Thursday 16th July 2009 Ponsas to Chavanay. Rhone

Hot and sunny. Chilly start before the sun was over the hills at 6.20 a.m. It was very calm with little wind, so we had the canopy up all morning. The water level, which had been dropping when we went to bed, had risen by half a metre when we set off. Mike had got up at five. He said two commercials had already gone past, and a large white van had been parked on the top of the high quay with its back doors to the edge of the quay, the driver had left its engine running and walked down the concrete coping along the edge of the slipway. Another van had arrived towing a small trailer with a fishing boat which he’d slipped then set off downriver. It had been very busy, very early, for what had seemed such a quiet spot!

The road alongside the river through St Vallier was very busy too for 6.30 a.m. Noted there were still “No mooring” signs all the way along the quay, with just one mooring for passenger boats at the downstream end. The river was flat as a millpond as the sun was creeping up behind the hills. Coming up to Andance/Andancette Mike measured the flow rate as being 2.5 kph. There was a small blue and white cruiser, with a scooter on the back, moored on the pontoon at Andancette (each time we’d passed by boat or by car, we’d never ever seen that pontoon vacant). A large commercial was catching us up fast - Guadiana, 135m x 1.45m 4,000T, running empty, overtook us at KP67.5. There was no chance of keeping up with it to go through the next lock, it was soon gone! Tug Audacieux and two empty pans went downstream, its crew waving. 

A hotel ship was catching up as we entered the lock cut. 2 kms to Sablons, lock 3. They were doing maintenance work on the dolphins, a crane boat was moored between two of them. We motored up to the pontoon which was very close to the lock. The cruise ship Swiss Pearl followed us and sat against the dividing wall between the lock entrance and the weir/hydro-electric power plant (one on every lock). The lock lights were two vertical reds, indicating a problem with the lock. It was nine thirty. Not long afterwards the gates opened and a small Norwegian yacht came out. Mike asked the keeper on VHF if we could follow in behind Swiss Pearl. The keeper said yes, OK. The big hotel boat crawled into the chamber using its left engine and bow and stern thrusters to keep it against the wall. It took ages. We followed it in and I roped on to the last floater in the right hand corner below the lock keeper’s cabin. There was about 20m free space in front of us. I didn’t see any ropes on the right hand side of the ship, in fact their side decks were twice our cabin height above the top floating bollard (there are two in each slot, a high one and a low one - we use the higher one as it is about half a metre higher than our cabin roof, which is ideal for our rope from the centre stud on the roof) and the steerer kept giving the left engine bursts of forward all the time we were in the chamber, so we thought it was most likely they had no ropes on at all. We rose 15.3m and eventually followed the boat out. Said merci, au’voir to the keeper who was hanging out of his cabin window way up above us (he’d probably been listening to us saying what a slow boat the hotel boat was, except when going past us at midnight!) 

Nirvanah, another empty 135m long commercial, was waiting above - almost in the lock mouth - he had his blue board out to pass the wrong side of the hotel boat, we passed on the wrong side too. As soon as we’d cleared his bows he started up his bow thruster to move into the lock. A small Dutch cruiser was flying downriver to get in the lock with the commercial. It was 10.15 a.m. The hotel boat ignited his other engine and was soon a dot in the distance on the long canal section. The quays at Salaise-Sablons were a hive of activity. Low profile coaster Nina (registered in Kingstown – we were having bets that it had never been there!) was being unloaded of a cargo of what looked like peat into lorries by JCB; 

beyond it another 135m barge called Sirius had nearly finished loading grain from the silos and dust was lying everywhere - its car behind the wheelhouse was white and so was the guy directing the loading tube, head to foot. He slapped both arms around his body as we passed and almost disappeared in a cloud; tug Europa with two empty pans was sitting waiting at the coal berth. An empty pan pushed by tug Pierre et Paul went past us as we went under the bridge, it took the unmarked arch on the left. By the bridge a converted péniche had been hauled out on the bank. Low profile coaster Frelon from Valetta was being loaded with scrap by a bulldozer and a JCB with a peeled onion grab was spreading the scrap in the hold. At KP 54 a very fast small French cruiser coming towards us was almost on the plane and had a rolling wash bank to bank. Mike went up on the front deck to photograph it but it slowed down before it came within range of a decent shot. I had to go inside for a while and sit down as my back was aching; I went back outside within twenty minutes as we were only 2 kms from tying up. Mike said a CNR (Compagnie Nationale du Rhône) launch had passed us heading downriver but had turned at the weir and gone back upriver. We could see it was now moored on the pontoon we were heading for, we hoped there would be enough room for us. Tug Atlas and two empty pans were moored just upstream of the new road bridge at Chavanay. Said hello to the crew as we passed by. 

There was room on the pontoon for our fore end behind the CNR launch and we tied the stern to a bit of metal sticking up out of the rocks by the remains of the old suspension bridge behind us. We had some lunch. The little cruiser from Andancette moored opposite, (anchored we thought) for lunch. The crew of the CNR boat returned at 2.15 p.m. I asked if they were coming back, no, they were off to Les Roches-de-Condrieu - too expensive there for us, I told them - they said it was free for them. Mike said he’d bet they didn’t have to buy the petrol for the two 200 HP outboard motors that powered their vessel when they set off upstream at about fifty miles an hour and did several circles which leaned the boat over at 45°! It was only 6 kms upriver to Les Roches-de-Condrieu, so they’d be there in ten minutes. We moved the boat forward, retied it and got the moped off using a plank. Mike went to get the car from Ponsas. I made a start on the chores. Saw a head appear around the front door and thought it was Mike. He didn’t get on the boat so I went out to look and came face to face with a youth! There were two of them on the pontoon so I said hello, all OK? Yeah, hot, came the reply. I agreed it was too hot and retreated indoors out of the full glare of the sun. They were still on the pontoon when Mike returned half an hour later. He chatted with them and they asked him for some water so he gave them some icy cold water out of the ‘fridge. Got the bike back on the roof after they’d gone. Sweated buckets cooking a stir-fry for dinner. 

Wednesday 15th July 2009 La Roche-de-Glun to Ponsas. Rhone

Thunderstorm in the night with heavy rain, everything was still wet when we set off at 6.45 a.m. Passaat went downstream, empty, ten minutes after we set off. We had a brief spell of light rain as we rounded the long bend into Tournon. Noted a new mooring on the Tain L’Hermitage side, a set of steps and a landing either side of a dolphin; a French catamaran was moored on the very rough quay downstream of the port de plaisance. A few small boats were moored inside the harbour with loads of caravans surrounding it. Cruise ship Swiss Pearl was moored at the upstream end of town on the junction with Le Doux river. Low hanging clouds and mist made visibility very poor heading up to Gervans, lock 4. The lights were on green/red so Mike called on VNF and the keeper said OK to go in. We rose 11.2m fast and left the top at just after nine. A work boat was moored on the dolphins above the lock. 

