The canal du midi

Just before the last lock we stopped at a canal side restaurant called Ecluse 52, as you know by now an Ecluse is a lock, number 52 is the 52nd lock.

Photo's,
1, Click on this picture to enlarge it.
This restaurant specializes in destroying diets !
Seriously this is the standard 'plat du jour'. Beautiful food, many chefs could learn a thing or two in presentation and quality, as it was reasonably priced its no wonder it was doing a roaring profitable trade.

2,Entering lock 53 the signs mean that the end of the canal is in 3 kms.

3,Passing through the lock, the small cabin is where the lock keeper (eclusier) operates the controls.

4,This is the last lock, the diamond affixed to the bridge gantry depicts the navigable arch.

5,Same lock different view.

6,This is the lock keepers house, its built so high because of the flooding in the Garonne estuary, the lock keeper and his family move to the top floor in times of flooding.

7, Apologies for the turned photo. The blue line up the side of the house shows the height/year of the flood.

8, This part of France was ruled by the British for over 200 years and the old Chateau in the background was built by them. The steps in the foreground lead up to an electricity supply box (called a Borne). Set high because of the regular flooding.

9, Local houses all are set high and accessed by steps.

10, The lock keepers wife is a keen gardener as these flowering shrubs show.


Since leaving Narbonne we've travelled 373 kilometres, passed through 111 locks and taken over a thousand photo's, the best of which you see on this forum.
What next ? Well we turn right around and head back to our home port of Narbonne and hopefully squeeze a short trip out into the Mediterranean.
I'll continue to add things of interest we see on our return journey.

The first 2 photo's are 'Deja vu' for me personally as our family company used to transport pig skin in refrigerated trailers from Hanley's pork factory in Ireland to this factory at Buzet here in France.
Which just happens to lie alongside the Canal Lateral a La Garonne and where I often sat with a coffee and daydreamed of bringing a cruiser along here one day.
Both factories have long since closed and I'm retired, little did I know that they,and others like them, would make my dreams come true.

DH Lawrence( of Arabia) once said and I quote.
Beware of a man who dreams with his eyes open, for his dreams will come true. End quote.

Photo,
3, Traditional building, clay to manufacture bricks and sand were plentiful in this region.

4,5,6,
The is the pretty port of Castlesarrisan. The farmers market here is one of the best in the region. If you wish to buy a chicken it will still be clucking, rabbits likewise are sold fully clothed and hopping around.

7, This beautifully architectured and built 'Chateau du L Eau' water tower.

8, Its functional modern equivalent.
These water towers are built near a fresh water spring and the water is pumped up into the bowl for distribution by gravity.

Hello Geoff - reads like a terrific trip - are you on the way back ? Hoping to be in Narbonne tomorrow morning.
Le Grand Slam

Brilliant trip so far Michael.
So far on the canal Lateral a La Garonne we've seen Spanish, French, Swedish, British, Belgian, Dutch and us guys, testimony to the function of this canal being served after 200 years in constant service.
We were short of Wi-Fi in the boonies but hang in there, there's more photo's on the way.

Michael, its normal to welcome 'Newbie's' to TF, I was so pleased to see you'd joined us that I was remiss and overlooked etiquette. Please accept my apologies.
We'll hopefully meet for a chinwag over a glass depending on how long you plan to be in Narbonne.

How do you get a boat to go uphill ?
Either by Lock, a wheel(as in Falkirk wheel in Scotland) ship lift as in Strepy Theiu in Belgium, inclined plane as in Ronquerres(Belgium) and Arzvillier(France).

Any other ideas ?

How about pushing it uphill with a railway engine ?
In Montech on the canal Lateral a la Garonne there's a water slope, as you'll see in the photo's below.
Invented by a French engineer Msr Jacques Aubert this unusual, and unique, approach was used to bypass a flight of 5 locks.
The 'U' shaped concrete groove is called a furrow, as you can see there are 2 ex railway, 1,000 horsepower diesel electric motors rigidly connected by a cross beam, the train wheels have been replaced by hydraulically driven rubber tyred wheels that run in a small guide groove.
It took 45 minutes to ascend/descend saving 45 minutes passing through the flight of 5 locks.
The 'mask' or 'guillotine' would be raised and a boat guided in and secured, the mask would then be lowered and the journey would begin, a special series of rollers formed a seal with the 'furrow' as it proceeded to go up/down the slope.

Photo's
1,Obviously the photo looking up the water slope gives a better explanation than words of mine.

