical panel and fuse box. The electrical plugs and sockets in the saloon and bedroom have been replaced.

There are three solar panels on the top deck above the wheelhouse.

Galley with fridge freezer, sink and cooker

At the end of the summer, after our idyllic journey south through several thousand kilometers of canal and rivers, we set to and started to make the improvements we felt would make the boat more comfortable for us.

We had already added a TV and were are able to get UK TV with a a satellite dish, and we also added a Humax Freesat recording box, making it easy to get programmes that air at times when it inconvenient for us to watch.

We removed the floor in the storage area under the wheel house, and painted the hull with ooey gooey grease - we had bought a 5 gallon tin of the black gunk with us from Holland,  just so that we could do this nasty job. Mike gently heated the grease on the hob to make it runny, and I ruined several pairs of overalls lying at inconvenient angles brushing the cooling liquid into all the ribs and nooks and crannies. 

We repeated this throughout the boat, discovering large weights near the bow under the bed, obviously extra ballast. The floors in the main saloon are wood tongue and groove and it was quite a puzzle fitting all the various lengths back together properly,

Our next big job was to demolish the old galley, find a cooker and a suitable household fridge freezer. The boat had a gas hob but no oven so we got rid of that. The sink, situated in a corner, making access extremely uncomfortable, was discarded. The small 3-way (12v; propane; 240 v) fridge now resides on the aft deck - great for beer and summer drinks, and is occasionally used as an overflow refrigerator when we have lots of visitors on board.

Great bed, no storage space

Now we have a U-shaped galley very convenient to work in, with good storage and a sink that one can stand in front of! We have pressure water - hot and cold, delivered from two 300 litre stainless steel tanks and a filter to clean up any impurities, should there be any. 

Walk around bed, with storage at sides

Mike has replaced the water pump near the water tank to deliver a reasonable pressure. 

The propane cooker, although not big, is quite adequate with four burners and an oven.Two large propane tanks are to be found in their special compartment on the rear deck.

The standard house fridge/freezer is a great addition - I cannot imagine how we could manage without it, especially as it continues to work even when we are underway, thanks to Mike installing a new 1600 watt pure sine wave inverter.

After some thought we realised we could add a small washing machine to our inventory - launderettes are OK, but it is so much nicer to have ones own machine. It took a bit of maneuvering, but we dropped a small top loader into the gap between the new hand basin in the head and the wall at the back. We were also able to install a nice new electric toilet.

Sadly. we had to replace the mattress on the bed. It was really comfortable, but specially constructed, and all the storage  space at the sides was in accessible. as we were going to live on the boat full time, we needed the extra space.

There was a large space in the bedroom, just the right size for a shower, and we have a light which is linked to a pump under the floor so that the water is pumped out. The shower is fully tiled.

Over time we sanded and treated the upper paintwork, repainting in the same slightly off white colour with the standard Hempel paint that the yard used. The decks were more of a challenge, and we removed some rust - luckily not a great deal - and repainted with a grey paint, adding non skid. The old decks were treacherous with no anti-slip. We also removed the three stanchions from either side, they were constructed just to deal one a hefty whammy right on the knee as one passed and provide absolutely no element of safety, being far too low to prevent a spill.

The wheelhouse has had a little conversion - we can drop the solid wood table to be level with the bench seat and make a comfortable double bed for our visitors. At other times we can seat six comfortably.

Our last addition is a full cover awning with windows for the back deck, providing a whole new space - suitable shelter in the winter from inclement weather, and a bright, clean room for other times. The area on the back deck is excellent - outclassing most other boats for ease of access and square footage of deck space. The boat is easy to walk onto, and there is more than enough room to entertain over those gloriously long summer days when it is too nice to stay indoors.

On the canal de Garonne

 

 You can imagine our dismay when we arrived back on the boat after a Christmas holiday in Canada - to snow  - and even worse - ICE!

Not at all what we expected - in the south of France! The canal was absolutely frozen for a couple of weeks - strong enought to walk on by all accounts, although we didn't try our luck on that. 

Snow covered ice on the canal.