The weather above the lock was much better, the grey mist had gone and the sun was out. Dutch péniche Humanité came steaming downriver, heading for the lock. Back on to a river section, with Arras-sur-Rhône on the left and Serves-sur-Rhône on the right - both had lots of ancient fortifications. We arrived at the old quay at Ponsas at 10.20 a.m. An old German motor/sailing vessel was moored just where we needed to be to get the moped off. The quay was 5m high with ladders, but had a slipway at the downstream end with bollards on the sloping edge, ideal for getting the bike off. Their engine was running so I asked if they were leaving. Yes, within the hour. They’d been stuck there for five days due to the failure of an ancient water pump, which had to have parts shipped from Germany. They left twenty minutes later so we slid back to take their place. Helped fetch the moped off and Mike went to get the car from Glun at 11.15 a.m. Loaded gas boat Samoen went uphill at 11.25 a.m. its sister ship Pampero went uphill at 2.30 p.m. When Mike returned with the car we had lunch then put an empty gas bottle and a fuel can in the boot and set off to Carrefour, noting fuel and gas prices on the way. Traffic on the N7 was bad, crawling as far as the motorway junction then back to normal. Missed the post office in Salaises, it had closed ten minutes before we arrived. When we got back to Ponsas a gang of youths were fishing from the quay; one bright young spark was standing on the roof of the boat so he could fish between the side of the boat and the qay - until he got a shouting at from Mike. He moved. M and D sent a text to say the Big Boat was moored at a new pontoon on the town side of Macon. Made a salad for dinner, too hot to cook. A cruise ship went downstream at ten, lit up like a Christmas tree. Mike was tired and went to bed before eleven, so I had the task of slackening all the mooring lines as the river level was dropping.

Tuesday 14th July 2009 La Roche-de-Glun. Rhone

20.8°C overnight minimum - very hot and sticky. We had the day off as it was Bastille Day, a national holiday and we assumed the locks were closed. Another yacht arrived and filled the gap in front of us on the pontoon. We’d seen a few others moving and a couple of commercials so we thought that maybe the locks were not actually closed for Bastille Day. Still very hot after dark. The boat was still bouncing about (as it had been most of the day) from the wash of speed boats and jetskis.

Monday 13th July 2009 Le Pouzin to La Roche-de-Glun. Rhone

Grey calm start; hot, sunny and windy (from the south) later. Up early and set off at 6.15 a.m. Tug Ampère and two empty pans, Bastia/Lyon, were moored on the sloping quay in Le Pouzin. Took photos of the town La Voulte-sur-Rhône as we passed through, there were just two fishermen on the long sloping stone quay where we’d seen hotel boats moor. Arrived below Beauchastel, lock 6, at 8.00 a.m. The pontoon for us to tie to was set back, with dolphins sticking out at either end, and we could only just see the traffic lights. The red light was on. We heard the keeper give someone a severe telling off for going into the lock without waiting for the green signal, then a small French cruiser came out. The lights stayed on red/green - we waited for the green! Nothing else in there, but we couldn’t see that, we had to wait for the keeper to give us a green light! Into the chamber at 8.25 a.m. rose gently 13.65m and left fifteen minutes later. 

The wind was picking up from the south and the rising sun getting hotter. Cars and lorry drivers hooted and waved as they crossed the single track bridge to Charmes-sur-Rhône and we went underneath. Took photos of the distant town on the slopes of a steep hill. Saw a crested grebe, the first we’d seen in years. There were loads of black kites about too. Tug Atlas had two pans of sand which were being unloaded into lorries at Port de Valence, KP112.5. Tug Vaillant pushing two pans went downriver at KP112.5 as we passed the port-de-plaisance of Valence, port d’Epervière. It was crammed full of boats; there were jetskis playing around outside the offline basin and three little sailing catamarans set off upriver as a small cruiser also set off heading upstream from the harbour. Dirty black clouds rolled in from the south, but they soon passed over and back to sunshine again. An old ruined château, called Crussol, occupied a section of rocky ridge on the left bank as we passed the quay at Valence. One cruiser was moored there behind two resident houseboat péniches and an old tug boat. Mike spotted a sunken steam tug and took photos. An open speed boat being driven by a lady under instruction overtook us, a few minutes later another went past heading downriver. 

Some schoolkids in catamaran sailing boats were turning by the road bridge in Valence; their trainer (in a red inflatable powered by a large outboard motor) had to rescue one by towing out of the lee of the wall. It was 10.50 a.m. While we were still 3 kms downriver through binoculars we could see the cruiser (which had left the port in Valence as we were passing) was on the pontoon waiting for Bourg-les-Valence, lock N°5. Again the dolphins stuck out to protect the pontoon and we had no hope of mooring behind the Dutch cruiser, so we winded and went back down the lock cut and rested against a large wide dolphin with a central metal staircase. A commercial was coming uphill. Tug Audacieux pushing two pans, one with gas and the other filled with containers, came out of the lock and tug Ampère pushing a workboat went into the chamber. We followed in behind the Dutch cruiser. The keeper asked via VHF if the tug skipper was going to tie a rope on to a floater. We rose very slowly 11.7m. A cruiser flying a Belgian sleep flag went past heading for the lock as we left it. The tug and the cruiser quickly faded into the distance and we turned left into the weirstream at La Roche-de-Glun and tied on the pontoon behind a small French cruiser. Lunch. Gave Mike a hand to run the moped down a plank. He went to get the car just after two. He came back with the car and I gave him a hand to put the moped back on the roof in baking heat. A guy who was launching a small speed boat down the slip came over to have a chat. He said he’d never seen a boat like ours before - it’s been a long while since anyone said that! Two more French boats arrived, a small cruiser and a yacht; and with Mike’s advice they braved the weed and attached themselves to the short finger moorings a bit further towards the weir. Mike had an email from a friend in the UK who’d been mugged on his way home from the pub. He’d managed to stagger back home and got as far as the corner of his street before he collapsed. A neighbour called an ambulance and the police. He spent the night in the hospital and came home next morning with stitches in his head and no glasses, they were broken in the attack (and he was to have problems with double vision for some considerable time afterwards). The robber had stolen just five pounds. There was a Bastille Day “do” on at the yacht club not far from the mooring. Mike looked out around eleven but saw no fireworks, didn’t even hear a distant banger! Some lousy drunk jumped on the pontoon (or maybe even the back deck of the boat) and woke us around 3.40 a.m.

Sunday 12th July 2009 Le Pouzin. River Rhone

Cooler, with the wind blowing from the south, sunny all day. A day off so we had a lie in, it was great not to get up at dawn. One cruiser had left, but the Dutchman moored behind us said he might stay until Wednesday - they heading for Narbonne. 

Saturday 11th July 2009 abv Chateauneuf lock to Le Pouzin. Rhone

Sunny, hot and still very windy. It was cold, the sky filled with grey clouds as we set off at 6.20 a.m. At Montelimar there was a cruiser moored on the public quay by coaster Ace 1, registered in Kingston (may be a coincidence, the same ship was moored there in 2007 but maybe it lives there – then it’s a very big houseboat). Passed a downhill yacht at the end of the canal section. The wind really picked up as we went along the wide river section through Cruas. 

