We slid out from the plastic embrace of our overblown hire-boat
neighbours quite early after topping up the water tank. The day was fresh and
even felt a little autumnal, and there were no other boats on the canal for
quite a while.
The first excitement of the day was meeting a dredging
barge, right in the middle of the canal. There was not much space to get by,
but they waved us through and there was no problem. I think this is the first dredger we have seen in France. In Holland there were many.
We saw quite a few camargue horses, some white and some not
so white. All very decorative. At one point, someone had dumped loads of apples
on the canal bank for them to enjoy. Subsidized overproduction thanks to the
CAP – common agricultural policy – I suppose. It’s a shame to see good food
wasted - though the horses don't think so!.
The canal runs almost dead straight for the 50 km to
Beaucaire, which used to be the junction with the Rhone. But engineering works
on the Rhone changed the level of the river and left Beaucaire isolated and its lock unusable, although it is still a popular harbour for pleasure boats. The single lock of the day raised us
four metres, which I suppose is Beaucaire’s altitude above the Rhone these
days.
As we slid into Beaucaire looking for a mooring, we spotted
the handsome Linssen 40 belonging to our friends Norman and Pat. We met them on the
Seine last year and we had planned to travel through the Burgundy Canal together until
they realized that their boat would probably not fit into the tunnel at the summit. We were delighted to
meet up with them again today and enjoy a glass of wine together.
They plan to set off back up the Rhone on Sunday, we
tomorrow, but much slower. So we may meet up again along the way.
No comments:
Post a Comment