Lady Mary is thrilled to have Dave and Siobhan on board again. they arrived safely after a long flight and train delays due to a fire.
Mooring at Narbonne
Narbonne Cathedral
We are enjoying Narbonne together and have a great spot very near where we were on our last visit. We visited the Museum and Art Gallery yesterday afternoon while waiting for the train. A welcome relief from a somewhat stressful journey from Sallele d’Aude.
Salles-d'Aude Mooring
To start with we set off from Salles-d’Aude in a sea of diesel which was very worrying however it obviously came from another boat’s bilge pumping, huge relief. Then the second lock was not working because a woman from Austria had pressed all the controls as she didn’t understand the directions – I ended up having to telephone the eclusier, very challenging to answer all his questions but I managed – all in French – and we got going again. Next drama was the French boat we were traveling with losing a fender which we retrieved, and then they lost another one! Again, we picked it up. It made up for the experience the day before when Monsieur told Simon he was ‘not polite’! We had an interaction with another Frenchman who said we were parked too close and threatened to cut our ropes! His wife told him off for being rude and I insisted we moved anyway. After that we all shook hands. Simon has perfected the gallic shrug when he doesn’t understand what people are saying – it really gets them going.
We had a lovely experience on our return visit to Villeneuve les Beziers when we were greeted by a convivial gentleman who took our ropes and plugged us into the power from his restaurant. In the morning I couldn’t find him to unlock the power box. Finally Simon took off leaving me to retrieve the cable and meet him further down the canal. Fortunately I managed to find monsieur (with help from one of the waiters who had arrived early), he was in the bar with a huge white tea-towel draped over his shoulder, a little cigar in one hand and a small glass of pastis on the counter. He was full of apologies and raced to get the key.
Waiting for the Lock to Fill
Beziers - the 9 Eclusers
There was a long wait for a lifting bridge which was lowered to allow a huge car transporter across. We had a bit of a wait for the deep lock in Beziers and then queued up for the staircase. A miracle, we went through just after 12. A real struggle with just two of us and two inept hire boats. One was driven by a lovely Spanish woman who had never been in a boat before, her husband screamed instructions at everyone which didn’t help. She changed her clothes a lot and their little boys had fun with the ropes. The other boat was occupied by Australians who were very friendly but incompetent. the worst thing was that when we found this idyllic spot on a shady secluded bank and they came and parked next to us and kept there motor running. We moved. We saw a lovely Gorden Setter, madam said he wasn’t well behaved, we weren’t surprised.
The next day we pulled up near a chateau and degustation place which said it was open for sales and tastings. I ran up the driveway to investigate and was met by huge barking dogs and madame in her car, smoking a cigarette, eating a croissant and talking on the phone, very impressive. She slowed down enough to tell me that she was so sorry but there was no wine left and I should return in September.
Entree - Fish Salad
A little further on we discovered an auberge, so delicious lunch in a shady flowery garden. Cold soup, fish salad, individual roast beef and then peach soup/sorbet for me and a tasting plate of deserts for Simon, coffee came with petit fours and we drank chilled rose. Perfection.
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