Walking the Canal

Canal de la Bobine in Narbonne

After a month here in Narbonne, we will be moving up to Argens-Minervois, where we will be meeting up with our son and his partner and renting a boat to travel on the Canal de Midi. If you have been following my posts for a few years, you will recall that we did this in the UK a number of times (September 2015 and September 2017) on the unique narrowboats used in the UK. Here in France the canals are wider, the locks bigger and the boats are not so “narrow”. I will of course be posting about that part of the vacation, but today we decided to walk down to the canal which runs through Narbonne and connects to the Canal de Midi which we will be experiencing. 

The canal system in France was built to connect the Atlantic Ocean with the Mediterranean through France in the 1600’s and completed in 1681 and has been operating without interruption for over three centuries.

Boats Moored in Narbonne

The canal here in Narbonne is called the Canal de la Robine, and it connects the town to the canals running north to Toulouse and south to the Mediterranean. We found the canal on our first day exploring the town as it runs right past the Halles Market and many days an open market is held along the banks of the canal. Just down from the Market is a famous bridge which was built with houses on it, and now contains an up-scale shopping area.

Walking the Canal

We headed in the opposite direction out of town following rows of boats moored alongside the canal in the town. As in the UK, these canals were originally built before the days of railways and boats towed by horses were an important means of transportation, so the canals usually have a “tow path” running alongside the canal which are maintained today as nice smooth, flat recreational trails. In town these pathways are paved, but once you leave the town they become gravel, but are widely used and we encountered many walkers, runners and bicycles. 

Plane Trees along the Canal

The canals here in this area of France are famous for their stately plane trees lining the banks. These trees provided shade along the canal and in many places it was like driving through a tunnel of leaves. Unfortunately it is thought that during the war, American ammunition boxes introduces a disease called Canker Stain which is slowly killing the trees and many have had to be cut down. In places where the disease has killed most of the trees, new planting of varied species are being carried out and the mixed types of trees should avoid this in the future. 

We walked about two kilometres along the canal and in minutes we were out of town and walking in the French country side. In many ways these French canals are not so unlike the ones we were accustomed to in the UK and provide a relaxing and unique way to see the country. I am looking forward to exploring further in the boat we will rent. Stay tuned!

Modern Highways and Ancient Canals Coexisting

But You Paid For a Ticket?

Walking the towpath

Although we are over here in the UK on a Narrowboat holiday, a lot of our time is spent walking. Sometimes you must get out and walk to operate the locks, raise lift bridges or check to see there are no boats coming the other way on narrow sections, but often people are just out walking because they enjoy it.

Under a bridge

Almost everywhere there is a canal, there is a “towpath” on one side of it. Originally the towpath was for the horses which pulled the narrowboats before they had engines installed. These towpaths go under the bridges, across the aqueducts and even through the shorter tunnels. No longer used by horses, these paths are well used by not only boaters, but also locals out for a stroll or walking their dogs, and often we will be moored out in the countryside, seemingly in the middle of nowhere and someone walking a dog will wander by the boat window.

Although the canals do run through cities, generally they are out in the countryside and you pass more cows and sheep than cars and trucks. Trees and hedges usually line the canals, so walking beside the canal is a very pleasant experience. As well, a canal has to be flat, so their routes were planned to never go over hills or into valleys. (The tunnels and aqueducts do that) As a result, walking the towpath is a pleasant stroll through the English countryside and there are no hills to climb. Most of us get out and do at least four or five miles and some have done over twenty miles every day, even in the “Welsh mist”. One of the crew, a non-fittbit-er has probably done more, as they walked for the entire  day.

The cows watch us pass

You might ask why are we walking when we paid for a boat hire. In fact while exploring the Great Orme in Llandudno, and three of the crew took the tram up the mountain (Well more of a pretty big hill . . . . ) and decided to get off in the middle and walk the second half, another tram rider questioned them “But why walk? . .  you paid for a ticket.” It is like that on the boat. Often there are more people out walking than on the boat, because walking the canals is a pleasant as gliding along in the boat.

Walking the Wall

Walking the Walls

There is our canal again

Chester is a very old historic city. The most significant feature of the city is its almost intact city wall, built over 2000 years ago by the Romans to keep out the evil Welsh barbarians to the West. As well, because of the walls, space in the inner city was limited so a two level shopping district developed where there are not only shops along the street, but also shops overhanging the streets on a second level.

It is recommended that your first activity in Chester is to walk the old city walls. This takes you completely around the old city and gives you a good orientation of the area. Since we had a couple of hours to kill before the apartment was ready, we decided to do as we were told and take a walk around the city walls.