2,Look closely at the photo and you can see the 2 diesel engines with the mask raised as it would be to allow a boat to enter/leave, just behind it is the cross beam and down on the mask bottom, the line of blue fenders.

3,Another shot of the beam and fenders. The whole structure is 'out of bounds' for safety reasons and to stop souvenir hunters stealing parts of it and guys like me crawling all over it taking photo's, but as long as you're quick and nip over at lunchtime when the French lock keepers are sitting around the table. Lunch is sacrosanct in France.

A few facts, The whole installation is 1,453 feet long, 20 feet wide, the degree of slope is 3% and transit time was 20 minutes.

First inaugurated on the 8th of August 1974 and in constant use until the end of 2005, over 10,000 boats used it during its operational life.
If ever a project was crying for restoration as a tourist attraction this is it.
There's another identical water slope to this one at Beziers on the canal du Midi which was used to bypass a flight of 7 locks.
The flights of locks are still in use.

The flight at Bezier is a particular tourist attraction because of the antics of novice boat hirers as they encounter it for the first time and the odd crunch of fibreglass is not unknown. The wise boater chooses his time and passes when no 'Bumper boats'(hire boats) are around.

I referred in the previous post about the water slope at Montech.
just to update the specs the total weight of the 'mask' or 'guillotine' it weighs 196 tons.
Talking of guillotine's, in France the guillotine was used for many years for capitol punishment, including their royalty.
The last man to be executed before capitol punishment was abolished in 1977 was a Tunisian immigrant Hamida Djandoubia for kidnapping, torturing and raping a 22 year old French girl.

On a lighter note here are some more photo's for you.

1, To help to orientate you.

2, Very smart bemedaled French Foreign Legionnaires parading in Castlenaudary, the guy in the red jacket on the left of the photo is the band conductor.
The hats the Legionnaires are wearing are called Kepi's.

3, For those who are unfamiliar with locks, the concrete lip at the bottom of the gate is called a 'Cill'.
The overflow is because the river Garonne ably feeds this section of the canal very well.

4,This hotel for insects was made by local school children, overnight and long term stays are free for the visitors.

5, Isn't this a good idea ? Translated it means a box of books.
Situated beside a marina, everyone's free to donate/exchange books from children's learning books right up to light reading, poetry and science in several languages.
Vandalism is non existent here in this lovely village.

6,Pretty bargee's houses, now of course privately owned but keeping the ambience of a bygone era.

7, Everywhere you go there's an Irish pub, did we visit ?
Has the pop got a balcony ?

8,Very pretty lock at the start of the canal du Midi.

9,This old time tug is now retired, just like its owner.

10, This is an old time Peniche working barge (with 85 tons of concrete as ballast) that been converted to a passenger boat. A trip along the canal to experience passage through the locks and admire the scenery with lunch served on board will set you back 60 Euro's a head.

Photo's,
1, Passing through Toulouse gave me an opportunity to retake a better photo for you in Toulouse old port of the carving depicting the junction of the canal du Midi with the canal du Brienne and the canal Lateral a la Garonne.

2,3, OK you flyboys name these aeroplanes.
They're exhibits in the Airbus factory in Toulouse.

4,This flyboy struts about his domain and if anyone goes near him he puts his head down in attack mode, hisses, spreads his wings and raises his feathers until you get the message.

5,As I explained earlier this canal was originally called 'The Royal Languedoc canal'.
After they chopped off the kings head in the revolution the communists renamed it the canal due Midi and any references to royalty were destroyed, including the Royal coat of arms over this bridge.
They kept the Royal palace for their leaders though !

6, This barge descending the lock has just left the dockyard after a hull repaint job is being moved by a small but powerful pusher tug at the rear.

7, Look closely at this disused lock keepers house and just behind the tree you can see a plaque affixed to the wall.

8, What the heck has America got to do with the canal du Midi ?
This is the aforementioned plaque, Thomas Jefferson visited here with his friend Msr Lafayette, click on the photo and test your French.

9, This shows the height above sea level of the 'bieff', 'pound,' or 'summit' level canal as 189 metres above sea level. To the left is the first lock going towards the Atlantic ocean at Bordeaux, to the right the canal descends to the Mediterranean sea.

10, The very clever uniquely shape of Msr Pierre Paul Riquets locks on the canal du Midi.
A boat moored in curve of the lock has relatively little disturbance from the incoming water compared to a straight sided lock.
My only gripe is the lack of mooring bollards for the type of traffic that now uses both the Garonne and Midi canals, and it's very annoying when travelling through.
Look closely at the photo and you'll see 2 large bollards at each end of the lock for a barges bow and stern ropes, in the centre are 2 smaller ones for spring ropes. They're impractical for the types of vessels that now use the canal and the addition of 4 more smaller bollards, one between each of the large bollards and spring bollards on each side would not break the bank and make whole the experience a joy to use.

