Windmills & wine

[Irish Rambler]

Ah Oliver, we're up the Rhone at the moment just getting the finishing parts of our summer cruise completed before we close the 'Windmills and Wine' thread. If we can get to our car we'll PM you.
A wee tip, if you leave Port Vendres check your charts as there's a channel between the outer 2 islands at Cap Bear that saves you about 10k's and all the lobster pots.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Beautiful timeless design of a Gentleman's yacht Oliver, a classic in her time.
If we can get to our car we'll PM you for a visit in Sete marina.

 

[User915]

Sad that the Windmills and Wine thread is reaching the end, you have done a wonderful work, telling fascinating stories about each site you stopped by.

In my opinion you should take the time to write a review of your journey as well on the international forum Cruisersforum.com, many of whose members are based in Europe, having extensive practice of cruising the region.

Thanks for the tip, I will check about the channel. I have stopped in Port Vendres only once so far, while a big storm of which the area holds the secret and that hit you at summertime without any form of warning.

Then I have mostly done a direct route from Antibes to Arenys De Mar (North East of Barcelona), with a Grand Banks it was about a 24-hour non-stop crossing when weather permitted an average speed of 11 knots (map attached).

But I can't wait for the coastal navigation of next week with only the typical murmuring of the two Gardner engines.

'Gentleman's yacht', you rightly pointed her out. Designed by G.L. Watson, she is recorded at NRHV - National Register of Historic Vessels - National Historic Ships UK.

I hope you can make it in Sète marina.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Thank you for the kind words Oliver.
The idea of the post originally was to dispel the myth that trawler yachts couldn't use the canals for any visiting skippers by education, the points of interest was to inspire and encourage skippers to show there's also family entertainment.
I must admit to a sideswipe at the French government for there failure to open 'The missing link' from the French Moselle into Luxembourg for the benefit of French industry.
Maybe now they're looking for hydro electric schemes to replace nuclear it should be utilised for the benefit of France.
We'll try for Sete, how about a nice fish meal on the quayside on us ?

 

[Irish Rambler]

At last I'm able to upload photo's again after an IT glitch.
The photos below are of the Knights Templar castle at La Couvertirade.
Inside the castle is a complete village and the castle was self sufficient from surrounding farmland..

 

[Irish Rambler]

Due to an IT upload glitch I can only upload 1 photo at a time from inside La Couvertirade.
This is obviously a Knights Templar outfit.
These Knights Templar lived in a great hall within the village.

 

[Irish Rambler]

More photo's.
1, Small narrow streets gave shadow and funnelled the wind to keep cool in summer.
2, Stone staircase leading to the Knights Templar great hall and the church.
3. During WW2 some young French patriots were hiding from the Germans, the Germans searched the village, found them, took them out, tortured them and then shot them, this plaque commemorates their sacrifice.

 

[Irish Rambler]

1. This is the Knights Templar cemetery.
2. The coat of arms above the door denotes the La Couvertirade grand masters residence.

 

[Irish Rambler]

1. Illustrated layout of La Couvertirade.
2. Cemetery plaque.
3, Knights Templar headstone.

 

[Peter B]

Lovely photos, and what an experience being there, and able to do all that. I really admire what you have done and rather envy the fact you are able to. I must content myself by the vicarious pleasure I can obtain from the pictures, as I doubt I will ever get there in person. For your next trip..?

 

[Irish Rambler]

Thank you Peter for your kind comments.
My intention was always to show the diversity of opportunities in the European canal system especially for anyone with a trawler yacht or similar.
Most people only believe the fiction from various Knights Templar spinoff books and I'm happy to show some facts.
Sure the only way to see your country is courtesy of Messrs Rolls Royce and Boeing and were coming over in Oct to Melbourne, Cairns & Sydney.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Final photo's of La Couvertirade.
1, All the roofs are sheeted in stone slates, when it snows the snow lies on the slates and provides insulation.
2.This is the Knights Templar Great Hall, sadly we weren't allowed in to take photo's for you.
3. Windmills ? look up on the top of the ridge ! this mill ground corn for bread making.


I hope you enjoyed an insight into the Knights Templars village.

 

[FlyWright]

2.This is the Knights Templar Great Hall, sadly we weren't allowed in to take photo's for you.

I got this one while they weren't looking.

Great trip and story telling, IR!

 

[hfoster]

Irish,

Wonderful work you did on this and great photos as well.

Thank you Mate for sharing your wonderful trip with us.

Cheers Mate.

H.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Beautiful photo FlyWright, I'm sorry I missed it and annoyed I couldn't get in but the caretaker must have been on his day off as nothing I did would tempt them to open up.
Always happy to help H

 

[Irish Rambler]

We'll soon be closing this thread as we don't wish to hog the TF.
But before we do we have a piece of Roman history for you.
This aqueduct is called the Pont du Gard, Pont of course is bridge and it's in the Gard region in Southern France. Close enough to the river Rhone to make it worthwhile taking a day trip from the boat to see it.. Remember the Gardians (cowboys) of the Camargue bulls and horses we spoke of earlier.
This bridge was built over 2,017 years ago by the Romans to transport water from the Uzes mountains to supply the city of Nimes 45 kilometres away. The aqueduct followed around the contours of the hills, across valleys like this one and through tunnels. the Romans calculated the fall of the aqueduct so the water would travel at walking speed and the water engineers could walk alongside and check its progress.
The stone to build the aqueduct came from a quarry just 600 metres downriver from the aqueduct and was cut on site and transported to the site on rafts.
Photo's.
1, Pont du Gard from the rive gauche (left bank.
2, Ditto, forgive the shroud around the camera lens in some photo's as it was in full sun @ 35 degrees.
3 & 4, Pont du Gard from the rive droit (right bank).