Shortly after that we discovered the water seeping away from our canal pound (between the lock in front and the one behind us) as there was a fault in a gate which allowed the water to trickle away. It wasn't long before we had to push ourselves further away from the canal bank in order to stay level in the remaining water; I think we may have been resting on the bottom for a short period of time, but as we have a flat bottom, we had no problems. 

Friends in barges just behind us found themselves at quite an uncomfortable angle and had to resort to propping up bed legs and table legs to maintain reasonably horizontal. I  imagine cooking was quite a challenge - things skittering off work surfaces without warning. 

Soon enough we  were back to normal, and even managed to have a few out door coffee sessions and the occasional barbeque in the warm sunshine of early spring.

We have – almost by accident – acquired a “stationnement’ at Caumont sur Garonne, where we headed originally. (Parked up behind our friends Charles and Caroline - originally from the Canadian yacht Itza Purla and who now live on the barge Connie).

The VNF  (Voies navigables de France) who manage and maintain the canals in France decided that all canal users ought to be tracked. (Or possibly realised somewhat belatedly that all the boats that use the canal are a source of revenue. Somebody has to pay for all those trees that have to destroyed and canal banks that have to be replanted.) They came armed with cameras and GPS to take note of who we are and where we were and how long we stayed in one spot. 

Soon we were told we had to move on barges and boats could stay in one place only for 30 days, otherwise they have move 10 meters. Which is usually perfectly OK – except if one gets lazy and wants to stay put. Or if one wants to continue the ongoing work on the boat – as we did, well, as we still do; it is definately more convenient to stay put in the same place, especially as we have a source of electricity and water nearby. 

Sara, Caitlyn and Breanne, Portugal

 We duly applied for a temporary “stationement” (cutting a long story much shorter) hoping we could stay in our customary place for another three months.  When the contract (in triplicate – and in French - who said we’d have a paperless world?) finally arrived several months later - we discovered the authorities (VNF) had awarded us a contract for  five years (with a very modest yearly fee). 

So now we have a base home from home. 

When we wish to move on, we can still untie the lines, fire up the engine and make way, but we are legal on the canal; we also understand that this is also acceptable by our insurance, should we wish to winter over in the same place.

We had some splendid times over the summer.  

My daughter whisked us off on a fabulous holiday in Portugal, where we enjoyed sun, sand and sea together with two of my grandchildren. We wangled a few sailing days between the northern Mediterranean coast of Spain and the fabled island of Corsica with Charles and Caroline on Itza Purla, and even had time to explore some of the mountains and hillside villages on the southern end of that island. 

Sap from fir trees

We’ve also enjoyed a week or two looking after friend’s dogs and cats, getting our ‘pet fix’ where and when we can.

Assorted friends and relatives came to visit us over the months, enjoying, we hope, the local wines along with gourmet treats of delicious breads and cheeses, fois gras, cassoulet and duck, to name a few;  finally cruising friends flew in to assist us on the uphill battle with the locks on our way past Toulouse to this, our winter port on the Canal du Midi, in Cathar country.

Fiona and Chris came to visit last year on the Midi - this year it is all uphill again - just a different canal!

Portugese castle

Markets are particularly popular in the summer time.  Stalls and vans are ranged around or under the ancient covered market squares of Bastide villages, overflowing with local produce (some of it - chickens and rabbits in particular - alive and kicking); fruit and veg, haberdashery and hardware, clothes, shoes and cushions are only a fraction of the enticing articles on display. 

 There is an abundance of foie gras, specialty cheeses including goats cheese, local yogurt, honey, preserves, olive oils, chutneys, locally grown prunes and olives bursting with flavour. 

There are white breads and brown breads, both paysanne and baguette; wines abound – red, white, rose and sparking, in bottles, jugs and boxes, together with Cognac and Armagnac. All manner of fowl (duck and goose being especially popular in the winter season) on display, side by side with vans or stalls offering the juiciest selections of pork, veal and beef (lets ignore the horse and rabbit) and often one can see locally hunted venison, together with sausages, mussels, oysters, fabulous paellas and selections of fish. Pies, pates, chocolates, coffee, teas and flavoured chocolate drinks - the list seems endless.