All ships are special to their owners, I know were not supposed to get attached to inanimate objects but ships bring out a love within our breasts that quite frankly, borders on passion.

This famous 'Little Ship' is enjoying her retirement on the canal du Midi, moored in the port of Bram she stands head and shoulder above all around her.

During World War 2, when Great Britain stood alone against the might of the German army, the British expeditionary force was forced into a defensive enclave with its back to the beaches of Dunkirk.
The greatest Englishman in modern history, Sir Winston Churchill, knew that to have any chance at all of defending Great Britain from the Germans he needed to evacuate his army from Dunkirk so he took the unusual step of calling for all little ships to come to his aid and save the troops.
Little ships that were laid up during the war were immediately serviced, given fuel and put back in working order and sent across the channel under command of the Royal Navy. Crewed by old men, women and boys who were otherwise unfit for active military service.
It was called 'Operation Dynamo'
On Dunkirk's beaches, army vehicles were driven into the sea at low tide until their engines died, others behind pushed them out still further until crude piers were made.
Larger, deep water draught ships were loaded at Dunkirk's outer tidal jetties while the armada of little ships went in close and loaded soldiers from the crude piers, some with a shallow enough draft lifted them directly off the sandy beaches and ran a shuttle service to other ships lying off shore.
All the while they were under fire by the German Luftwaffe planes.
The loaded ships ran a shuttle service to Dover to unload their troops before returning to lift more, crews worked up to 60 hours nonstop before being relieved to snatch a little sleep before returning back to the task of saving the soldiers.
Among them was a ship called 'Omega' and she is credited with saving over 600 British soldiers lives.
Afterwards these brave ships and their crews became known as 'The Dunkirk Little Ships'
She's now the pride and joy of her Belgian owner Josef Langendonk who in 1995 attended a memorial crossing from Dunkirk to Dover and back in a re-enactment of her earlier brave exploits.

Please raise your glasses in salute to M.V. 'OMEGA'

How am I involved ?
An uncle, Cecil Gibson from Cookstown in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland was trapped behind enemy lines as the Germans advanced.
He went into a church and changed out of uniform and into a priests cassock and boldly walked through the German lines pretending to search for, and bless any wounded until he reached safety.
As he was getting onboard one of the little ships on the beach a wave came in and the wet cassock floated up around his neck and he nearly got drowned until willing hands pulled him on board.
He told me that was Gods way of chastising a Protestant for stealing a Catholics cassock.

A little bit about barges operating on the canal du Midi.

Photo's,
1, Here seen leaving a lock is the only commercial working barge to use this canal, she's transporting a load of heavy wooden planks for buildings. She also transports heavy transformers.

2, Working barges have priority at all times and the hire boats behind can't overtake this hotel barge 'Enchante', much to their frustration.

3,This barge has recently retired and you can see how high she sits in the water when unladen.

4, 'Blue boarding' is a term used for an approaching barge/boat to signify he wishes to pass you on the opposite side due to some restriction.
This photo shows the blue board, it also has a white scintillating light in the centre when in use.
When we meet a barge like this we hold up a blue towel to signify we have understood the message.
When not in use the board is turned horizontal.

5, When empty and high out of the water the wheel house sides all hinge down to pass under low bridges.

6, These shields over the prop and rudder help to direct thrust.


7, This fitting welded to the back allows another barge similarly fitted with a bow attachment to join 2 barges together. Steel hawsers are used to make a rigid combination doubling the payload, its cheaper than buying a bigger ship, they can be quickly separated/join to load/unload in different places but save fuel on a long journey.

8,Look closely at the photo, can you see the cow ? It looks like its connected to the wooden pole at 45 degrees but its just the angle of the camera shot.
Its a very simple rudder indicator.

9. Hotel barge 'Moonlight', notice how low in the water she sits, 150 tonnes of ready mixed concrete was used for ballast.

10, Each working barge must show its length 39 metres, breadth 5 metres and gross tonnage 375 tonnes.

We've certainly met some strange folk on our travels. Ranging from fanatical English (and the occasional French) barge owners who go into hysterics and start gesticulating and giving strange signs when you pass them travelling at more than 1 knot, I'm very particular and make darn sure I never create a wash when I pass moored craft.
I think they feel they own the waterway and no one should be allowed to disturb their tranquillity, virtually all are residential and the majority of the boats weigh well over 60 tonnes and any wash from me wouldn't even move their boat.

