So here we are, it’s the end of October, we are at the end of the cruising season and are in our winter port at Castelsarrasin, finally updating our journal and our website - but - since the last episode only took us up to the end of August, what happened during the autumn end of the cruising season ? Read on.

The beginning of September found us at Agde on the Canal du Midi. Regular readers will know that this is the town that is famous for its round lock which has three entrance /exits. This is unique, not only on Pierre Paul Ricquet’s Canal du Midi but throughout the extent of the canal systems in Europe. The canal was built in the mid 1600s, the oldest still operating section of the waterways. In building the canal, Ricquet had to overcome a great number of technical challenges as well as a great deal of political pressure from those who were jealous of the exclusive contract held by him and the great amount of money being poured into the construction by the government. The round lock was the cheap answer to a question of how you provided access to the canal from the river that took it to the east, the canal itself that went to Toulouse in the west and a branch canal that was required to bring goods up from the south. Why build two locks when you can create a round lock with three doors.

Canals were the answer to the lack of modern and effective transport systems in a country that had muddy, rutted tracks for roads and unsprung carts pulled laboriously by oxen, donkeys or horses. Heavy and delicate loads could not be carried over such impassable tracks and so the canals offered a way of supplying far away markets with building materials, wines, crockery, agricultural produce and other manufactured goods. The canals of course were outrun in the 1800s by the advent of railways which could beat the boats in both speed and progressively, capacity. Both systems however were built by entrepreneurs who then charged passage on them. In this way was Ricquet's family to prosper over centuries. There are still members of the family living very well on the proceeds 400 years later.

Agde gave me the opportunity to take a train back to Carcassonne, the site of the burglary on the boat which had robbed us of our lap top computer, Pentax camera and some wine - plus the data cable that made email possible. We had waited for some 6 weeks for a replacement and it was now available at the tourist office at Trebes. An hour in the train and taxi both ways, 30 euros in fares and we were now able to communicate again.

We had come to Agde from the extent of the Canal du Midi and were still heading east, now in company with friends, made in St Jean de Losne, our first winter port in 2001. John and Jan had voyaged down from the centre of France for this summer cruising season and with the heat were content to lie close to the Mediterranean, in which we spent many hours cooling down from the infernal 40 degree summer heat.

We moved off from Vias, a pleasant canal side stop (complete with electricity and water supplied free to attract boats to this tourist town) at the beginning of September and passed through Agde on our way to the Etang de Thau.

The Etang is a large lake, 15km long by 5 wide, on which there are hectares of oyster farms punctuated by three major towns with fishing / pleasure boat harbours. We decide to spend a couple of days exploring the three towns and so dropped our anchor about 300 metres from the entrance of Marseillan, the first, allowing John to bring his much smaller boat alongside to take us ashore. These ports are quite small and have limited manoeuvre manoeuvring room inside for boats our size. It was a hot and breathless day so we spent an hour or so wandering about the town and visiting the famous ‘cave’ (French for cellar) wherein Noilly Prat vermouth is made and distributed. We had to buy some of course and enjoyed it later that day as our aperitif, mixed with Canada Dry ginger ale.

By the time we returned to Van Nelle the wind had increased and the Meteo was issuing a ‘securite’ alert for Beaufort force 7 winds later. We went on to Meze, the next town, thinking we may be able to secure Van Nelle on the outer end of the breakwater, inside the harbour, the only place for a boat of our size. Unfortunately, two small boats had grabbed the space and as John took ‘Blackbird Fly’ his boat in to check alternatives, we beat upwind and downwind outside. He returned, advising us by VHF that there was really no chance of an overnight mooring out of the danger of 40 knot winds so we headed off to the canal on the east side of the lake.

Just inside the canal there is a loading space for sand and gravel, used for the construction of buildings and roads in the district. We suggested an overnight stay there to see if the next day ‘s weather would allow us to further explore the quaint towns within the Etang. John firmly vetoed that idea saying that he did not want his boat to be mistakenly filled with tons of rubble. We moved on to La Maguelone.

La Maguelone is another canal side stop for boats whose crews can take advantage of the tiny tourist train in order to get to the beach, about 1.5km distant and to the famous abbey where a connecting tourist train takes you off to the nearby huge tourist beach town of Palavas. We decided this was just what we needed for the next few days and so settled in to swim, laze on the Mediterranean beaches and explore the abbey and Palavas.

We stayed at La Mag for three days before moving on to Aigues Mortes.

