The summer solstice is today and it is the longest day in the year. So here quite far south one might expect a lovely long sunny day. Well, that is not exactly what we got. The day started with a hint of brightness, but that very soon went away. When we left Castelsarrasin it was just dull, but by the time we got to the first lock (only 500m away) the rain was threatening. So on again with all the waterproof gear. The locks here are quite close together. The plan is to go as far towards Toulouse as we can. There is a long 18km stretch without locks and we would like to finish that. We will just find any place to moor the boat even if it is just one of the waiting pontoons for a lock. Then we hope to get to Toulouse tomorrow.
We are told that the good marina in the centre of Toulouse needs to be booked in advance. Richard didn't get around to phoning them before we left our berth, so I ask him to do so while we are under way. That is when we get our first shock. The lady Capitaine says that she is full because the canal is closed between us and Toulouse. She suggest we speak to one of the local capitaineries to find out what is happening. Richard tries to ring Montech, the next proper port, but can get no reply. All that happens is the line goes dead. We had heard a rumour about this yesterday. We were speaking to a Brit who had emigrated to South Africa on the boat next door and he said that he heard that a bit of canal just before Toulouse had been closed. We spoke to the Capitanerie at Castelsarrasin about it and after going on the computer they said there was no warning about such a problem, so we assumed that whatever had happened had been fixed. We were wrong and the office at Castelsarrasin obviously did not make proper enquiry. I am not happy about pressing on only to find that we might have to go back to where we started. It is bad enough doing all these locks without having to repeat any three times!
We get to the next lock and find the VNF man who helped us through the last lock yesterday. He is very nice. He confirms that there is a problem. The canal is fine until Montech, but after that it has been closed because there was a mini tornado and the way is blocked by fallen trees! He cannot say when it will be cleared. He says we will need to ask at Montech. So that is plan A ruined. We shall just have to go to Montech and stay there.
We press on. The weather is getting worse and worse. The rain is persistent and steady. We are OK in our waterproofs, but this was not what we expected. There are 8 locks between Castelsarrasin and Montech. The last five are in a chain with each one 500m from the last. I am dreading this. Five locks to jump on and off and tie up all in a row are going to be hard work. As we get in the last lock before the chain there is a notice on the machine that works the lock to say you must ring up to go through the next 5 locks. Richard understands that I need a piece of paper to write down the number so we can ring them but he can't go below to get them because he is fully occupied keeping the boat from smashing against the lock wall. (The way it works is like this. We are going upstream. When the lock gates open we take the boat into the lock. The crew then goes up a ladder to tie the boat up and to press a button to set the lock sequence in motion. The gate behind us closes and the sluices in the gate in front of us open, letting in a surge of water. At this stage the water in the lock is fairly shallow so the surge produces a wave that comes down the lock. When it hits the gate behind us it bounces back. Each time it passes the boat is flung back or forwards with considerable force. For the first couple of minutes, until the water gets to about half way up the lock, the skipper needs to keep the boat off the walls of the lock - sometimes quite an effort.) Finally I take over holding one of the mooring lines, he gets paper and pencil and I get the number and jump on board. I don't know what you are supposed to do if you have no mobile phone!
So Richard rings the number and they tell him it is fine for us to go through the locks. It turns out that these locks are not automated and we have a lock keeper at each one. Also the locks are set up in such a way that all we need to do to safely secure is to get a single line from the centre cleat on to a long pole in the lock. Easy peasy. So with someone else working the lock mechanism, and only having to fix one line we get through the locks in record time with minimal stress or effort. Were it that all of them were like that. The only bad thing is that the last lock keeper says that the canal past here will not be open before Monday!
So we get to Montech. As we expected it is rather full. I guess there are a lot of others in the same position as us. Also, most of the berths are stern to without anything to hold the stern off the stone wall. Richard won't moor in one of them. We are about to go back to a bit of municipal wall, which we saw on the way in. It doesn't seem to have any amenities, but there are bollards to tie to. However as we are about to turn around, a boat next to us shouts asking if we are English and saying they are just about to leave (going the opposite way from us) and we can have their space. It is an odd berth. It is a wooden jetty about 6 foot wide. There are bollards on the land at the back (a long way away). It isn't ideal for our shape boat, but at least it is somewhere to stop. There does not seem to be any electricity, though apparently there is water, because the boat leaving is just doing usp his hose. We have arrived just after 12:30, and the office is closed until 4:30! So we just decide to take the space. At least we have somewhere to stop. It takes us quite a long time to work out how to tie up to this arrangement, but we are now safely in.
However, I am not happy. I guess we will be able to use the port showers and toilets, but the thought of being here 3 days with no electricity and in bad weather is not what I want to do. I suggest to Richard that when the office (which is also the tourist office) opens we enquire about hiring a car and go away. However, he has a better idea. His nose is in the Michelin guide and he has found a top rate hotel and spa with a one rosette restaurant in the next town. Before I know it he has booked us a room, for tomorrow night and got us a reservation in the restaurant. They are also going to try to organise getting us appointments for massages! So that will take up most of the weekend and hopefully we can move on Monday.
We hang around the boat until the office opens. The weather is getting worse and worse and the rain is getting harder. When we get to the office we find that we are in one of the port's official berths and there is electricity. We have paid 21 Euro to stay for three nights with power. I guess we can't complain about that.
Despite the rain we decide to have a little wander in to the town. On the way we find a workshop that claims it does metalwork. We stop to ask if they have anything we can use for mooring stakes. They find a long heavy metal pole. They saw it in half for us and give it to us for free! The only problem will be that the poles don't have pointy ends to push into the earth. However, for the moment everything is so wet I would guess they could be pushed in using a hammer. We will try them out and see what happens. We also find a nice little cave and buy two bottles of the local wine. It is called Fronton. It is an appellation, though we have never heard of it. We buy two bottles, one in the top range - 11 Euros and the other average, 6 Euros! It is supposed to go well with Cassoulet, the local dish. We have a tin of that to eat, so maybe after our gourmet weekend out!
On 21 June it is tradition in France for there to be a music festival. We see they are doing one here tonight. We get the details, but the weather is so awful, we don't have the energy to go out. Maybe next year on the coast!
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