Photo's
1&2, This is not the most diplomatic person with these name plates on his boat. Its a bit of a delicate subject because any French person who studied history may well take offence.

3, This is the real HMS Victory on display in Portsmouth, it was Admiral Horatio Nelsons flagship and fought many significant naval battles against the French.(more photo's and description are in my book 'Encore' available from Amazon).


4, Bust of Admiral Horatio Nelson.
Nelson was an unconventional naval tactician In one battle the Dutch fleet anchored in a line along the shore facing out to sea, thinking they could bring all their guns firepower to bear to seawards and destroy the English fleet.
Nelson teased them until a high spring tide came, then with enough water under his keel sent the English fleet around the back between the Dutch fleet and the shore and pulverised the undefended side of the fleet.
Most naval engagements at that time consisted of two lines of opposing ships cruising along in parallel lines blasting away at one another until one side or the other broke off the engagement.
At the battle of Trafalgar Nelson appeared to be following standard practice but once his ships were in parallel with the French/Spanish fleet he turned them through 90 degrees and sailed between the opposing French and Spanish fleet and his cannon blasted at the unprotected sterns and bows severely damaging virtually all of the enemy ships.

His private life was just as unconventional too.
Nelson had a long running affair for many years with Lady Hamilton who's husband was a British ambassador, she bore Nelson a child however once Nelson was killed in battle she lost her protector and was shunned by social circles and eventually died penniless on the streets of Calais.

5, Plaque showing where Nelson was felled by a French snipers bullet.
His body was preserved in a barrel of Brandy and taken to Gibraltar for return to England for a state funeral.
It was rumoured that the brandy was later drunk by the officers of the English fleet, they proposed 'A toast in Nelsons Blood'.
Some traditional naval hands still make the toast on formal mess nights.

The famous tourist attraction Trafalgar square in London is named after that sea battle and Nelson column dominates the square. But look closely at all the lamp posts around the square, each has a model of a ship that took part in that battle, even in death Admiral Horatio Nelson can look out over his fleet.

The small town of Homps on the canal du Midi is in the middle of one of the largest wine growing departments in France, Languedoc Roussillon. when the canal enjoyed its heyday it was a thriving barge quay.

Photo's.
1, The noble grape. Did you know that some of the heavy reds are exported and blended with the lighter Californian reds to give them some more body. Ernst and Julio Gallo don't tell you that.

2,This is where it all begins.

3,The days of pretty young maids or old men with sweaty feet tramping the grapes have long gone. This is a retired old wine press.

4,The wine barrels depict the major export from this region.

5.Click on this shot to enlarge it. This is a fleet of hire boats awaiting customers, it's the busiest holiday period here in France at the time this photo was taken but these are still standing idle through greed.
The hire companies charge so much, not only the basic hire but also all the extra's they tack on that its become far too expensive, if they dropped the price they would encourage more people.
This particular company, Le Boat, has a terrible record for maintenance.

6,7, This company, Nicolls have a good customer maintenance record, they even hire out swimming pools to go with the boat, its attached by 2 1'1/2'' inch towing balls to the rear of the boat.

8, A young couple own this Danish sailboat and enjoying the canal du Midi..

Before the late JC was born the Romans occupied this part of France and relics of that time can still be seen in and around this region.
With such large garrisons and troops passing along the via Domitia Roman road a lot of food and wine were needed to sustain them and it made sense to grow it locally..
One way of intensive farming was to terrace the hillsides, with so many men and slaves labour wasn't a problem.
This photo shows the remains of the terracing.

What I find the most amazing about romans is their paved road. Some remains perfectly intact 2000 years later, and pavement stones were so tightly set that not even a piece of grass has been able to grow between stones, just incredible (and I do not talk about their bridges).

L

I have to admit to being biased as I live in Narbonne which was once the largest Roman settlement outside of Rome so I've lots of interesting things to visit.
Its only when you scratch below the surface that you begin to realise just how organised they really were.

What Have the Romans Done For Us?

The Monty Python Explanation, from the "Life of Brian":

In the later stages of our summer cruise there are still interesting things to see.

Photo's,
1, This beautiful bird came to say Hello ! as we cruised slowly by.

2, Have you ever wondered where they store the wine once its been made ? here's your answer. Ancient vintners used stone built tanks lined with concrete because the thick stone walls kept the wine at an even temperature, nowadays of course technology has changed and they use bright annealed Stainless Steel tanks thermostatically cooled by interior coils.