Passed the nuclear power station and then the new mooring where Rosy got stuck in 2007, now there were little posts to mark the entrance to the basin and a pontoon had been added along the bank downstream of the basin - it had its resident Dutch Barge already. We arrived below Logis Neuf lock at 10.00 a.m. the wind and current from the hydro-electric plant alongside the lock reduced our already low speed by another 1 kph. Tied on the pontoon to wait for the lock as we had a red light. A small yacht and a cruiser came down and we went in on our own. Mike timed the locking. It took thirteen minutes for the guillotine gate to lower, but only nine minutes to fill the 13.75m deep lock. The top end gates were traditional mitre gates and they opened quickly. A big empty boat called Passaat was waiting above, 120m x 11.4m and capable of carrying 2,302 tonnes of gas for CFTGAZ. He didn’t get a green light to enter the chamber until we’d gone completely past him. A French fast cruiser was dashing to get to the lock, but the big boat went in and the cruiser got a red light. Probably the keeper wasn’t allowed to lock anything else with a gas boat. Turn around time for that lock was 44 minutes minimum, so the cruiser would have plenty of time to tie up on the pontoon and have a rest. 

Eight kilometres of winding canal to the next river section and our intended stopping place until Monday. The quay at Le Pousin was empty. Well, it’s not much to write about, 3m high with one bent metal ladder, next to a dirt road leading to a factory. We tied to a big ring, the ladder and the Armco along the road, then sprayed the ropes to keep the huge black ants off the boat (we’d still got stragglers from Lacourt! I kept finding a few in the bin.) After lunch I gave Mike a hand to get the moped up the wall using our big plank and over the Armco (unbolted the upstream end section and lowered it) and see-sawed the bike over it on the big plank. He went to get the car from Roquemaure, expecting the start of the mass exodus holiday traffic to be bad and the journey to take longer than usual. Lots of pushtows and cruisers went up and down, but as the river was pretty wide the wash wasn’t a problem. At 5.30 p.m. a loaded gas boat went uphill. Two cruisers moored behind us on the quay and I never even heard them arrive!  

Friday 10th July 2009 Roquemaure KP225 to abv Chateauneuf lock. River Rhone

Hot and sunny, very windy. Up at dawn, set off at six, just as the first cruise ship of the day swung into sight around the last bend heading uphill. It was cold with grey clouds so we wrapped up in fleeces and I wore my windproof waterproof. We arrived at Caderousse at 7.30 a.m. and got red/green (getting ready) lights. Tug Atoll pushing two pans, Atoll Lagon and Atoll Lagune (each 3,000 tonnes) came out of the lock slowly. The red/green lights were still on so we waited, expecting an uphill boat to go in first. After a while, when nothing had appeared behind us, Mike gave the keeper a call and he said it was OK to go in. The red light went out leaving just the green showing. Rose 9m and left the top at 8.10 a.m. Two French cruisers were moored side by side in the middle of the pontoon for lock waiting; it looked like they’d been there overnight. 

Hotel boat Van Gogh went downriver. At KP210 a very fast German cruiser was heading towards us, a cloud of blue smoke behind him indicating he was motoring hard. I took photos of the bank to bank wash. He slowed down to pass us. We still rocked violently in his wash. A strong smell of overheated engines wafted our way. Spotted a pushtow in front of us as we got closer to St Ettienne-des-Sorts. The pontoon mooring was empty and a dredger (consisting of a digger on a workboat plus a tug and pan) was at work in the middle of the river. The latter moved his workboat to the moorings on the right bank and set off downriver with his pan of dredgings as we passed him. Four converted péniches were moored at St Pierre, neighbouring village to St Ettiene. Philomena (with a sign on the roof that read “Sculpteur du Rhône”), Lindus (in need of TLC), one with no name and Elorn (the smartest looking of the four). Round a sharp right hand bend and under the TVG line as a high speed train was passing overhead. Wow! That was noisy! Four cruisers (three French, one British) went past heading downriver at KP201 before the viaduct TGV de Mornas. 

We entered the Donzère-Mondragon canal at 10.20 a.m. as tug Tenace came out of the old Rhône pushing a pan called Martigues to head of downriver. The flow in the canal section was between 2.5 and 3 kph and we’d got 29 kms of that (and Bollène lock, the deepest on the river) to do. Tug Ampère (the cut down end of a barge) overtook us; another wall of water went past! A red hulled container ship called Diamante went past followed by a small German yacht steered by a standing nudist (male). Made a cuppa. A Belgian cruiser overtook us at the last bridge before Bollène. The sun had come out, it was getting hotter - but windier. An empty pushtow left the lock and we followed the cruiser in. The lock keeper was getting stroppy as he called the cruiser and got no answer. He said something about keeping a commercial waiting so Mike called him and said we were doing our best to get there quickly, but the wind and flow were slowing us. The cruiser was halfway up the chamber on the left hand side when we got there. We tied to the second floater on the right and rose 23m, gently but very fast, after waiting five minutes before the gates started to close (so much for keeping commercials waiting!) (Historical Note: In my French Waterways book of 1963 this was the last lock on the Rhône of three that had built then, the others were Chateauneuf and Logis Neuf – no other locks existed at that time – Bolléne is now number nine out of twelve). 

As we left the lock, a well-loaded (gunnels awash) boat called Fidelity was almost in the lock gates, waiting to go down. We passed a small Dutch Barge (British flagged) by the first bridge. A fast cruiser, Marseilles registered, was rushing to catch up. Mike shouted “You’ve lost your skier!” They either didn’t hear or didn’t understand, they waved cheerily. At 1.00 p.m. the wind was blowing hard down the wide open elevated section of canal above the deep lock. Swapped to the left hand side to go round two bends (as instructed by the signs on the bank) and met a nervous looking German high speed cruiser who would really have liked to have passed us on the other side. 

I made coffee as we left the canal and entered the Donzère gap. A guy on a jetski amused us by falling off several times as we went slowly past. The rocky hills on either bank were concentrating the wind. We motored on with the wind trying to rip our hats and sunglasses off. The cruise ship that passed us first thing was moored at Viviers, as were a small armada of cruisers. Glad we hadn't been aiming to stop overnight there as there was very little space. We arrived below Châteauneuf lock and moored on the pontoon to wait for the lock. The top half of the chamber was full and we had a red light. (Some of the locks have intermediate gates and can operate using just half of the lock) Péniche La Nauve came down the lock and moored on the dolphins beyond where we were. We cast off and went into the half lock. The wind was howling round the lock and it blew the boat off the wall twice before I could get the rope on the floater. Mike reversed off to do it again and the keeper started opening the gates behind us thinking we wanted to leave the lock! I got the blame for that over the VHF for the messing about! 

Mike asked the lock keeper if we could stay overnight on the upper pontoon. OK.  It was windy, but nowhere near as bad as we'd had at Roquemaure. Oh boy! I had never been so happy to tie up and get in the cabin. 

Thursday 9th July 2009 KP282 nr Fourques Petit Rhône to Roquemaure KP225 R. Rhone

Hot and sunny with a north-westerly wind. Mike was up at five, the tide had gone out! The water level had dropped between 50-60 cms and our bow side rope was tight around the rotten tree. Mike freed it all off, fortunately there was plenty of water underneath the boat. We untied and set off at 6.10 a.m. as Vaillant, another loaded big boat, came round the bend. I swept up all the tree debris off the front deck as we went under the two bridges at Fourques. The day before there had been a small gap under the concrete fill-in between the legs of the first of the bridges, today the gap between it and the water was over half a metre. Loads more posts were showing by the suspension bridge. 