Cork from a cork tree

Hunting appears to be very popular in our rural area. The local "Chasse" can be heard popping away at anything and everything that moves, and seem to be particularly active on quiet Sunday mornings. A van will rush up and park next to a convenient field gate, and a man will throw open the back door, allowing a number of dogs of mixed breed, size and age to tumble out, each one baying with excitement. Off they go across the fields and farms for a morning's entertainment, and woe betide any stray creature that may cross their path. Rabbit, duck, pigeon, deer are all fair game in season (and "they" say - even songbirds and your favourite pooch may not be immune to the ravages of the hunt). At the end of the season the local hunt group will host a special gourmet dinner - for a mere 20 EU per person one can dine like a king on locally grown venison and game.

In the summer months we can meet with friends several times a week in one or another nearby village square to enjoy a night market, squeezing into a place on a bench or chair at the long tables set  up by the local Marie. 

Live chickens and pidgeons at market

 Various vendors sell food – with choices ranging from mussels, pizza, paella, salads, fries, duck, beef and sizzling pork - with varieties of cheeses, ice creams, strawberries, or fruit bowls to follow. Local vineyards sell their wines, by the bottle or by the glass (a bottle of water can cost nearly as much) and small cups of that strong coffee so beloved by the French are available.

Local musicians and bands arrive with their equipment to entertain (some better than others) and as the night wears on most of us manage to strut our stuff on the dance floor. The French still do ‘tea dances’ – and love to practice their fancy footwork - so often a pleasure to watch. Small children accompany their parents and grandparents, and groups of teenagers may be seen joining the dancing later in the evenings – all comers well behaved and all appearing to have fun.

Vide Grenier are also a common attraction and the one held in our village is especially good.  The term, loosely translated means 'empty your attic'. In Caumont the single road through the village (there is after all only one shop in the village it is so small,) is blocked off in the early hours of a summer morning, ensuring vendors adequate space to set up their wide ranging variety of tables and stalls. Parking thereafter is at a premium and one may have to walk over a kilometre or even from the next village to get to the scene of excitement. 

Barges in Portugal

 Who said one man's trash is another man's treasure? Well - here you may have it - whatever you want. Shoes, jewellery, crockery, books and furniture jostle with toys, house wares, tools, linens, the overflowing tables lining both sides of the street. 

In the bright sunshine deals are struck and happy, smiling customers carry away their booty. At the end of the day children struggle with armloads of toys; baby carriages overflowing with clothes are pushed away; school desks and chairs are lugged off by sweating dads; wine racks and tools, teapots and towels find new homes. Contented stall owners pack up in the waning light, and by the next morning the village has returned to it's normal sleepy routine.

Wild pigs roam Corsican mountains

Between all these wonderful holiday breaks we worked on the boat – painting and grinding, grinding and painting! We now boast fresh new paint on decks, the back patio and on the superstructure. We had already explored the bilges, scraping away what little rust we could find and re-coating the metal with that nasty grungy grease. 

The galley is functional with a new cooker and a household fridge freezer, a tiled shower has been installed, and a washing machine arrived to take up space in the head. Mike continues to work his magic with electrical fittings and water hoses. New cupboards line the walls, fresh paint adorns the bedroom, and still we have plans for more. 

Mountain village, Corsica

By October we were firmly ensconced in the Port of Castelnaudary for the winter season (October through till April 1) where there are several other boats whose owners also live on board permanently. The VNF use the winter months to do repair work on the ecluse gates, and often on the canal banks where they get washed away. 

Molly and  Doug came to visit

Now they also have to do a great deal of work felling and replacing many of the majestic plane trees that line so many kilometers of the winding canal banks, providing much needed shade and whose roots also keep the canal banks strong and solid. The beautiful 200 year old trees have a diseaase - which we are told was brought into the country by American ammunition boxes during the war. 

It will be very sad to see the changes as time progresses, and other less attractive trees spread along the canals.