3,This old barge was used to transport wine from this region along the canals we've been cruising up to the seaport of Atlantic Bordeaux or down to the Mediterranean port of Sete. Its been renovated by a voluntary heritage society and travels around for exhibitions.

4,5, This old ex working barge (peniche) in the drydock has been bought after lying idle for many years and is being converted to a houseboat. A very healthy bank balance is required as well as many dedicated hours of work. Many never get fully completed as the owners either run out of money or patience.

6,The way to reach Narbonne our home port means that we leave the canal du Midi at port Robine, turn in a Southerly direction down the canal du Robine crossing the river Aude on the way.

7,The river Aude is the water supply for the lower portion of the canal du Robine and in times of high water levels this lock gate is closed to protect the canal from flooding. Its called a Garde Porte.
Its worth noting here that during Roman times the river Aude ran from here through the port of Narbonne and was used to drive corn mills etc.
During the Roman occupation the governor of Narbonne, (his name was Agrippa given because he was a breach birth) ordered the bed of the river Aude to be excavated and canalised so the galleys could be brought up to the port of Narbonne.
The river later changed its course.

8, If you click on the map below it will help my explanation. I've drawn a blue line alongside the canals to show our route.

As we cruise slowly back towards Narbonne the canal carries us past acres of vineyards, peach orchards and fields of asparagus.
When you live in a port like Narbonne you hardly notice change but after returning from our summer cruise we see subtle changes amongst the boats moored there, some have gone while others have taken their place, and we also see small progressive changes within the town itself.
I didn't think they missed us but the town was buzzing with activity, no it wasn't for our arrival back in port, the town was holding a music festival which was in full swing and the town was a hive of activity.

Photo's.
1,Fine weather, a festival and the love of eating outdoors all create a wonderfully happy ambience.

2,3, The castle houses much of the admin for the town, mayors office etc and being central, is naturally very popular when events are held.

4,Traditional Roman bridges were lined with houses and shops and Narbonne boasts one of the best surviving examples in the world.
Fast forward 2,000 years and its happy festival goers instead of Roman soldiers passing over the bridge.

5, Because of the threat of Muslim terrorists driving suicide cars/trucks or vans into large public venues, as has happened frequently in Europe, its now become standard practice that access roads to any large public gatherings are blocked off with concrete barriers.
Note the armed soldier at the 3rd block on the left.

6,7, Its a sad inditement of the times we live in that we need to have armed soldiers at various static points around the perimeter of the festival observing their own arcs as well as frequent foot patrols which pass among the happy crowds of festival goers to prevent any Muslim pedestrian suicide bomber.

8, Just above the illuminated sign you can see houses in the background going left to right. These houses are built on the Roman bridge which the canal passes under.
As you can see Narbonne is a very beautiful town and regular festivals are held here which gives it a vibrant life of its own.

" IR`s Post of 8/30 "2, Have you ever wondered where they store the wine once its been made ? here's your answer. Ancient vintners used stone built tanks lined with concrete because the thick stone walls kept the wine at an even temperature, nowadays of course technology has changed and they use bright annealed Stainless Steel tanks thermostatically cooled by interior coils"
Smart winemakers here will describe those wines as "Unwooded", rather than "Stainless Steeled". It has a nicer ring to it.

Bruce, as far as I can tell from my research, hic ! The French winemakers don't mention whether its wooded or steeled, they keep schtum about that side of things and instead concentrate on geographical region, palatability etc.
Still on the subject of wine, here in this region of France the vintners are preparing for the annual 'Vidange'(wine harvesting).
Machines can be seen getting last minute adjustments, tractor and trailer's are getting serviced, cleaned and disinfected.
Engineers are working flat out getting the processing machinery, storage tanks ready and warehouses cleared of old stock.
To an amateur connossuier like me who's a full time live aboard storage of a good few cases of fine wine took a little forethought, it mean's that the anchor locker that was heavily insulated to turn it into an onboard cave now comes into its own as our very own wine 'cellar' where we can lay down suitable choices .
We calculated that as we hadn't used the anchor since we bought the boat that it could, still with a little re-management retain its primary emergency function but serve an equally useful secondary purpose.
There are many aspects to take into consideration when choosing a retirement region to live, not least of course is the weather as we get older, a healthy climate for growing wine is of course good for us 'oldies' too.
We prefer quality wines over quantity and enjoy a moderate glass with our meals, the fact that the chemical, reservatrol, found in wine is beneficial to the health of the heart is of course an added bonus.