Joined the Rhône at 6.30 a.m. I was steering as Mike was getting the anchor out and ready for deployment should the need arise. Just before the first bend we met a big tug called Silex pushing an empty 82.5m tanker called Annequingt coming downstream. The morning air was still and quiet with just a hint of breeze, later the wind picked up and kept up a 50-60 km/hr blast as we plodded steadily upriver so no sunshade today due to the wind. We met hotel ship Chardonnay at 7.50 a.m. near KP274. Five new monster wind generators had been installed on the left bank before the zone portuaire de Beaucaire, one was on strike already (or just resting?) Tarascon’s castle was on the right. Gabian went past again heading downriver with another load of sand and gravel, he was closely followed by a cruiser. I put my orange self-inflating lifejacket on as we went under Tarascon’s old  bridge; I was half an hour too early so I took it off again. Mike called the keeper at Beaucaire lock when we were fifteen minutes away from his lock, he acknowledged the call and said he would see us soon. A loaded downhill boat (Evasion, about 1,000 tonnes) came out of the lock (well timed) and we kept on crawling (at around 4 kph relative to the bank) up the left hand side to the lock, keeping out of as much of the flow as possible. We rose, attached to one floater by our centre roof rope, fifteen and a half metres without the slightest fuss and thanked the keeper as we left. 9.50 a.m. Two French boats, a cruiser and a catamaran, were waiting to go down and milling about above the lock like complete novices. 

Arosa Luna, a very large hotel ship flying a German flag, came downriver to the lock. The pontoons at Vallabregues were full and we noted they’d added a new one upstream of the others at forty five degrees to the flow of the river, which would afford some protection from debris brought down in floods; a small concrete quay between the new pontoon and the old ones had also been added. Hotel ship Camargue overtook us at KP255 by the (disused? Or spare capacity?) oil fired power station at Aramon; a very misty Mont Ventoux was visible on the right bank in the distance. At 11.45 a.m. we went under Aramon bridge doing a better speed of 6.4 km/hr. A restaurant boat from Avignon went downstream making a huge wash and we bobbed up down for quite a while after he’d gone. A loaded commercial went past close to the far bank as we passed the river Durance. Lunch on the move. An empty called Jumbo overtook us between the new TVG twin bridges and the girder bridge in Avignon. Three Belgian cruisers went past heading downriver at Villeneuve. Mike spotted the first (or was it the second?) (Second! Ed). topless sunbather of the year. The row of houseboats at Villeneuve seemed to have extended to one very large cruiser and five converted péniches. We were overtaken by a large empty called Nirvana going full pelt for the lock. Avignon lock emptied, the big commercial waited right by the bottom end gates after the keeper had told him fifteen minutes earlier that the lock would be ready in twenty minutes. Mike asked on VHF if we could go in. The keeper answered (eventually) to say we could follow the commercial in. We rose 10m, the empty sitting with one side rope by the cabin at the stern, occasionally giving brief bursts of turning his prop. Left the top at 2.25 p.m. A French yacht was motoring for the lock. Nirvana disappeared into the distance. We passed a German yacht and cruiser as we went under the bridge over the lock cut. A little later we passed two small British yachts heading downhill by KP231. 

Yet another yacht went past as we tied up on an empty quay at Roquemaure KP225. It was 4.00 p.m. Gave Mike a hand to get the moped off the roof. He went into the village on the bike to get some bread before he set off to get the car from St Gilles. A hotel ship moored opposite half a mile away on the bend, presumably the passengers went for a short visit to Châteauneuf-du-Pape, then the boat set off again downriver as a three pan pushtow went upriver. The wind picked up and started blowing really hard, water began swilling across the front deck, coming in and out through both scuppers. I kept an eye on it but the level didn’t get more than about a half inch deep by the front doors. At midnight a hotel ship went past heading downriver; our boat tried to leap on to the bank to get away from the rolling waves of his wash.

Wednesday 8th July 2009 jnc St Gilles canal to KP282 nr Fourques Petit Rhône.

13.8°C much cooler overnight. Still hot and sunny. The Nautic moored behind us was off before we got up at 8.15 a.m. Two more hireboats went past before we untied at 9.45 a.m. winded and headed for the junction. Mike called the keeper at St Gilles lock on Marine VNF channel 18. He replied and Mike said we were for the Petit Rhône and would be at his lock in fifteen minutes. Turned left at the junction, there was a big patch of yellow water lilies growing at the junction. Passed a silent dredger (no one on board). A flight of little egrets took off in front of the boat as we carried on down the Rhône à Sète canal to the lock. (Strangely we’d seen not a trace this time of the famous pink flamingos) The gates opened and, after seeing the sign that said lifejackets must be worn, we donned ours as we motored to the top end of the chamber by the lock cabin. Dropped the centre rope on the rungs of a ladder as the gates closed what seemed like half a mile behind us. The keeper came down from above and asked boat name, owners name and asked if we had got a vignette. He told us the rise on his lock was only 20 cms and the debit (flow) in the Rhône was only 800m at Beaucaire. The top end gates opened and with a cheery wave he wished us bonne route and we were on the river. It was 10.25 a.m.

The level of water in the river looked low as we could see the tops of training walls made of wood or concrete, slotted between H-section girders driven vertically into the bed of the river. Nasty things to hit as they are usually out of sight, a very good reason not to stray from the marked channel. At 11.00 a.m. a high speed fishing boat went past, also heading towards the Rhône, just before the bend at KP295 the site of the big breach which flooded the Camargue in 1993. The North wind was too much for our sunshade so we took it down as we passed a small island where fishermen were camped (their inflatable boat had deflated) by KP293. Two black kites were catching the thermals to soar and move on. The fishermen who had just passed us were moored a little further upriver, fishing from a little beach. We put the sunshade back up as the wind had dropped again. At KP284 there were clouds of dust from a combined harvester hidden from view behind the trees. Two red kites were following it to harvest any flushed rodents. The mooring at Fourques by the suspension bridge was no good for us. There were two posts about 40m apart on the left or a couple of little posts on the right by the bridge with steps up to the road, which would have meant no satellite TV. It was very noisy by the bridge due to the traffic crossing it. 

We winded and went back downstream by about a kilometre and tied the fore end to an old dead tree stump (memories of moorings in Poland!!) and threw an anchor out off the stern. It was 2.15 p.m. An hour later a loaded 900 tonner called Manet went past heading downstream with another load of sand and gravel. A cruiser went downstream shortly after. Mike retied the side rope off the bows as the tyre on the old tree had slipped sideways and sprayed ant killer on a colony of very large black ants that were exiting the tree stump and heading for a new home on the boat. I put an extra rope from the bow stud to the tree. Stiflingly hot. Later, another loaded commercial went past, then an empty, Gravian (again), went upstream. The latter had been motoring hard because we went back and forth a lot. The cabin corner nudged the dead tree and took most of the bark off it, fortunately it was soft stuff, but it broke the string on one of the two tyres – which sank. Mike put another rope on from the centre stud to the tree and I added a hard sausage fender (one we’d stuffed with expanding foam when it burst). Things calmed down. Amazingly the TV didn’t go off! 

