Europe April -May 2024 Part 1 France

The Capital in Toulouse

This trip was planned because we had a large travel credit from Air France due to COVID. Although I’m not a big fan of France (esp. the area around Paris and their airports), I have wanted to do the Canal du Midi for decades. This canal linked the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and is a UNESCO World Heritage site because it was one of the greatest engineering achievements of the 1600’s. Of course, Air France change their refund policy and left us to pay our own way. We didn’t want to fly that far for just a week, so Germany, Austria and Slovenia were added to the agenda.

The Saint Nazaire and Saint Celsus Basilica

La Cite in Carcassonne

We flew Lufthansa to Frankfort and then on to Toulouse, France. We spent half a day in touring Toulouse, before taking the train to Carcassonne to see the historic La Cite. This a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its architecture and planning of a medieval fortress town. We moved on to Homps, where Le Boat has a port for rental boats. This was where we stayed at LeJardin d’Homps Hotel, easily with the best hospitality on our trip.

Palm Trees at LeJardin d'Homps

Our 38 foot canal boat

At Le Boat dock, a mechanic spent two hours with us showing how everything worked, and then we took a test drive. We were surprised to find out that all of our gray and black (i.e. sewage) water needs to be macerated and dumped into the canal on a daily basis.  No swimming on this trip!  We departed the next day and had 6 days to cover 80 km, and 16 locks. Unlike our previous canal trip in England, we did not have to operate the locks, there were lock keepers for that. But there was a fair amount of rope work involved in securing the boat as it dropped in the lock. For a boat this size, 38 feet long, two active adults are the minimum required to accomplish this. This trip was planned last Sept. when Pat was walking and hiking. By April she was having severe knee pain and hopping in and out of the boat to secure lines was painful. I was busy trying to hold the boat in place so she could safely get in and out, and also hold the bow rope.

Thread the Needle

House Painting

During the planning stage, I was concerned that being April, we might get a rainy week. Actually, most of the time in France was sunny and sometimes hot. The biggest problem while boating was the high wind. Initially, I was driving slowly, because I didn’t want to hit another boat on this narrow canal, but the wind was pushing me all over the place. I was wearing myself out trying to keep the boat straight. Once my Physics and vector math education kicked in, I doubled my speed, and suddenly I had control of the boat!

Sometimes docking space in town was hard to find.

Collegiate Church Saint Etienne in Capestang

Rainbows over the canal

Commercial tour boat entering the Malpas Tunnel

On the fourth day of the trip, we passed through the Malpas Tunnel, the first canal tunnel ever built in Europe. We decided to stop to get some pictures. There were no docks available so we pulled the boat next to the grassy shore, and Pat threw the rope toward the bollard. I was trying to keep the boat near the shore when she jumped from the boat to the shore. The next thing I heard was a splash and Pat was screaming “I’m in the water”. I ran down to help her get out of the water, she was in up to her chest. I got her out, but nothing was holding the boat in place, so I jumped to shore to secure the rope. I missed and now I was in the canal and needed help. Fortunately, some people walking by secured the boat while we tried to figure out what happened. It turned out that the tall grass we jumped into had extended out pass the bank, but from the boat it appeared to be covering the bank. Now we had a pile of wet and dirty (dilute sewage) clothes. We would not get to a laundry until the following evening.  I realized I didn’t have my glasses on, so I searched the boat - no luck. About this time, I was regretting my decision not to bring a spare pair, so it was either in the grass or in the bottom muck of the canal. Fortunately, I found them in the tall grass. We did start using a portable gangway when we did not have a dock.

Driving over a  river on a canal bridge

Last night on the canal

Pat’s last challenge came at the Fonserannes Staircase, a series of seven back-to-back locks. Considered a great engineering achievement for its time, the canal dropped 71 feet over 980 feet. This was a killer for Pat with the jumping in and out of the boat (no grass here!) and managing the ropes. We worked through another four locks before we docked near a laundry. I picked up a cane for Pat and it helped a bit. The following day we made it to our final stop. The next day we took a train to Marseille and flew to Munich. We said good bye to the warm sunny weather of South France.