Aigues Mortes is a fascinating crusader fort town on the swampy plains of the Camargue, France’s wilderness area where wild horses, bulls and rice are harvested for consumption and work. King Louis the 9^th (St Louis) bought this mosquito ridden swamp for a port to take his crusaders to fight the Moslems during the 1100s and 1200s. The sea, which used to be at the front gates of the town, is now 4km away and receding as France’s farmland topsoils are eroded via the interconnecting rivers that feed this area. St Louis was unfortunately captured by Mohammed the enemy king who held him for ransom. He also did a great selling job on him, offering and selling him the ‘original crown of thorns and parts of the cross on which Christ was crucified’. Louis fell for it (Mohammed must have been a predecessor to the current day rug salesmen) and after some years of humming and hawing his courtiers raised the millions required and St Louis returned to build the fabulous St Chappelle church near the Notre Dame in Paris, to hold the relics. At some time they found their way to Rome and are now buried somewhere in the Vatican museums.

We spent a couple of weeks at Aigues Mortes last year since we were caught in a huge flood in which some 16 people lost their lives. We therefore knew the town quite well, including the great oyster bar which we frequented for aperitifs or the entrée course of a progressive dinner.

Our friends John and Jan had arranged to spend their coming winter at the port of Grau du. Roi (The port of the King) which was built on the mouth of the river as it expanded the coastline seawards. This is now a picturesque seaside fishing village highly dependent on tourism for 4-5 months of the year and which virtually closes down for the other 7. We took the little train to Grau for the water festival and the running of the bulls before witnessing the free ‘bulls in a swimming pool’ concept they have to entertain the young men of the town.

The idea is that 10 or 15 young men enter the arena into which is introduced a young and very annoyed bull. In the centre of the arena is a plastic swimming pool. Any of the boys who are silly enough stand near the pool and goad the bull into charging them - which it does with evident pleasure. The idea then is to escape injury by jumping into the pool and immersing oneself close to one of the edges. The bull is then supposed to leap through the pool, leaping over the prostrate youth. It sometimes works. Other times he gets stepped on or slightly bounced around on a set of rather sharp looking horns. Only one human participant was helped out to the first aid post while we were there, the bulls all left unscathed !

Down both sides of the river channel to the sea are the moorings of the professional fishing boats which sell their catch direct on the quay side on their return each day. Close by on the quays are the restaurants, serving the fresh catch immediately after it is landed. Delicious and not too expensive.

It was at Aigues Mortes that I exposed my fledgling carpentry skills again, constructing a security door to isolate the wheelhouse from the interior of the boat. This, together with an alarm system, are my defences against further burglaries.

We stayed at Aigues Mortes for a week enjoying the tourist scene before having a farewell dinner with John and Jan and starting Van Nelle up again to head back west to rendezvous with some more visitors. However, since we had nearly three weeks before the Scotts and the Hodders arrived at Toulouse we took the trip rather slowly, stopping at all the best spots for more beach time and visits to wine caves, tourist attractions and towns.

Firstly we had three very hot days at Vias and its beaches. The beaches here are crowded with people of all ages and shapes as it is a popular holiday area. The sand is coarse and discoloured, the water slightly cloudy, so that you cannot see your knees if you are waist deep and all along the coast are groynes to keep the sand in place from currents. Mostly, the sea is quite calm with only small shore break waves to liven the fun for kids. As this is not the Riviera, there are not a lot of skinny, blonde models showing off topless and almost bottomless bathing attire, more like lots of middle class families with kids, blow up water toys and picnic baskets. There is of course a liberal sprinkling of topless bathers - mostly needing a weight loss program - like me !

Restaurants and bars in the area work to formulas - buy a ‘plat du jour’ (daily special) or a pizza and get a quarter litre of local wine included plus coffee - for the same price. The other ‘formula’ in this region is the ‘endless plate’ concept. At a waterside restaurant you select an unoccupied table which is furnished with a big bowl for empty shells, a roll of paper towels and wine glasses - no eating irons. You then order your wines and pay the waitress (this is the only service) for the meal (about 7.50 euros) and take the ticket she gives you to the servery where you can choose either steamed mussels with a variety of sauces or fried sardines. You also get an endless plate of ‘frites’ (French fries) and as many jugs of water as you might want You can stay there all day and just refill your plate as often as you like for the one price. When you run out of wine, beer or sangria you just go to the bar for a replacement at cost. Neat idea.

By now the huge fun fair (Europark) that was operating canal side when we first visited early in summer, was now closed. This really signals that the season is closing. The weather was however still very kind (with the exception of one or two days when it showered briefly) and it stayed that way right through to the last couple of days here in Castelsarrasin in October. This was very fortunate since while voyaging through the Canal du Midi we need to take our wheelhouse roof and side walls down in order to get under the fifteenth century bridges that are still in use ! We then travel with a plastic awning rigged over the space left by the missing roof sections and raise and lower the side walls when necessary.