Tuesday 7th July 2009 Maguelonne to jnc St Gilles canal

20.4°C Dull overcast start, soon hot and sunny again. Set off at 9.25 a.m. I had to shove the bows out with a pole as the wind was blowing hard, keeping the boat against the underwater piling. Went to the end of the moored boats, winded and set off towards St Gilles. Past the dredging team, shovelling thick black mud into a VNF boat. 

Gave a hoot and the bridge keeper swung the floating footbridge for us, starting up the two big outboard motors that powered it. Past the old Abbey church at Maguelonne and the triumphal arch. 

Past Palavas-les-Flots, a thriving seaside town, noting there were three boats on the mooring that we had used in 2007. 5 kms further on we passed Carnon, another seaside resort with a large funfair. Another 9 kms to La Grande Motte, the next holidaymaker’s paradise. We passed Aigues Mortes on the new derivation canal - a new waterway for us as we’d always gone through the town before. 

We passed our first commercial boat since 2007 on the junction with the old canal into Aigues Mortes. Gabian went past loaded with 900 tonnes of sand and gravel. 

Constance tower receded slowly into the distance as we went along a very long straight, over 6kms long. We paused at Gallician and turned bows to the bank to get some water. The lady from the Capitanerie was there immediately to collect the 3€. I asked how much the mooring charges were for overnight, 11€ she said (it included water and electricity). As we set off Mike gave M a call. They’d just tied up at Roche de Glun and had been having a delay of about an hour at each lock on the Rhône. We motored on another 10 kms to the junction and turned left towards St Gilles, but only went about 750m before mooring. It was 6.30 p.m. Nice to stop. Later a Nautic hireboat moored close to the junction about 250m behind us. 

Monday 6th July 2009 Maguelonne. Canal du Rhone a Sete

21.1°C (24.3°C minimum overnight inside the boat, getting hotter and hotter) Unloaded the moped off the roof down the long plank and Mike used the new short plank (which was only just long enough) to walk across as he wheeled the bike down the long plank to the bank. He rode off down the towpath at ten to do the 200 kms round trip. Sent a text at 12.15 a.m. to say he was at Vias and about to move the car to St Gilles, another message at 1.50 p.m. to say he was at St Gilles and was setting off on the moped. He arrived at 5.15 p.m. tired, hot and hungry and fed up with the holiday traffic. A lovely cool breeze blowing straight down the cut through the side doors cooled the boat down dramatically so we left the doors open until very late.

Sunday 5th July 2009 Vias to Maguelonne.

Thunderstorm and heavy rain in the morning. We left just before nine. Most of the boats on the mooring were British except for one large German cruiser and a Swiss Dutch Barge (that had spent some time at Valence) plus a few hireboats. I made a cuppa as we headed for Agde. More dead boats moored below Agde. A group of layabouts on old boats were already drinking beer at the top of the bank. Two hireboats out of the Nautic base went up the round lock. We could see the lock light was green so we motored down to the lock; however, when we arrived the gates were shut and the lock was filling. A hireboat was tucked up right by the lock, behind the trip boat Le Capitain which was loading with passengers and running his engine with his prop turning.

We reversed and chatted while we waited to a guy who was a resident living on an old British wooden boat. Thunder rumbled and it started to rain. Several more hireboats came out of the basin to join the queue and we could see the hotel boat (who was due at the boatyard on the Herault) was catching up. The gates opened, we went in first and manoeuvred into the corner on the left hand side just as it started to pour down with rain. A large Nautic powered into the corner behind us; it was crewed by eight burley Czech blokes who were also drinking beer for breakfast - they offered Mike a full stein, which he refused (all in German). Another small Nautic came in and stooged around not knowing what to do or where to go until the keeper shouted to them to put ropes on and went to their assistance. We went out first and the two hireboats followed. Amazingly they didn’t fire off past us as we went down the canal to the Herault or on the river or on the canal leading to Bagnas lock. We noted that there were quite a few boats moored on the Herault on the left bank upstream of the lock cut from Agde. The rain stopped as we went through the flood lock with a guingette (snack bar) on the lockside. We passed a LeBoat which had just left Bagnas heading uphill. The hireboats followed us into the chamber. A group of American cyclists (who told us they’d been on a Welsh canal holiday by narrowboat) came to chat while we dropped down in the chamber. The two hireboats were away first but didn’t set off at great speed they just slowly faded into the distance. Once on the étang we paused and Mike set up the Markon drive to generate some electricity and I did some washing. 

At 3.15 p.m. we moored in Frontigan behind a LeBoat full of Germans. The stone quay was empty both sides. Mike went to check the bridge opening times. Our newest guide book was wrong again – from 1^st April to 30^th November there were two openings of the bridge daily at 8.30 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. A guy arrived on an old yacht. He came past with rubbish for the bins behind us and remarked that he’d seen us crossing the étang and thought our motor went well. He said he was stopping overnight to get provisions but used to moor permanently in the basin until the council gave everyone a month’s notice to leave. He said vandalism and theft was getting to be a problem and he was going to leave anyway. We decided to push on when the bridge opened at four. It was a free for all when the bridge lifted, hireboats everywhere, about a dozen from Lattes went past heading for the étang. We moved on to Les Aresquiers. No boats were moored there. We found out why as we tried various places along the edge and every time the boat was on the bottom scraping on concrete or rocks. Gave up and moved on to Maguelonne. It was getting hotter and the wind had picked up which meant we had to take our sunshade down. Moored between the boats,  three feet from the base of a sloping concrete wall, with the aid of a bloke off a British cruiser who put our centre rope round a bollard for me. Our new plank only just reached the top of the concrete wall so Mike went up it gingerly to put ropes out fore and aft, plus a long spring to the centre bollard. Decided to stay put next day and move the car from Vias to St Gilles.

Saturday 4th July 2009 Vias

Drove to Nîmes via the A9 motorway to do some shopping and bought a new TV from Boulanger to use the credit note we’d had for the ‘fridge we’d returned in Montauban. Home via the N113; crawled most of the way back in heavy traffic except for the free section of motorway to the south of Montpellier, the heat was extremely oppressive. The new TV proved to be an excellent buy. French TV via TNT (terrestrial digital) was pretty good. 

Friday 3rd July 2009 basin Beziers to Vias. c du Midi

Another hot and sticky night. Hot and sunny day with a thunderstorm later. Said au’voir to P and moved down to Beziers lock, descended 4.24m, on our own, chatting to two nice ladies who tried to give us religious pamphlets. 4 kms to the next. The canal out of Beziers is sheltered by a double row of plane trees but has a very busy road on the left bank which spoils the tranquility somewhat. Ten minutes later we came to halt when confronted with red lights for the railway lift bridge which leads into the works of Cameron France, (drilling systems, it said on a large board) I made a cuppa while we waited. Took photos of the bridge and a shunter. Two police officers on bicycles went past on the towpath heading out of town. We’d just slung a rope around a post when the bridge started lifting. Typical. A dead ex-Locaboat was moored above Ariège lock. We settled into the curved section of the lock chamber on the right and the keeper asked us to move forward a bit. Couldn’t see why he did that as there was plenty of room for a péniche width vessel to get into the lock. Then a hotel boat (another one registered at Road Harbour) came into the lock and caught his fenders on the right hand gates as he came in. (Now we know why the keeper asked us to move forward – to keep out of his way! His reputation must have preceded him!) The guy steering told us it wasn’t his boat, he was ferrying it to the yard on the Herault at Agde for them to fix its forward bow thruster. He told us that they were stopping at Vias too. We could see a small boat coming down the pound, but the keeper closed the gates and let us down. 1.3 kms to Villeneuve. A dead, shortened péniche was moored above the lock. A hireboat came up and we went into the lock. The keeper closed the gates behind us, looked up the pound and reopened the gates to let the small cruiser in with us. The top end of the chamber (behind us) had been lengthened with a parallel section; the cruiser came into the lock then two crew members jumped off with ropes (the forward one was entwined in bicycles) and heaved the boat to a stop, lifting the bikes a few inches from the deck. We wondered if its reverse gear didn’t work? We dropped down and we went first out of the lock. There were masses of boats below Villeneuve, including a narrowboat (stern doors open but no one about). There was a very long line of houseboats, mostly péniches but a few Dutch Barges, extending along the left bank. There were less boats on the right than when we came through in 2007 as we remembered mooring at the end by the first of the houses and that side was clear of boats for at least 500m. 

