Allo! Allo!
Well, another interesting boat day yesterday...woke to cloudy skies; wondering if it would rain. Fortunately for us, it didn’t. The little restaurant (which is, for some inexplicable reason, closed for dinner every night except Friday-Sunday) was actually baking their own croissants and bread! Yum! Great smells! We got four croissants and two baguettes as well as a healthy supply of strawberry jam. R even had TWO cups of sludge! ... excuse me, café. We pushed off a bit after 9 (locks aren’t open until then), with R driving this time. And today, we only had SIX locks to go to reach Carcassonne! After our first day and goodness knows how many locks...this was indeed a pleasure! As it turns out, Chris is the only jumper we’ve got on board (other than R, who was driving). My knee was really problematic; capable of giving out at any moment, and when Brenda jumped for the first lock, over she went! So, our system became - R would get the front of the boat as close as possible to the side of the lock. Chris would jump off and I would throw him the bow rope, and Brenda would throw him the stern rope. Then, Chris would start tying them off, and either Brenda or I (or both) would get to shore (without any jumping dramatics) and would help to secure the boat. Then, as the boat started to fall in the lock, we would all get back on shore, and wait to release the ropes until the boat was ready to move on ... and then move on and do it all over again! We did talk to some people who said we were very lucky to be going downstream, the way we were – that doing locks upstream is even more difficult! Then, apparently, you have to let your jumper off first, before you enter the lock; then, that person follows the boat and when it enters the lock, they are there to catch the ropes being thrown up from below! Then, as the boat rises up in the lock, the jumper gets back on ... only to repeat when you hit the next lock. So, I consider ourselves VERY lucky (certainly didn’t have anything to do with us, as we’d never considered the issue!) to be going the direction we are...
At any rate, some very long, peaceful stretches with lovely trees lining the canal, and not another sound except for the birds chirping and the frogs (which are huge!) croaking! Only down side was after we’d stopped for our lunch-lock-break (locks close from 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. for lunch)...I’m still not sure what happened, but we were pushing off, and I don’t know if my knee gave out or what, but suddenly I found myself sprawled on the ground with the boat heading away! Lovely scrape down my shin from the pebbles on shore ... haven’t had a scrape like that since I fell walking Indy a few years ago! OUCH! Fortunately, the captain of the boat decided to come back for me ... which was good, because I’m not sure what I would have done out in the middle of no where...and I say no where, because even though there was a sign indicating a restaurant/bar a 500 m, it wasn’t...Chris even walked to the nearest village, (total journey of about 5 km) and nothing! Pas de toute! So, back on the boat and four more locks and we were sailing into Carcassone Port. Very interesting, though, as you go from peaceful and quiet to beginning to see a few houses, to suddenly being in a very populated area! Bridges, cars, people, noise...We moored in Carcassone Port, which is fairly large and certainly well equipped; directly across the canal from the train station. Walked through the town to look for a place for dinner; nice look around, (stopping at a pharmacy for bigger bandages...) and doing some grocery shopping; drinks, some snacks, and laundry detergent, as there is a washer and dryer available for use at the port! Did two loads of wash – Brenda/Chris first, then us. We weren’t desperate for clothes, but my laundry issues were kicking in, and why pass up a perfectly good washing machine? Finished about 8 and headed into town for pizza! Yum! Wood-fired; great toppings; nice place. Had a nice evening. Brenda tried Iles Flotante (sp?); floating islands, which is a desert that Anne Vaughan really likes; Brenda loved it! Walked back (slowly) to the boat; lovely evening! To bed around 10.
Up about 7. R went to the nearest patisserie for pain au chocolat and croissants; we bought our own framboise jam yesteray; delicious! Now we are just cleaning up; it’s about 9 a.m. and we will be heading up into the old Cite soon – by taxi, though, as no way I could walk it up hill at the moment!!
So; more later!!
Love,
m
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