Photo,
Now I know you'll all be crying when you see the prices we have to endure to restock our 'cellar', (prices are in Euro's).
This is only 1, there are 3 more double pages of offers all at similar prices but the vintners need the space in their warehouse to make way for this years crop.
One mans dilemma is another mans opportunity
Supermarket buyers are not slow to snap up job lots of these pallets of wine to offer as a crowd puller to their stores.
As early birds you can be sure we're among first in the queue to secure the best of them.

Irish Rambler said:

Bruce, as far as I can tell from my research, hic ! The French winemakers don't mention whether its wooded or steeled, they keep schtum about that side of things and instead concentrate on geographical region, palatability etc.
Still on the subject of wine, here in this region of France the vintners are preparing for the annual 'Vidange'(wine harvesting).
Machines can be seen getting last minute adjustments, tractor and trailer's are getting serviced, cleaned and disinfected.
Engineers are working flat out getting the processing machinery, storage tanks ready and warehouses cleared of old stock.
To an amateur connossuier like me who's a full time live aboard storage of a good few cases of fine wine took a little forethought, it mean's that the anchor locker that was heavily insulated to turn it into an onboard cave now comes into its own as our very own wine 'cellar' where we can lay down suitable choices .
We calculated that as we hadn't used the anchor since we bought the boat that it could, still with a little re-management retain its primary emergency function but serve an equally useful secondary purpose.
There are many aspects to take into consideration when choosing a retirement region to live, not least of course is the weather as we get older, a healthy climate for growing wine is of course good for us 'oldies' too.
We prefer quality wines over quantity and enjoy a moderate glass with our meals, the fact that the chemical, reservatrol, found in wine is beneficial to the health of the heart is of course an added bonus.

Photo,
Now I know you'll all be crying when you see the prices we have to endure to restock our 'cellar', (prices are in Euro's).
This is only 1, there are 3 more double pages of offers all at similar prices but the vintners need the space in their warehouse to make way for this years crop.
One mans dilemma is another mans opportunity
Supermarket buyers are not slow to snap up job lots of these pallets of wine to offer as a crowd puller to their stores.
As early birds you can be sure we're among first in the queue to secure the best of them.

Click to expand...

Wine are kept in concrete, stainless or wood depending on who is the maker. When stored on wood it can be a mix of new and aged wood barrel for finish. All depend on the wine and master recipe.

L

The volume wines around this region are rarely stored in wood, despite what's claimed. There are exceptions of course.
When we visit wine cave's here and get a glimpse behind the scenes it can be enlightening, as in all businesses.
Many of the stronger reds are exported from this region to beef up the lighter Californian wines and times of a dirth of wine here due to a bad season its imported from Morocco to be blended in.
Virtually all, but not all, wines are blended but of course its here that the master sommelier reputation must be upheld..If you are a real wine buff a visit to the newly opened 11 floor wine museum in Bordeaux is a must (if you pardon the pun)

A few figures about our summer cruise in which we covered a distance of 744 kilometres and passed through 314 locks.
For anyone thinking of something similar there are several hire boat company's, the larger ones where you can either rent from a single location or one way trip are:-
Location bateaux & pénichettes® pour croisières fluviales.
www.boat-renting-nicolls.co.uk
www.leboat.fr.

Of these I would suggest you check trip advisor reviews before making your choice.
Le boat have had some maintenance issues over the last few years and has recently changed ownership, the new owners attitude to maintenance has yet to yield results. New boats built in Poland have been added to their fleet but I would suggest caution.
Caveat Emptor.

If you are exceedingly well heeled there are hotel barges which cater for up to 6 people for around 3k per head per week average price. Personally they're a bit claustrophobic but if you like that kind of thing then that's your choice.

Irish Rambler said:

...
We prefer quality wines over quantity and enjoy a moderate glass with our meals, the fact that the chemical, reservatrol, found in wine is beneficial to the health of the heart is of course an added bonus.
...

Click to expand...

Don't hang your good health hopes on that whole reservatrol thing...

https://www.webmd.com/vitamins-and-...-may-not-be-such-a-health-booster-after-all#1

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesal...y-not-be-the-elixir-in-red-wine-and-chocolate

To get the estimated therapeutic dose you'd need to drink 40 liters of red wine per day. That amount on a regular basis would have pretty catastrophic health consequences that no amount of reservatrol would be able to counteract. Even a minimal dose of reservatrol requires 3 liters of wine/day.

https://www.livestrong.com/article/411745-how-much-red-wine-do-you-need-to-get-enough-resveratrol/

I'm afraid were only talking in trace elements as we prefer a glass complimentary to each meal course, as we eat a fair amount of fish for healthy eating then we would of course choose a white as it counteracts the amino acids in the fish.
As a sundowner my partner prefers a Bushmills Irish whiskey (we try to help the exports) whilst I prefer a brandy.
Having said that its nice to know that a nice red is complimentary to our health, that's my excuse anyway.