The two boats behind us started overtaking as we reached the next line of houseboats. The cruiser must have been going flat out to get past the hotel boat as well, he was making wash that moved the old péniche houseboats! A woman fishing from one houseboat was looking on in disgust but said nothing to them. We ran down to Portiranges; another hireboat came up and we went in behind the cruiser who had tied in the curved bit (the additional straight section was at the tail end this time) and there was only just enough room for us to get in and miss the cill without hitting the back of the cruiser. A smiling lady keeper worked the lock. We thought she’d gone back inside but we spotted her sheltering from the sun under the bridge below her lock so we said our usual merci, au’voir et bon appetit, as it was midday as we left her lock. The other two had gone out first and had scooted off into the distance. I made us a cold drink as it was getting hotter and the shade trees were getting less and less. Port Cassafieres was stuffed full with LeBoat hireboats and a long line of private boats, and stacks of ex-Connoisseur hireboats were moored along the canal on the right beyond the basin. We passed a Dutch Barge skippered by an American couple. Spotted the first Camargue horses grazing in the field on the left bank. A hireboat came out of the basin and overtook us before we got to the end of the moorings. It was 12.40 p.m. The hotel boat we’d locked with was moored just after the funfair and road bridge. They said they were lucky, someone came to catch a rope for them as the bank was rough and they couldn’t get off without using their gangway. We stooged down the moorings (there must have been two dozen boats there, Mike said there were only three boats there when he brought the car) winded at the end and went back to tie between the last boat and the hotel boat. A Yorkshire couple on a cruiser said hello as we went past and the skipper came to pass my bow rope around the railing on the (dry) spill weir. Mike powered the stern end in as the wind started blowing us off and then we knocked some stakes in. We set the dish up on the bank beyond the path by passing the coax cable under one of the arches of the spill weir. After we’d finished watching TV we switched off and brought the dish in as there had been a bunch of kids hanging about on the path over the spill weir who seemed to be getting up to no good, throwing sticks at the ducks, etc. The funfair started up at 8.00 p.m. and was noisy but far enough away as not to be too intrusive. There were fireworks later.

Thursday 2nd July 2009 Abv Beziers KP205 to basin Beziers. C du Midi

Hot and sunny, cloudy lunchtime, sun out again after about an hour. Untied and set off to be at the top of Fonserannes flight before eight. A Belgian cruiser passed us just as we were throwing ropes aboard. We followed him to join the queue. Two passenger boats, (including the turquoise one Mike had shouted at the day before for travelling too fast) were moored, plus a tangle of hireboats. Several hireboats moved off at 8.30 a.m. as the lock started filling, so we slotted in between the ones left and a little British yacht. Mike went for a walk down to the lock with the skippers off the yacht and the cruiser. The British hotel boat was booked for 9.00 a.m. The first load of hireboats went down, then the turquoise passenger boat, followed by hotel boat, then more hireboats. The keeper shut one hireboat out, so he went into the next full chamber first then we all piled in behind, the yacht and the cruiser on the right hand side and we went behind the hireboat. It was a very tight fit, our bows were overhanging the swimming platform of the large hireboat and Mike made sure we missed the cill by not allowing us to run backwards. 

The yacht had only a small outboard for propulsion so the lady of the boat stayed up top and pulled the yacht on ropes into each chamber. It got hotter and hotter as we went down the flight and more and more gongoozlers appeared. I thought the crew on the boat in front were Americans, they didn’t speak. Cleared the flight, turned sharp right and over the aqueduct and waited with the others for the next lock, l’Orb, to fill. A yacht came up and we all went in, minus the little yacht, and dropped down the deep chamber 6.19m. Mike had a rope on the stern slider but I couldn’t reach the forward one, but there was nowhere to go as we were tight against the fenders on the cruiser alongside us. A friend’s cruiser was moored just below the lock next to a péniche, with a small Dutch Barge behind him that was also tied to the péniche. We went on board for coffee and a chat. P was in France to do some work on his boat but he was going to stay in Beziers as he had friends coming out at the beginning of August. Mike went to find a postbox to post a birthday card and had to go to the Post Office as all the boxes he saw were morning collections. He was back around one, ate his lunch and went to help P get his generator working. We spent a convivial evening chatting with P and drinking wine until late.

Wednesday 1st July 2009 Bef. Capestang KP184 to Abv Beziers KP205 c du Midi

Hot and sunny, a few white clouds, nice stiff breeze in the afternoon; very hot and sticky first thing. Four hireboats had already gone past before we set off at ten. Just round the first bend we saw a big boat moored, a Dutch Barge with its registered port as Road Harbour BVI (British Virgin Islands!) On the last but one bend before Capestang there were three dead boats moored, including a fat narrowboat with a tall wooden mast and boom for lifting a small boat on and off the roof. Just after ten we pulled in between the hireboats moored before the first bridge in Capestang to buy some bread. A French bloke, walking a little black Staffordshire bull terrier, told us how people don’t bang their pegs in well enough and fast passing boats rip them out! Yes, we knew all about that and as we were only stopping ten minutes there was no need to do that. Several boats went by and a couple of walkers during the fifteen minutes before Mike returned. There were two unoccupied boats at the end of the line of hireboats before the bridge; the moorings in town were more or less full. Several blue monsters from Moissac were among the rest of the France Fluviale hire boats at their base along the left bank. A dead narrowboat was moored on the right bank among the other dead boats, most of which were second hand hireboats. A sign on the left bank said only boats over 15m long but the moorings were full of much shorter boats than that and only two Dutch Barges were moored at the end on that side. On the right we saw our little Italian man from Florence, beaming and waving as we passed. I asked if they were enjoying their holiday and he said yes, very much; the rest of the family were in town shopping. A British hotel boat was moored at Port Guery at the end of a line of dead boats and a couple of other Dutch Barges, a new British one plus a dead one. A hireboat was catching us up - some Brits on a LeBoat - we called them past as soon as there was a long enough straight stretch. 

