I haven't written any blog for the past three days because we have had no internet access. Richard kept thinking that the signal was too weak to make our Domino (the internet hub come dongle) work. It turns out that our contract expired! Yes, we have been messing around here in France for well over a month.
Anyway, after our night mooring in the wild we set out to Castelnaudary. For the first three locks, which were still ascending, we were in the company of an English motor boat from the Hamble. We had seen them earlier in this trip. They had been back to the UK, so missed the excitement of the closed canal system. They stopped off early to watch the BGP on their satellite tele and we carried on. The excitement was that by then we had reached the water shed of the canal system and all the locks from now on will be going down, not up. The importance of that is two-fold. Firstly it means I don't have to be let off the boat before the lock or climb any ladders. I just need to jump off the boat in the lock to deal with the lines and then step back on board when the boat descends a little. Also it is safe for me to go aboard early because these locks have lock keepers who can stop the cycle if anything goes wrong. More importantly is that there is no turbulence on entering the lock or when it descends. That means Richard's job in controlling the boat is much easier.
On entering our first downhill lock we are really pleased to find how much easier it is to deal with. However, then what seems to be disaster strikes. The lock keeper tells us that there is a problem with the lock gates two locks ahead. It is Sunday so they do not know if it can be fixed! When we get to the next lock we find they are not letting anyone through because of the problem at the next lock. Anyway, it is now lunch time. Because we no longer are using automatic locks, the locks are closed everyday from 12:30 for an hour for lunch. All very French. We wait through lunch and don't hear anything. We have reconciled ourselves to spending the night on the waiting posts before this lock so decide to take a walk instead. As we walk towards the lock we notice another boat that was stopped behind us moving forward and note that the lock gates are now open! We have a word with the lock keeper and she confirms that the problem with the next lock has been fixed. So we dash back to the boat and cast off. They waited for us in the lock, which was kind. The other boat turned out to be three couples from New Zealand (although I gather one of the couples now lives in the UK). They were very jolly and helpful. They accompanied us through all the next locks and with their spare crew helped us with our lines. We went through our first multi-chamber locks. They are interesting. They are all in a row. When you leave the first lock you go straight through to another lock and so it goes. On this part of the canal there are locks with up to 6 chambers! The New Zealanders taught me how to walk the bow line through from one chamber to the other, which means Richard doesn't have to run forward to sort the bowlines out between chambers.
In this cheerful manner we make it to Castlenaudary in good time. We seem to have left the New Zealanders behind when we arrive in the town. We find an excellent berth right in the middle of the town with all facilities. So we can walk into town in minutes and there is electricity, water and good showers and toilets. Now all we need to do is find a restaurant open on Sunday night to have our dinner of Cassoulet! I look for the New Zealanders, but don't see them, when we walk into town to sus out the restaurants. We identify a few that look likely and then make it back to the boat. The weather has turned really lovely. It is sunny and warm. When I get back to the boat I see one of the New Zealanders and he tells me the terrible news. They decided to moor up on a bank and one of the women jumped off and fell into a hole breaking her ankle in two places! She is in a terrible state and will probably have to be repatriated to New Zealand. It was the last day of their canal trip. How awful. I feel really bad for them. They were so good hearted and pleasant.
We do eventually wind up in a pleasant restaurant and have their slap up top of the range Cassoulet. It is very good, but also very rich! The confit de canard is particularly nice. There is also a lot of it! Nonetheless we also indulge in an cafe liegeoise for desert. We will fast tomorrow! With the meal we drink what is nearly the most expensive local wine on the menu. A Minervois! Haven't had one of those in years. It was much better than I remember. Actually a Minervois la Liviniere, a separate appellation from the stuff we drank when we were much younger.