So what's our opinion of our summer cruise along the 'Entre Deux Mers' more generally referred to as the canal du Midi.

Most people as visitors will only have 1 or 2 weeks to spend so it would be beneficial for them, if possible, to read our blog slowly to determine what type of cruising holiday they would prefer.
Just like everything in life its a matter of personal choice, some like to fly along and cover as much ground as possible, others prefer to meander slowly, drink in the ambience of the villages, visit working wineries, castles, churches and of course enjoy good food.
The shaded plane tree image of the canal du Midi has changed due to the recent catastrophic disease, however that's not to say the problem hasn't been addressed, new disease variety saplings have been planted intermixed with oak so even as we speak recovery is under way in natures good time.
The busiest section between Homps and Carcassonne can be heavy going due to traffic volumes at peak holiday times and the French lock keepers insisting on closing the locks from 12 noon until 1 o'clock, efforts by the controlling body, the VNF, to introduce a rolling lunch break with temporary lock keepers taking over a section have met with a simple 'Non' because lunch time is sacrosanct in most places, especially any government run agency.
The truth is that anything after 11:30-11:45 that requires any effort will be obfuscated until it reaches the witching hour. Likewise any government office will open 5 minutes after the lunch and generally there's much shuffling of paper and discussion of the lunch menu for the next 10 minutes before they're back in harness again.
Frustrating for the visitor but that's France, you either adapt to their way of life or you'll end up in the local hospital connected to the jump leads.
Sections around Toulouse, as with any big city are a matter of taste.
Many parts of the canal Lateral a La Garonne are relatively quiet and make a lovely cruising ground, its locks are in the main automated,and the countryside is very beautiful.
We were a month later than planned starting our cruise so we didn't go as slow as we would've liked, some battery charging problems due to the very high summer temperatures made heavy demands on the fridge and freezer which didn't help and meant we had to be aware and get a shoreside hook up every other day.
As with any cruise little things pop up now and again that need attention, being away from access to the correct spare parts means that our list of repairs and modifications will take priority now were back in our home port.
If anyone has any questions we'll be happy to answer them for you.
Our thanks go to Pat & Geri, our cruising partners and we also thank you for coming with us too, we certainly enjoyed our cruise immensely and we enjoyed your company along with us.
Thank you also to the TF site team for the 5 stars, we really appreciate your kindness.

What now ?
Are we just going to hibernate over the coming autumn winter ?
You gotta be joking !
As boat owners yourselves you will certainly be familiar with the scrubbing, cleaning, polishing, engine/gearbox servicing, battery charging modifications not to mention a cruise out to sea (Mediterranean) to the boatyard for a lift out to remove some dreaded plastic debris from the bow thruster prop and renew anti-foul and anodes.
Being a crafty old salt and in an effort to avoid paying a greedy divorce lawyer I've booked 10 days in a 5* hotel down in Spain as a token of appreciation for the admirals love and support, handling of dock lines, operating the locks and galley cuisine.
There'll be more land travel over the winter and in depth research for next year.
One things for sure, we won't be idle.

A good hotel is a joy, we had a night at Cabra Castle, on our way back to Dublin in June.
I take the blame for inventing "stainless steeled". A colleague who ran a small winery in the Hunter Valley was telling me about his new "unwooded" wine. I asked if that meant it was stainless steeled. He`d still speak to me but..

Hi IR,

Thank's share your sumer trip pictures and story!

I think what is you Broom 42 "Snow Mouse" bridge clearance?

NBs

Nice one Bruce, I like it, as you're well aware there's an awful lot of spoken about wines where those of little knowledge expand their knowledge in the telling of the stories. Vache merde in French !
As our home port's in Narbonne on the canal du Robine we plan to go to a Spanish resort hotel down below Barcelona.
The Spanish border's only 40 mins away by car, or an 8 hour cruise by boat around Cap B'ar.
Having said that I know Cabra castle well, as an expat will probably go back for a visit in the not too distant future.
Itchy feet syndrome I guess.