A white admiral butterfly landed on the slide. I fed it some tea, which it slurped up eagerly! The Brits were taking on water at Poilhès from the coin in the slot tap as we passed them. More dead boats, a cruiser from Zwolle, a British cruiser with a full sized Ensign and a hotel boat. At KP196 another hotel boat was moored beyond the village’s spectacular row of canons; it was a really beautiful boat. In Malpass a French family were looking through the short tunnel from the far end; there were flashes from ‘phones or cameras as we went through. Shortly after we passed a Minervois narrowboat (hireboat) going in the opposite direction. A large cruiser had moored on the stumps before the tunnel; we wondered if they would take the hot and dusty trail up to the top of the hill to see the archaeological site of Enersunes and enjoy the view over the drained lake of Montardy. Colombiers was, like all the villages on the long pound nowadays, filled with old hireboats and a few new ones. An Australian couple with an old Rive de France ex-hireboat we’d seen the day before were moored in the basin; a little further down the basin were loads of its new cousins awaiting hirers. Into a narrow section (the sign said, it didn’t look that much narrower to us) for the next 2 kms. Avonbay passed us going in the opposite direction. (The first time we’d ever seen it) We didn’t have time to think of something to say and none of the three blokes on board looked anything like Hugh McKnight (famous English writer of canal books)! The guy steering was very large and didn’t resemble Human Night at all. (Someone told us later that the boat had been sold twice since he had it) A little further on we passed a converted full length péniche moored in the narrow section. We weren’t sure if the canal was in a cutting or the banks had been artificially made higher to shelter towing animals from the Mistral wind. The Brits caught us up as we were looking for a reasonable mooring at 2.15 p.m. they were doing likewise as Mike reversed, so they moved on a bit although the guy said we ought to moor opposite one another to narrow the cut a little, perhaps it might make ‘em slow down a bit. Fat chance. No sooner had we tied to the trees and roots than a hotel boat went steaming past at full chat. Mike went out to remonstrate and had the French equivalent of a two finger salute. Mike shouted that he was surprised at the steerer as he should have known better and received another French two finger salute. The hire boat crew on the other bank (who had moored a little bit further down the canal) had to put their mooring stakes back in as the passing hotel boat had just ripped them out. After lunch Mike set the dish up at the top of the bank (which bordered a vineyard) and I stayed on board to plug things in and shout when he’d found the right satellite, etc. I opened all the starboard side windows and took the hoppers out as the wind had started blowing quite strongly which was bringing some relief from the heat. A British hotel boat went past heading for Fonserannes; Mike had a chat with the steerer - in French? There seemed to be quite a few hireboats also heading for the flight. At 6.35 p.m. a scruffy looking péniche went past heading uphill, was it really trading? It had lots of oil drums stacked up on the deck, masses of ropes hanging in coils from all its bollards and a small boat hanging from davits at the back. Difficult to say for sure. We hoped so. 

Tuesday 30th June 2009 Ventenac to KP184 nr Capestang. c du Midi

Very hot, sunny with white clouds. We could hear distant noises like a tannoy system so we got moving early thinking it might be a trip boat or that large slow boat again. Heaved the ropes in and set off at 9.30 a.m. There was a long, long line of dead boats before Ventenac; nothing moored on their nice stone stepped quay (sign said it cost 1.8 million Francs). A Dutch Barge was moored downhill of the bridge in the shade. Said hello to the lady of the vessel as we passed. Another British Dutch Barge was moored just beyond them. A hire boat had to wait for us to come through the “narrow” arched bridge before Le Someil as we had to get the exact middle for the mast to fit under. The Nichols base on the left before the main bridge was almost full, its boats moored sterns to the bank. A wide narrowboat was moored by the towpath and another one was moored on the opposite side among the dead boats. The péniche grocery shop was still moored just before the bridge. There were loads of boats moored in Le Someil; lots of dead boats and quite a few of them were ex-hireboats, but there were a few gaps on the quay (right hand side) before Minervois cruisers hireboats (pleased to see they still had a few narrow boats for hire). A British cruiser was moored among the dead men on the left. A long row of old Dutch Barges stretched out along the left side under the trees, some lived on but most dead, a long way down the canal. At the end SB was moored, a British narrowboat we’d seen several times, locked up and left for a while. Just after the end of the moored boats we met a klipper - a French flagged hotel boat – plodding slowly uphill. The shop selling regional products, bread, etc, just before the aqueduct over the Cesse, was closed - looked like it was closed for good. 

Took photos of the boats packing the mooring in Port La Robine. It was getting hotter and hotter. The Germans we locked with the day before were moored just before Argeliers, their two little boys were jumping off the boat into the canal for a swim. Several more large Dutch Barges were moored on the bend. One was lived on and a smaller one was being repainted in patches of multicoloured paint. The Brits we locked with the day before were walking back to their boat from Argeliers, it was moored beyond the arched bridge at the Chat Qui Pêche restaurant. A small Dutch Barge with a big dent in the back was moored there too, it had been renamed. Another hotel boat went plodding past at KP173. 

A cicada sat on the roof. I thought it had expired until it flew off at great speed. A very battered blue darter dragonfly sat for ages on our radio aerial, half of both its right wings were gone but it still flew very well. I spotted several large birds flying that looked distinctly blue, I thought they were rollers. Then we saw one swoop across a field to land on the electricity wires and I could see it well through binoculars and identify it as a roller - big powerful insect eaters who sometimes eat lizards too. It certainly had a plentiful supply of dragonflies and butterflies, there were lots of white admirals about again today. Two big boats were moored by the last bridge before Capestang, a tjalk and a cut down péniche with 39m still on its coamings and an owners name in Rotterdam. The bends wound a further 8kms into Capestang. We started looking for somewhere to tie up in the shade with a space to put the satellite dish. Moored at KP184, tied to the roots at 1.50 p.m. and had some lunch. I gave Mike a hand to unload the moped down the plank and he went to move the car from Homps to Vias.

Monday 29th June 2009 Puicheric to Ventenac Canal du Midi

Hotter and sunny all day. Mike walked into Puicheric village for bread while I got the boat ready and we set off as soon as he returned.. One hireboat had already gone past heading uphill and one followed us down to Puicheric. The cicadas were getting louder and loads of white butterflies with delicate black markings were flying along the towpath. We arrived at the top of the two-rise to see a very large vessel that we’d seen go past the night before in the top chamber of the staircase. The keeper refilled the top lock and we went in, then a Nautic hire boat came in alongside us. The keeper was very chatty, he told us that he was on holiday and a lady was working the lock today while he was sorting out his stuff for sale to the holidaymakers, boaters, bikers and walkers. We had quite a long chat while the Nautic got in the lock and settled; about Americans being unusually snooty this year, the climate changes affecting cicadas (spreading up beyond Trèbes to Carcassonne, where they never used to have any) and it was getting hotter there earlier than normal and wetter this last winter at Carcassonne. Dropped down the two chambers. Below two more hireboats were waiting to go uphill, one was La Moisaggaise (ex-Moissac big blue boat) and a red hireboat arrived to join them. It was 10.20 a.m. when we left the bottom. I made a cuppa as we set off on the 6.3 kms pound. They’d installed a new wooden landing above the bridge at Laredorte and added electricity to the water point. Beyond the bridge they’d refurbished the old stone quay and added loads of stainless steel posts about 18” high (Mike said to keep cars off, I thought they were for the hireboats to moor stern ends to the bank and take up less space), then, beyond that, there was another new wooden quay where there were loads of Dutch boats moored under the trees; a tjalk for sale, a little Luxe from Friesland and several cruisers. The crew of the Nautic filled up their water tank and followed us to Jouarres. We caught up with the big boat again, creeping very slowly through a narrow brick arched bridge. Two boats were waiting on the other side, a day boat from Homps and a LeBoat, so we let them through first. 