Chester Cathedral

It wasn’t difficult; crossing the bridge that the cottage sits beside, you come to the main city gate and you can climb stairs to the wall. Although there are a few gaps in the wall where roads have been inserted, or sections are under repair, the wall mostly does go all the way around the city center. We had to stop for a walk signal on one road intersecting the wall, and we were forced to descend to street level where one section was undergoing a major repair, but most of the way you can walk on top of the old wall. In sections the wall is not very high, but it is built on steep embankments, but other sections the wall looks down on the canal system outside and the city on the inside.

This will keep those Welsh out!

From the wall you can see the River Dee, the Shropshire Union Canal, the Chester Cathedral, and the inner-city pedestrian shopping streets, so it does give you a very useful introduction to Chester.

And a horse race - Who Knew?

The other thing you see from the wall is the Roodee Chester Racecourse, a beautiful facility for horse racing. It is the oldest horse race track in England, and on our first day we happened upon the last horse race of the season. What is nice about this, is although the race course has lots of internal seating and facilities for people to watch the races, you can see perfectly well by just finding a spot on the wall. On race day, they close the streets to vehicle traffic and a carnival atmosphere develops. If you want a beer, or wish to bet on a horse you must actually pay to go into the grounds, but if you just wish to watch the horses, you can do it for free. A really nice attitude, and the race course does not seem to be suffering by letting people watch for free – the grandstands were full and the general admission spots along the sides of the course were packed. We enjoyed seeing one of the races from a spot on the wall. Would have liked to have put money on number 8, he won with 7 – 1 odds. . . .

Chasing Swans

A swan family on the canal

As you cruise through the canals of England, it is common to run into families of swans. They live all over the canals, and are completely at home there. You can be gliding along through the country, or gently sliding between brick walls in cities and towns, and a group of swans will come out to greet your boat. They obviously get fed by people in boats and when they see boats coming along the canals, they come out to see if food is offered.

The swans are not afraid of the boats, they swim right towards them and easily swerve out of the way if they get too close. They look elegant and regal, but they are not friendly; reach down towards them and they will bite.

After two weeks on the canals, you get pretty used to seeing swans, and although they are

Swans are everywhere

pretty special in many places, they are common on the canals. We had a bit of a different encounter with swans on our last day with the boat.

We went down on the Anderton Boat Lift, then came back up and decided to spent the rest of the afternoon cruising further up the canal. There was another tunnel we could do; not as long as the Harecastle Tunnel, but an experience worth exploring. This tunnel was only 500 meters long, so you could peer in and see the other end, and know if another boat was coming through the other way.

After stopping for lunch at a lovely mooring spot after the tunnel, we turned around to come back to Anderton through the tunnel the other way. I again looked into the tunnel and signaling Bill that all was clear, and we proceeded through. About a third of the way through I realized that there was something else in the tunnel with us; I could see the heads of swans swimming well ahead of us. The family of swans we had seen on the canal earlier was swimming through the tunnel. This was a mother, father and four young swans. Now this time of year the young swans are still grey, but are almost full-grown and as big as their

parents.

As we approached half way I realized we were going to catch the swans before the end of the tunnel. Sitting in the front of the boat, I could see the swans clearer than Bill who was driving the boat so I told him to slow down. Even at a slower speed we still were gaining on the family of swans. Bill slowed a bit more but was concerned about loosing the ability to steer the boat; we had been warned that going too slow would cause you to hit the sides of he tunnel.

The swans realized that this was not a good situation. They wanted to stay in front of the boat, because falling beside the boat they could get crushed between the walls and the boat. They frantically tried to speed up and were able to pull ahead for a while, but tired and we caught them again. Bill tried to inch to one side and one of the young swans fell beside the boat on the wider side. The mother was desperately herding the young ones to the safer side while keeping herself between the boat and the family, while the father led the way and pushed ahead encouraging the family to greater speed.

 

Finally as the end of the tunnel came into range, Bill slowed a bit more and the swans put forth another final burst of speed, finally pulling out of the tunnel inches ahead of us. Even the one that had fallen behind was able surge forward into the sunshine. A happy ending for all.

A Day the Narrowboat Way

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Our Home for Two Weeks

Although in many ways living on a narrowboat for two weeks is similar to spending time in an RV, there are also many differences. To give you some idea of what it is like I will describe what a day could be like.

If we have a lot of locks to work our way through, we will usually sit and have breakfast together. The boat has an apartment sized fridge working on LPG, so we have cold milk for cereal, butter margarine and jam for toast, or eggs and delicious English bacon. As well, a nice cup of coffee is needed to start our day even on the boat. If we do not have locks to navigate, Bill likes to get underway right away, so he or I go check the engine, start it up and we push off. Whoever is piloting the boat, expects his or her breakfast (or at least a hot cup of coffee) is delivered out to the back of the ship where the tiller is. The other option is to get the boat under way and then eat in shifts so the pilot can take a break to have breakfast.

