Going Down

White water in the lock

When we left Argens-Minervois, where we picked up the boat, we went up the Canal du Midi towards Toulouse. We also went through twenty four locks by the time we got to Carcassonne where we turned around. All of them were going up; we entered the lock empty and it fills with water to lift us up. As the water pours into the lock, you need to hold the boat in place with ropes, and at times it is hard to keep it from moving; we had Ryan and Ben well trained in this task by the second lock. I do not know exactly how much we climbed on the way, but some of the locks were pretty deep. 

At Carcassonne, we dropped Ryan & Ben off to explore on their own and we turned back to return the boat. We are now heading down the canal with just the two of us to do all the work, so we were a bit concerned about how we would do, but it actually turned out very well. 

This is much easier

When you are going down, you enter the lock with it full of water, so the “Crew” does not have to get off the boat before the lock. In fact we quickly discovered that we could just stay on the boat and throw the ropes off and around the Bollards on top of the lock walls. It is much easier to hold the boat in place when the water leaves the lock as when it rushes into the lock. Then, once the lock doors open, you just flip the ropes off the bollards, and motor out of the lock. The only reason we got off the boat was to give the lock keepers pins from back home. 

So, going down is WAY easier than going up.

Waiting for the lock

Cruising the canal

A calm early morning cruise in the rain

Piloting from the top

And from inside (out of the rain)

Cruising the Canal

This is not what we saw

If you do an Internet search of the Canal du Midi, you will likely get a picture of the canal with beautiful rows of plane trees (That is a species of tree; not just boring trees) on either side. Those pictures are likely from years ago because at least on the section of the canal we traveled most of these trees are gone. During the second world war it is felt that a disease was brought from the US in ammunition boxes that has slowly infected most of the plane trees and they have had to be cut down. All the way along the canal these days you see replanted trees of different species that will replace the plane trees, but it will be many years until the beautiful tree lined canal will return. 

However, it has still been a beautiful trip with spectacular French scenery. The canal is very well maintained with a nice bike/pedestrian path alongside the canal which we see a steady stream of vacationing bikers using. 

Here are some photos to illustrate our journey (45 km) up and down the Canal du Midi.

Now that is a CASTLE!

We are doing about forty five km up the Canal du Midi, and it is taking us Three days to cover that distance. This really is “slow travel”. At a town called Carcassonne Ryan and Ben are leaving us to explore some more of France on their own and we will turn back to Argens-Minervios. 

The highlight of the town of Carcassonne is a massive castle which protected the town way back in the days of knights, Romans and other medieval folk, and it has been “imaginatively” restored. I think that means they restored the castle and fortifications to close to original and then recreated the town within the walls to be able to allow modern business and shops to rent locations and help provide revenue. Seems like a good compromise to me. Rather than describing the castle I will just post some of the great pictures I took while exploring the castle. 

More Lock Work

A lock on the Canal

I have written before about the locks on the canals in the UK, and the ones on the French canals are the “same but different”. They of course do the same thing, allow the boats to go up and down in elevation. They also work much the same with doors on either end to allow boats to go in and out and allow the locks to fill and empty of water. They are however much bigger with curved walls inside the lock allowing more than one boat in at the same time. The biggest difference is that all the locks we have encountered so far are operated by dedicated lock keepers who open and close the doors and control the water flow with remotes. They also direct traffic and control when you can enter the locks. Although the actual work of operating the locks is done by the lock keepers, the boat “crew” have to hold the boat in position while in the lock with ropes, so there is still work for the crew. Some of the locks have a system of lights telling you the status of the lock; two red lights mean it is closed, one red light means it is being prepared or being used by other boats, and a green light means you are good to enter the lock. 

The "crew" at work

Piloting the boat, you have to position the boat carefully to enter the lock through a narrow door and then maneuver to one side to allow another boat in beside you. Sometimes there are three boats in the lock at once, and if the boats were small four could fit. As the locks are filled or emptied of water, there is strong currents, so the crew must get off before the lock and then hold the boat fast to the side of the lock with ropes. Otherwise the boats would move around and bumping one another. 

The lock keepers also try to control the use of the locks so that more than one boat is going up or down at once. It takes a lot of water to fill a lock, so this is an effort to make things more efficient. 

Filling the lock (Going up)

After a few locks, everyone gets pretty good at the various tasks involved. I was able to get the boat in and out without scraping the sides, and the ropes rarely dropped into the water when tossing them up to the shore crew. But, at one point, two boats were in a lock going up and we realized that there were also two boats in a second lock coming down . . . . duh . . how does this work? The lock keeper coordinated everything, directing one boat to come into our lock in front of one of the boats then the boat beside, moved into the other lock and so forth until everyone was switched around and ready to move to the next lock. 

Sharing the lock

The only problem is that the boys are bailing on us in Carcassonne, and we will turn back to Argens-Minervois to  return the boat. With two less crew members, Regis is going to have to handle all the lock work or she is going to have to learn to pilot the boat into and out of the locks. 

The lock keeper's dog

Waiting for the lock to fill

Squeeze them in  

Hold her steady crew

Canal du Midi

Training the drew

After a month in Narbonne, we are finally on the boat cruising the Canal du Midi. And as it happens, our boat is actually called the “Narbonne”. This post will tell you a bit about the boat and what we are doing. 

After a number of very enjoyable trips on Narrowboats in the UK, we decided to try “Something different” and after extensive research we came up with cruising the canals in the south of France. Our last trip to the UK was planned with friends who had to cancel, but we went with our usual Narrowboat partners instead, but still wanted to go with these friends so the trip to France was planned, but again circumstances got in the way and they were again unable to go. Fortunately our son and his partner said they would be willing to try canal boating with us, so we went ahead until COVID got in the way. Finally two years later, we are on the canal. 

Morning on the Canal

Our boat is called the Pinochet Evolution and is the most modern boat in the fleet at Locaboat boat rentals. It is a modern efficient little boat, using electricity for most function with a diesel motor charging the batteries. It has bow and stern thrusters like a big cruise ship and can be steered form inside or topside with traditional controls or a modern joystick. 

Visiting Homps

Now I did use the term “Little” to describe our craft, and it is perhaps a bit small for four people. It has two rooms, one in the front and one in the back. In the middle is a toilet room (A typical French thing) and shower room with sink between the two other rooms. The dining area and the lounge both convert to sleeping quarters. This means it is a chore to get beds ready every night, and was one real advantage to the long 70 ft Narrowboats which had dedicated bedrooms. Everything works well and as described, but for four people it is a bit cramped; good thing we are booting the boys out on day four.