Very soon we caught up again with the creeping monster. We met the next uphill LeBoat on the next bend. As the big boat got nearer to the lock it went nearer and nearer to the bank and a bloke on the back stood looking back at us and crossing his arms in an “X” shape. Wondering what this meant, Mike, thinking they might be stopping, said go and ask him what he’s doing and went up right behind it. I asked if they wanted us to overtake, at which the woman steering the monster with a strange looking stainless steel pole for a tiller (it had two very large Z-drives) said sharply No, No, there’s a lock ahead! A VNF van went down the towpath to the lock. A dead ex-hireboat (French) was moored above the lock. We went to the stumps above the lock as the big boat went into the chamber. Our boat crunched on rocks which turned out to be a submerged sloping stone wall (clever place to put stumps for lock waiting - you could see blue paint where loads of boats had stuck on it). The Nautic pulled in behind us and its skipper came to chat with Mike who’d just been to have words with the steerer of the big boat. He got no sense from any of the crew. The crew of the Nautic were Italians from Florence and only the skipper spoke any English, he proudly told us that his two sons were studying English in London and back home he had a sailing boat. They were off to Agde for Saturday but wanted to stop at places that had restaurants so Mike suggested Homps as being a good place to stop. One of the Italian ladies had tottered off down the towpath towards the lock. Mike asked her if she was walking to Homps, she didn’t understand. She bought a bagful of cold drinks and a tray of coffees. Mike said for some reason every time she jumped off their boat her sunglasses fell off. We sent them into Jouarres lock first and they changed sides. Quick change of sides for our rope and fenders again. A UK Broads style cruiser with high bows was waiting below the lock, it went in as we left at midday. We went past the château de Jouarres with its very ornate entrance gateway and the lagoon just beyond it now had chains across the two access channels and signs saying private, no entrance. Homps was filled with hireboats, dead boats, moored tjalks and Dutch Barges. We paused under the last bridge and I stepped off to retrieve my sunglasses from our car which was parked on the quay. As I got off a couple on the bridge stopped and the man shouted “Did you get your ‘fridge sorted out OK?” Then I recognised him as the skipper off the Dutch Barge we met at Lacourt. (Didn’t see his boat though.) They went off to the restaurant, La Péniche. The large slow boat had moored just beyond the bridge; its crew waved as we passed. Two hireboats passed us, the last lockful uphill before lunch at Homps lock. Two hireboats were moored above the lock, no signs of life on board, and we tied to the tree roots behind them and had some lunch. Still no signs of life on the hireboats at 1.30 p.m. so we untied to push over to the far side but the lock gates opened so we went in. The keeper, a rough looking thirtysomething bloke, was a rare old control freak. He insisted on us having two ropes; my centre rope was OK but Mike had to put one out off the stern. Mike tried to reason with the keeper but, for the second time in one day, got no sense out of him. (Too used to ordering hireboaters about!) Two more hireboats joined us in the lock, both LeBoats. There was only just enough length for them, the one at the back ran into the back of the one in front, then the one at the front got his bows hung up on the gates and the keeper had to close the paddles at the tail end and reopen the top end ones to refill the lock until the boat could get its bows free of the gate. A wide narrowboat we’d met before was waiting below to go up. I told them to watch out as the keeper was a control freak and he was the first on the Midi to order us to use two ropes when going downhill. Followed our two LeBoats down to Ognon two-rise. Had to hoot as the Brits on the second boat had got a line off on either side of the lock as their boat was diagonal in the chamber! They shoved over and gave us enough room to enter the lock. Back to using just our centre rope and not a word from this keeper. Followed the two hireboats 3 kms down to Pechlaurier, another two-rise. Two hireboats came uphill and we followed our two into the lock. We were down in no time. Below the lock we passed a guy in a canoe with camping gear. As the lock gates had just closed behind us we asked if he wanted to go up to which he replied no, he was going downhill and was just waiting for us to go past. He’d put his canoe in at Castets and was heading for the Med. He followed us a short way before stopping. A small Luxe (looking in real need of some TLC) was moored just before Argens-Minervois. Past the new basin with nearly forty Locaboats still moored, waiting to be hired.

 The two hireboats we were following were tied above Argens lock, waiting. As there was no shade by the lock we waited under the last of the trees. It took ages to get the two hireboats coming uphill into the lock and fill it. Another hireboat arrived behind us so we motored slowly down to join the other two. Then we realised why the lock was so slow - the keeper was selling drinks, etc, to the boaters and walkers and was occupied with that as well as working the lock. He grunted when we went in and realised there wasn’t enough room behind us for the one who’d just arrived. Tant pis! (I’d marked on our old guide to the Canal du Midi that he was a bad-tempered lock keeper, so nothing had changed there then!) A young French couple from a hireboat below came up to speak to him and said it was their first lock and wanted to see how it worked. He grunted at them but gave them no practical advice. I was tempted, but kept my mouth shut! As they went out of the lock the Brits on the second hireboat lost one of their fenders (in true bumper boat fashion they went from side to side of the lock entrance going in and out) so they had to stop and fish it out. It was almost four o'clock as we set off on the long pound, 54.2 kms to the top of Fonserannes at Beziers. Just after the lock we passed a line of moored boats.

Among them was a “houseboat” (it said) that was for sale; newly refurbished, it had a shed on the back, a small outboard motor, some very strange looking side panels and outward opening windows, plus it sported British SSR plates! Next to it was an old narrowboat. The village of Roubia was being extended along the canal as several new houses were being built. Next to an old tjalk with its mast up were moored more old dead boats, including a small Luxe, a couple of wide narrowboats (ex Le Someil hireboats, no doubt) and a few cruisers. Under the trees at the village mooring we passed the first Le Someil hired narrowboat. The Brits, having caught their wayward fender, had caught us up so we let them overtake on the first straight bit before Paraza. The quay at Paraza was empty except for two day boats and an ex-hireboat moored at the end. A few more boats were moored by the village lavoir (washing place) and a British bloke (we heard him talking) on an old French cruiser didn’t even look as we went past. Round the big bend and over the ancient aqueduct over the Repoudre, then on the straight we met Tilly, another escapee monster hireboat from Moissac. The guy steering lost it and went under the overhanging branches, much to the annoyance of the two bikini clad females on the front; then he stuffed the bows right up the bank and had to reverse off. Nothing to do with us at all, we were just passing by! We moored on the next straight bit (in case there were any more about like Tilly) at the second attempt to get close to the bank and attach to the roots. We could see the moored boats at Ventenac in the distance. It was 5.20 p.m. Hireboats kept passing about one every ten minutes until around 7.00 p.m. M off The Big Boat rang to find out where we were and tell us about the horrendous price rises proposed at places like St Gilles - 50€ a night in high season (like now, July/August) Told him we’d got to get our ‘fridge sorted, or buy a new TV with the credit note, before we could start on the run up the Rhône.