The first thing to say is that it was a slow day – very
slow. There were large numbers of boats going in each direction, which meant a
great deal of waiting at the locks. At some stages it seemed we had spent more
time waiting than actually cruising. It was also a grey, humid day that felt
like thunder. Storms never materialized, but the weather certainly brought out
the flies!
All the same, there were some highlights. At one
double-chambered lock, the keeper decided two boats should go into the top
chamber, including us, and another two into the bottom chamber at the same time.
She then equalized the water levels, opened the gates, and directed us through.
Made a lot of sense. I'm surprised more lock-keepers on the Midi don't do the same. Most of the time, though, it was three boats at a time, and
we got bumped around quite a bit. We prudently removed the ensign and pole to
avoid assault from behind.
Then, suddenly, came the most dramatic news of the day: a
phone call from Alex from Le Beausset, while we were waiting to enter another lock, announcing
discovery of a large and active hornets’ nest in our garden shed. However,
being Alex, he had already dealt swiftly, efficiently and ruthlessly with the
situation, finding an exterminator on the internet and summoning him. His only
query was whether the man was charging a fair price!
So on we went. Homps didn’t look very inviting, and there
were still plenty of hire boats tied up despite it being high season.
We looked at Paraza, where there is a quite well known wine
Chateau, and also Ventenac-en-Minervois, which has this church, but the
available places to moor did not look comfortable. So we came on to Le Somail,
and put ourselves in a convenient marina on the outskirts of town, with the
usual facilities.
Tomorrow we plan to take a side trip to Narbonne for a
couple of days, after stopping for a diesel top-up at a handy canalside filling
station a few kilometres down.
No comments:
Post a Comment