If we do not have locks to go through, the person piloting the boat is the only one who

Ok, I think the pub is just up here . .

actually has to do much, and they have to be constantly alert; a momentary laps to watch the cows in the field next to the canal can result in running ashore. The canal is often barely two boat widths wide, and in places two boats cannot pass without running into weeds, so it does not take much to be into the banks. It is not usually a problem however and the boats all have a long pole to push you back off the bank. You can zip along at the dizzying speed of 4 MPH at times but when you are passing other boats, even moored ones, or houses, you are expected to slow down to 2 MPH, so people walking on the paths beside the locks often pass you. Although the pilot stands and steers the boat with the tiller, and occasionally adjusts the speed, they have to be constantly alert, and it is actually quite tiring if you have to do it for a long time. Normally we take turns so no one has to be at the tiller all day. The people not piloting the boat can sit and watch the countryside slide by, or they can read, play games or even write

Watch out for Wildlife

blog posts on the computer . . .

A day with locks is completely different. Every time you need to go through a lock, someone has to get out of the boat to operate the locks. They take a special crank or windless to open and close the paddles which allow the water into the locks or drain it out. One person can operate the locks, but it is easier with two because you need someone on each side of the canal. If it is just one lock the person piloting the boat lets the lock workers off before the lock and picks them up after the lock. However if there are a series of locks in a row as often happens, the lock workers may as well stay out and walk to the next lock. On the days when we had to do 18 locks, you spent most of the day off the boat working the locks or walking to the next lock. If the locks are close together it is useful to have more than one person, because one person can go ahead to prepare the next lock. You spend a lot of time standing around waiting for the lock to fill or empty so you can open the gates to let the boat in.

 

Keep to the Canal

Sometime during the day we just decide to take a break and pull over and make a cup of tea. Bill has discovered that the blackberries are ripe along the canal and there are buckets of them. Sometimes when we stopped he would disappear to go pick blackberries and we had no idea where he was.

Usually around 3:00 we will find someplace to pull over to moor for the evening. Although there are designated “mooring” areas in towns, you can normally stop almost anywhere along the canal. There is a walking path beside the canal; these paths are called “tow-paths”, because before engines powered the boats horses towed the boats along the paths. These paths are right beside the boat, and all evening people out walking, biking or exercising their dogs go by usually with a cheerful greeting. They are used to finding someone new parked beside the canals close to where they walk. If you are in a town, you might find an interesting pub to try for dinner but in the countryside someone has to prepare an evening meal.

Tying up the Boat

Then, especially on days when we had a lot of locks, everyone goes to bed early, to be rocked to sleep by the gentle motion of the water. You sleep pretty well after a busy day on the canals.

Back to Plan A

 

Well, after completely changing our plans and developing a completely different route, we arrived today to pick up the boat and discovered that the broken lock would be fixed and navigable once again.

Leaving the Marina

We were a little concerned with Plan B as it took us right through Manchester and one section required us to do 27 locks in one day, as it is not recommended to moor the boat along the canal in Manchester. Although the city’s reputation has improved in recent years, it was not unheard for boaters to be treated rather violently by local gangs of teenagers when they tried to stay overnight in Manchester. The decision therefore was not difficult, and we decided to go back to our original plan and do the Four Counties Ring.  

Our boat was ready to go on time, and the fellow giving us instructions on the boat was very happy that we had done this before and knew most of the information. There were a number of other boats coming and going , but we were the first out of the Marina. Finally on the boat and underway. Yay!

On the Canal at Last

The day started out miserably, and we woke at the B & B to a downpour of rain, so resigned ourselves to the first day on the boat a wet one . . . but, by the time we picked up our groceries and celebratory libation, the rain had stopped and the skies were clearing, and we motored out of the marina under blue skies.

Traveling on the canals on a narrowboat is not at all like touring in a car. England is a very densely populated country, and you rarely drive without seeing houses, stores and industry, but on the canals you mostly motor slowly through the countryside, surrounded by fields and trees. Our boat is named “The Great Blue Heron”, and soon after leaving the marina, a blue heron lifted off from the side of the canal and flew over the boat – a good omen if there ever was one.

Making Friends Along the Way

We did pass by a rusting very shabby looking industrial complex, but quickly were surrounded by gently waving cat-tails, fields of corn, and huge trees with branches we had to duck to avoid as we glided by. The canals are narrow and we are often less than two feet from the sides so the purple flowers on the bank could have been picked as we went by, and we saw another boater who  had discovered a plum tree growing beside the canal and had stopped to pick a basket.

The first day was an easy one with only three hours and one lock to do, so we arrived at a pleasant mooring spot just outside Middlewich, and after a delicious dinner of English meat pies purchased at the street market before we left, we are relaxing in the boat.

Now tomorrow is a six hour day with 17 locks to navigate, so  . . . . .