Friday 14 June

We did not get details of the tide timings for leaving Begles in Pauillac.  We got here too late to speak to the harbourmaster here.  So Richard is trying to work it out.  The problem is that each book suggests a different answer.  We were also told that because the river is in flood from the snow melting in the mountains, local knowledge of how the tide will be affected is necessary.  Richard thinks we probably should leave about 9:00am, on the basis that it is 25 miles and high water at the lock is at 2pm, and that will work out with the opening hours of the Capitainerie in Begles, 9:00am.  Anyway we have to get fuel and there is a fuel pontoon here.  The problem is that it is inside the harbour where we have been warned the currents make it very difficult to manoeuver.

So we stay in bed a bit longer than we thought and Richard goes to speak to the Harbourmaster.  It is now 9:00am and he comes back in a hurry saying we should have left at 8:00!  Well, nothing to do for it but to press on.  So we make our way to the fuel pontoon.  We are advised to go in backwards so at the face the tide.  Richard does a great job in lining up and we tie up with no problems.  Then we fill up.  Needed over 60 litres of fuel.  And off we go up the river.

The day seems nice.  It is bright and the sun shines through quite a lot of light cloud.  It is a bit cool however, and we have to go back to wearing our fleeces, at least initially.  The river here is much prettier.  It is not so wide and it is wooded down to the shore.  Hence all the driftwood we have been coping with.  We pass the famous names in wine, including Barsac.  We see a fair amount of birdlife including hawks and herons.  Then as we are going along I note what appears to be a large piece of wood in the water.  When I look closer I see that that top keeps moving back and forth.  It is not a piece of wood at all.  It is a deer swimming along.  Amazing.  I hope the poor thing made it.

The weather has brightened up.  We have decided to motor at full pelt, going 6.5 knots to make up for lost time.  But we lose the advantage of the tide fairly early on and the journey takes a bit longer than we expected.  Long before high tide the melted snow coming downstream from the Pyrenees beats the incoming tide and we eventually have 3 knots of current against us.  But by 1:30pm we have made it to the first lock in the canal system.  We actually go through two locks and then decide to stop for the night in the port at Castets.  It is a very pretty spot.  They are very friendly and the harbourmaster directs us into a space where we moor stern to in Mediterranean style for the first time.  We did have the advantage of someone on the shore taking our stern lines, but we managed very smoothly.  We guess we will learn.

We have been worried about getting the licence to use the canal which we know we have to pay for.  But that is all sorted out here.  The harbourmaster does that, and we are now legal.  We take a walk around the town.  It is very tiny with little here.  There is a small grocers, a bakery and a butcher, but that is it.  It is now mid-afternoon and it has got very hot and sunny.  We settle down in the cockpit, but I can't take sitting in the sun for too long.  So again up goes the bimini.

Life here so far is very laid back.  We think the journey will be very pretty, but the locks will be hard work.  Two today tired me and we will have to do at least 6-8 a day to make sufficient progress.  We shall see how we get on.