North Baltic sea, we're glad you enjoyed the trip with us, we try to make it as interesting as possible so that others can see what's available if they decide to visit this region.
Our bridge clearance is 2.45 metres which allows us to travel through 99.9% of the canal system. We could drop that down by 25 centimetres if necessary but have never had to resort to that as yet. Our draft is 1 metre.
We hope to tour up around the Baltic region by car in the future. I used to do business in Sweden and my first visit to Norway was many many years ago when I did my sf winter training in the army.
Later I also did business up there so I'm a little familiar with the region, lovely friendly people and very good to do work with.

Just a word to the wise for anyone buying a new domestic water pump.
The Chinese made Seaflo pumps have a manufacturing problem, the motor and pump on the Seaflo 41 series work very well but the micro switch suffers from unreliability due to weak contact springs on the micro switch.
The cure is to bypass the built in micro switch and fit an inline Whale pressure switch and it will work perfectly.
Whale pumps and switches are made in Northern Ireland and are of top quality, they can be found at info@whalepumps.com.
I hope this helps someone.

After our summer trip up the canals and a short beach holiday in Spain for the Admiral we'll be rectifying some maintenance problems which bugged us during the summer cruise.
As a personal aside, as gravity takes over and bits drop off or start to go South we discovered that dental implants in Spain are much cheaper than France, I have 2 implants that need porcelain tops and we'll incorporate that in our trip to Spain (should anyone be interested the best clinic in Spain is Propdental in Barcelona).

Back to the main subject, here in Europe there are 2 main manufacturers of alternators for which spares are readily available, Bosch and Valeo, Bosch have dealers in most large towns for spares like fitting new brushes.
In France getting repairs to any injectors/pumps/alternators like Leece Neville, Lucas or any other marque is horrendously expensive and very slow.

Should we occasionally need injectors checked we take ours home to Ireland when we go for our annual family visit and get it done for half the price, should I ever need to get a pump done its cheaper to take a Ryanair flight home, get the pump done and fly back than get it done locally, the added bonus of course is we can get a decent pint of the black stuff and bring back some dry cured thick back bacon (the French don't do bacon and I love it).

We're going to change our 2 old Lucas 45 amp alternators over to Bosch 90 amp, the greater output will be controlled by an Adverc smart charging system. I've tried a few alternator controllers in the past but none were as efficient.
I first used the Adverc system many years ago on our tail lift vehicles and earlier boats and found it to be the best, they're built in England and the price/after sales service is excellent.

The other problem was that going through a lock on the canal Lateral a la Garonne some foreign matter came in through the sluice gate straight into the bow thruster tunnel and got itself wrapped around the prop and it appears to have gouged a small groove in the tunnel wall necessitating a lift out, modification and repair.
The boatyard can't lift us until the 3rd week in October and I will post on here the repairs as they're done for anyone that's interested.

Over the next few weeks I'll bring you some photo's of Spain for anyone unfamiliar with the part we're visiting, then shortly after there'll be photo's of the lift out for the bow thruster repair, following that a step by step twin alternator Adverc charging upgrade.
Stay with us if its of any interest to you.

Did you know that the word camouflage is originally French ?
Earlier stage actors used various make up paints to suit the character in the part there playing in a performance, this practice was called 'camoflage'.
Today of course they are called make-up artists,
During World War 1 a smart soldier applied some of the 'camoflage' to an army truck in an experiment to save them getting whacked by the enemy, the soldiers smart idea was taken up by the rest of the army and teams of make-up artists, called 'camofluers' were drafted in to paint what we now call camouflage on the vehicles.
Its not known how the soldier was rewarded.
Since then of course various methods have been used, the English Royal navy invented the 'dazzle' camouflage used on their warships and land based forces copied the terrain they operated in, one of the earlier types was to copy the plane tree bark.
Snipers have long since mastered the art of blending in unseen in virtually every terrain and the masters of this fine art are the Ghillie suited snipers of the British SAS.
The very latest, like all things in todays world is digital camouflage.

I've recently had a private message from 'Fat Bear' who couldn't find any of my books on Amazon, so I took Amazon to task.
Attached is there response.
I apologize to anyone having difficulties accessing the books but I hope the attachment explains it.
I've tried various online publishers and Amazon are the best of the bunch, they all promise the moon and the stars but all rest seem to be completely useless.
I know Amazon are improving slowly all the time which is why I stick with them.
At the moment we're in Pineda de Mar in Spain.
I'll update the post when I've got the photo's and background sorted as well as finding time for a spot of sunbathing, swimming etc to please the admiral.