On Monday we set off. The first lock is a four chamber job. Very interesting to manoeuvre, but all still much easier that the upwards locks. We make very good progress. Even with stopping for a lunch break, when we aren't eating lunch, we are well ahead of time. But we do not want to try to get in to Carcassonne. Firstly, it is too risky, we might not make it before the locks shut at 7:00pm. Secondly we are told that we must reserve a berth there and we have only asked for a berth from tomorrow. So we look for a 'wild stop'. The guide we have suggests that there are three places were we might stop. The first one is completely taken up by hire boats (even though there is supposed to be a public quay). The next one has only one obviously permanent houseboat barge on it (it even has a garden planted in front of it!). So we stop despite the fact that it says the berth has priority for commercial boats. But we have seen no commercial boats all day, so we aren't concerned. The problem is that there is little to moor to. There is one convenient ring for a stern line, but only a cleat yards apart and used by the houseboat for the bow. So we actually use the spikes we bought to tie up. They work fine. I never thought we would use them at all. Mind you, they cost a fortune, much more than several days mooring here on the canal. The average price to moor for the night with showers, water and electricity has been about 8-10 Euro!
So well settled, we find it is another lovely, if very hot afternoon. We see a sign that says there are shops, cafes and a restaurant 500m ahead so we decide to walk there to see what is happening. The answer is that nothing is happening. The closest town is nearly 2km away. The village we are moored in is nothing more than a dozen houses! So back to the boat for a meagre supper and to bed.
Today we set off latish to go to Carcassonne. We have booked an alongside berth and we are really looking forward to seeing the town. This was the one place we promised ourselves to spend a couple of days in. We are joined on our way by another boat. It has a French family on board. It is a hire boat and they have no idea what they are doing. In the first lock they let their lines go when the first lock doors closed! We manage to negotiate all the locks with them in with us without mishap, which is something of a miracle. We are a bit confused about where we will moor. The books all show the port being just before the lock in the town. However, the harbourmaster was quite specific in telling us that our berth would be just after the lock. It becomes clear how it works. The stern to moorings are before the lock and the alongside ones are after. So we have to fiddle around for ages to wait to go through the last lock and find our berth. But there it is and we seem happily settled. We have arrived well before lunch, so we have lunch on board. While the lock is closed a number of hire boats tie up near us. Nearly all of them leave when the lock opens. They can moor stern to. One of them is in a crew of South Africans. He says they want to move to the other side because they are told that there are Gypsies in the area that invade boats and mess them up if the owners aren't on board. I don't worry about it too much because we plan to eat on the boat for the next two nights. We are booked into a Michelin 2 rosette restaurant for lunch tomorrow!
So off we go to walk to the old City. First stop is the Orange shop. Yes, our contract expired and we have bought another month's worth. We won't be here for that long, but Guy will be coming and we can had it over to him. Anyway, we must have internet and there seems to be precious little free WIFI and that is very weak!
So on to the Citadel. We buy the audio guides and spend hours looking around. It puts Dinan in the shade. It is grander than Mt St Michel, but the crowded streets and the shops reminds me of that.
We stop for a drink and then make our way back to the boat. As we approach the boat I get concerned. There is a group of 12-18 young people all near our boat and one of them is about to board as we approach. When we shout at him he backs off, but they start to get very rowdy. They are very drunk. I think some of them are smoking dope. I find them very frightening and it gets worse. The one who tired to board before tries it again when we are on board and keeps staring and shouting. One other puts his face up to one of the saloon windows. We were supposed to be having a BBQ but we dare not go out in the cockpit. We just don't know what to do. In desperation I go to the Capitainerie. It is manned with one young woman who can't really do anything. So she phones the police. We tried to do that, but obviously someone in authority makes them more willing to help. I am not convinced that will be a good thing, but there seems nothing else to do. I can't cope with these people there. I am in a terrible state.
The police turn up fairly soon. They do move the mob on, but I am still nervous they will return and realise that it was us who asked the police to come. But they seem to have gone. So we light the BBQ and make our dinner. Richard gives me a rum and coke to calm down. So now it is quite late and no one has returned, so I hope we can relax. I hope tomorrow is calmer. We shall see if we should move. It means going back through a lock, but if it means no repeat of tonight, I don't mind.
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