The next day on or way towards Toulouse we had to negotiate the 7 locks at Foncerannes, the ones I had dislocated my back at on the way down. This time we had to go up the locks, a more difficult and turbulent experience with Maureen once again off the boat for the 45 minutes and 7 locks in order to secure our lines to the shore bollards. These stop the boat from rushing forward and hitting the lock gates as the water pours into the locks from the next, and higher, lock.

Locks work by gravity feeding the water from the higher level into the lower level chambers through panels set into the bottom of the gates. These are opened or closed depending on whether you want to fill or empty a lock and the water pours through them, runs to the back of the lock being filled, is pushed to the surface by the shape of the chamber and rushes back across the top of the stationery water already in the lock. This causes the boats to be pushed forward towards the gates, hence the reason your boat has to be secured while in the lock. Many first time renters do not quite grasp this necessity and end up crammed together at the front of the lock or, bouncing off boats like ours that are secured.

We made it though the flight of locks unscathed this time and headed off to explore the nearby museum in honour of Pierre Paul Ricquet, the entrepreneur who created the canal. Arriving at Port Lauragais, site of the museum, we were unable to locate such a building, having successfully found the Auto route Expo, the Musee du Sport, the Boutique and the Hotel - there being no other buildings in the area we took our bikes and went to view the hill top spire in his honour. After a punishing uphill bike ride we found the obelisk inside a formidable walled enclosure - locked. We freewheeled down the hill to the boat and headed off.

This section of the Canal features some very tight corners accompanied by narrow canal sections. We slow down to 2kmh before the corners, take them as wide as we can, and use our air horn generously. That does not stop or slow down the renters however. We have, on a number of occasions been half way through a very tight bend with Maureen on the bow as look out suddenly turning and flashing me the pointed hands upwards signal that alerts me to the oncoming menace. The next thing I see is a rental boat at full speed aiming to T-bone us. Normally, the next part of the sequence is that the driver on the other boat suddenly recognises the danger, some 30 metres from him, closing at a speed of 10-12knh - 2 of ours and 10 of his. Realising he has to do something, his instinct is to go into reverse. With a light rental boat travelling at speed, reverse tends to make the boat skid as the prop walks the stern one way or the other, sometimes with the help of the rudder, now furiously turned by the hapless helmsman, sometimes against the action of it. This ends in the rental boat ploughing off in an uncontrolled direction, banging into the bank of the canal, Van Nelle or both.

Mind you, this sort of collision does nothing to us except to slightly alter our direction sometimes, depending on what angle they hit us, but it often leaves a far more indelible mark on the other party. Shaken, the helmsman’s normal reaction is to rant and rave at us for being in his way as he makes matter worse by furiously trying to go, at full revs, forward or reverse and finding that all that does is to wipe his plastic chairs off the deck of his rental boat as he slides viciously under overhanging tree branches. (We once saw a boat head off in completely the opposite direction, leaving a chair dangling above the canal on a branch. They went on for some minutes before turning to resume their journey).

So, on we go, via Trebes to buy some of their excellent Chardonnay at 2,5 euros ($4) per bottle and on towards Toulouse. On the last day we ended up with another smaller boat in company as we allowed them to follow us into a lock. This slowed us down considerably, having to wait for them at each lock but I figured we had time to spare so I allowed them to continue with us. At the second last lock before Toulouse time was getting short so on exiting I allowed them to go ahead at a slightly faster speed, hoping that they would be tied ready in the lock as we arrived at it. Not only had they arrived, entered and tied up in the lock, they also instructed the lock keeper that we were not coming and he operated the lock, allowing them to get through before we arrived. As it was now 10 minutes before 6.00pm, he refused to allow us to go through as we would not complete the action before his ‘knock off’ time. This meant we had to stay overnight before the last lock to Toulouse. I was not well pleased and resolved not to make allowances in future for small boats.

Arriving at Toulouse the next day we found the little rat in the port and gave him a lecture - in front of his embarrassed wife and children. He hid from us for the next couple of days and I hope was suitable uncomfortable.

Toulouse is a very big city, home of the Airbus, the French space program and lots of other manufacturing and service industries. To be in the heart of it at the piddling cost of 4 euros per night is a good deal, especially if you have guest arriving. Its an impressive place to start a cruise form, having spent a day or so bicycling the area and visiting its many tourist attractions.

We were here for several days, long enough to do all the housekeeping needed to prepare for 4 guests for Australia, do the shopping and have a bike stolen. But that’s another story.

For more information on the canals of France - check out our website -