Bessan to Bouziques

A complete change of scene as we spend a few days on the Etang with Dan and Mark. I love the way it is always windy so never seems so hot even in the high 30s. Bouziques is the windiest and fishiest with the best swimming, best showers, best oysters and longest washing machine cycle. We have been patronised by a greedy crowd of seagulls who have to continually seen off the roof and I have stopped feeding the fish as they dive in for the bread first.

We were in time for the Friday brocante in Marseillan and Simon bought some interesting iron ware for making leather clogs and a giant corkscrew which will be impossible to lose. We have mainly been self catering, I have been experimenting a little ……

The male crew visited Noilly Pratt and found the history and process fascinating but only bought glasses – I will obviously have to go on my own.

Meze was very quiet until the evening which came alive with music on the streets, everything from jazz to tea dance. The crew of Lady Mary rescued an umbrella that blew overboard from a hire boat which morphed into a dance partner before being returned the next day. In the morning there was a bustling market in the main square so lunch was taken care of. Not that we needed much having biked to a seafood buffet the previous evening and gorged ourselves on raw and cooked delicacies.

After a night in Bouziques we took Dan and Mark into Sete to catch the train to Carcasonne and then on home to Northern Ireland. Very sad to see them go, apart from being good fun it made life on board very easy, especially getting in and out of port in the wind and Mark is wonderfully knowledgable about all the wildlife – especially fish. We had breakfast together at the train station, watched all the bridges life and ate bread that was so chewy it made our jaws ache.

Then we made our way back across to Bouziques to do washing and bike for supplies, mainly red wine and beer.