This aqueduct transported 20,000 litres (20 tonnes) of water per hour.
The Romans allowed 1,000 litres of water per person per day which allowed for personal use, cooking, Roman baths and swimming pools.
As a contrast, municipal authorities today allow just 400 litres per person per day.

 

[User915]

We'll soon be closing this thread as we don't wish to hog TF.
But before we do we have a piece of Roman history for you.

The magnifique aqueduc 'Le Pont du Gard' !

 

[Irish Rambler]

Now how did they do it ?
Photo's.
1,Cranes, winches and pulley blocks were built of wood.
2, ramps and rollers were used too.
3&4, To get the blocks into place.
5, Arches were built using wooden frames and the last block to be fitted in the top was called the keystone.
6, I'm sure some of you recognise this symbol ?

 

[Irish Rambler]

How did they dig tunnels ?
To avoid having to use scaffolding inside a tunnel they dug out the top half first, then they dug the lower channel.
1, excavating the lower section.
2, An arch was built at the entrance/exit of tunnels.
3, Right hand side of the tunnel finished.


To lift blocks of stone onto the higher parts of the aqueduct the Romans built a giant winch, on one end of the spindle they built an enormous wheel just like a hamster wheel, only this one had men inside, the more men the more powerful the winch.

 

[Irish Rambler]

The interior photos are from the museum beside the aqueduct.


Photo's.
1, Plan of the aqueduct route.
2, Sheet lead was used and rolled to form a tube, then soldered along the join. connected together they were used to distribute water around Nimes.
3, This is water siphon.
4, The romans weren't shy as these communal toilets show, the effluents was carried away by running water in dedicated channel.

 

[Irish Rambler]

What is it like on top ? we joined a conducted tour to find out.


1, The water flowing through the aqueduct deposited a lime coating of 1 millimetre per year.
2, You can see the original wall on the right and the thickness of lime after 500 years transporting water.
3, The red colouration in the photo is the remains of the clay coating initially applied by the Romans to make the aqueduct watertight.
4, Normally flat slabs covered the aqueducts to save evaporation and keep the water clean and pure.
5, View from the top to the river below, the river banks provide a leisure area for families and the river is shallow at this point so the water is warm to play in.
6, Click on this photo to enlarge and you can see the strata of limestone build up.
7, When the water had crossed the aqueduct it entered a tunnel here on its journey onwards.

 

[Irish Rambler]

After the Romans left the aqueduct fell slowly into disrepair as people stole the slabs covering the aqueducts, this allowed the previously pure water to be contaminated by trees, leaves, dead animals and it became unfit for drinking and was then used for irrigation.
Several of the smaller viaducts and channels were robbed of their stone for building churches.
What saved the Pont du Gard was its sheer size and the difficulty in stealing the stone.
Now of course its a well preserved tourist attraction with firework displays and creative lighting at night to entertain visitors.

 

[Irish Rambler]

In conclusion I thank the TF site team for their tolerance of my ramblings and to each and every one of you who've visited the site.
Apologies for being mercenary but as we've no sponsors we sell books on Amazon and various other sites to fund our travels they are:-


1, How To Enjoy Cruising Into Retirement.
2, How to Cruise Between Two Seas.
3,The Wolfs Lair.
4, Encore.
5, Windmills and Wine.


If you search on Amazon.com for any of the titles by Geoff Woolley, or simply Google them they're available either as a quality paperback which make great reference books, or as e-books.


What next ?
Were going off on a trip to Singapore, Australia, Hawaii, San Francisco, and Miami courtesy of Messrs Rolls-Royce and Boeing.
Next year ? were not sure yet but we'll definitely be putting some more miles under 'Snow Mouse's keel.

Our heartfelt thanks to everyone, we the crew of 'Snow Mouse' Geoff and Evelyne, wish you good health, happiness and safe cruising wherever you are.

 

[FlyWright]

Beautiful photo FlyWright, I'm sorry I missed it and annoyed I couldn't get in but the caretaker must have been on his day off as nothing I did would tempt them to open up.

Of course...just kidding. I stole the image from some internet page, but I believe it's the interior.

 

[User915]

Good bye Windmills & Wine, time to sing 'Auld Lang Syne' ?

PM sent about meeting this week.

 

[Irish Rambler]

You rascal FlyWright, I was a bit miffed after us knocking on the door for nearly 40 minutes. I guess the caretaker was a non believer !
But a beautiful photo, brings back memories.

 

[Irish Rambler]

The grand finale on Windmills and Wine subject of the Knights Templar.
Fly wright (and anyone else interested in solving a puzzle) here's the clues.
There were 20,000 Knights Templar, 2,000 of those were in the military wing and they were annihilated by the King of France at the behest of the pope, that left 18,000 administrators and their great skill was in secretive ?
Where did the Templars hide their vast wealth where they could watch it ?
Many of the Knights Templar were French or affiliated to French preceptories.
How did they hide their VDM ?
If you wish to change you appearance you turn your coat inside out to reverse it, but it's still a coat.
A secret shared is not a secret anymore so you've got to work it out.