Chers amis,
It has been again a long time since I have made an entry in this blog, but I do have a good excuse! We have had over 7 sets of visitors in the past two months with whom we have been traveling on the Canal de la Garonne. We began with my sister and her husband, then our son Alec and his girlfriend Brittany for three weeks, and then for shorter periods of time John and Josiane from Belgium, and then Suzanne and Rennie, Jenn, Kathy and George, Laura and Thomas from Maryland, and most recently my cousin Marc and his wife Daniela from Germany. We have had a busy time traveling up and down this canal four times on our floating B and B and arranging places to meet our visitors. Therefore we feel as if we have become good tour guides and now know this canal as well as a dear friend. In fact, the captains in most of the ports recognize us and probably are thinking “Them again?” Instead of spending so much time on this canal, we had intended to go up the Dordogne River after visiting Bordeaux, or continue up a little of the coast of France (our boat is sea worthy after all) to La Rochelle and then navigate on the Charente River in the region where I had studied when I was in the University. However, after we experienced the current on the Gironde in Bordeaux and Blaye we decided that no way were we going to do that,( jamais de la vie!) , even if our boat was sea worthy! Since we did have a lot of visitors scheduled this summer, we decided just to stick to this lovely canal where we and our cats feel safe, and where we wouldn’t be knocked and buffeted about by strong tide, currents, and waves.
It has been again a long time since I have made an entry in this blog, but I do have a good excuse! We have had over 7 sets of visitors in the past two months with whom we have been traveling on the Canal de la Garonne. We began with my sister and her husband, then our son Alec and his girlfriend Brittany for three weeks, and then for shorter periods of time John and Josiane from Belgium, and then Suzanne and Rennie, Jenn, Kathy and George, Laura and Thomas from Maryland, and most recently my cousin Marc and his wife Daniela from Germany. We have had a busy time traveling up and down this canal four times on our floating B and B and arranging places to meet our visitors. Therefore we feel as if we have become good tour guides and now know this canal as well as a dear friend. In fact, the captains in most of the ports recognize us and probably are thinking “Them again?” Instead of spending so much time on this canal, we had intended to go up the Dordogne River after visiting Bordeaux, or continue up a little of the coast of France (our boat is sea worthy after all) to La Rochelle and then navigate on the Charente River in the region where I had studied when I was in the University. However, after we experienced the current on the Gironde in Bordeaux and Blaye we decided that no way were we going to do that,( jamais de la vie!) , even if our boat was sea worthy! Since we did have a lot of visitors scheduled this summer, we decided just to stick to this lovely canal where we and our cats feel safe, and where we wouldn’t be knocked and buffeted about by strong tide, currents, and waves.
A few of the visitors aboard De Halve Maen
|
The Canal de la Garonne connects to the Canal du Midi at Toulouse. The two canals join to form
Le Canal Entre Deux Mers, a canal between two oceans, which means the two canals join to connect the Mediterranean at the port of Sète to the Atlantic after the port of Bordeaux. The Canal de la Garonne is 193 kilometers, and has 53 locks, so since we are now navigating it for our third time, we have covered over 579 kilometers, and 159 locks this summer. There is a wonderful Voie de Vélo, a bike path that follows both of these canals (the Midi and the Garonne) from sea to sea, and people traverse the entire distance on their bikes. Chris and I met two seventy year old men riding along the Canal de la Garonne who had started in Bordeaux and had already ridden 2000 kilometers. They were planning to ride the entire trail from Bordeaux to Sète on the Mediterranean, tent camping along the way! It would be wonderful to be that fit at 70!
Le Canal Entre Deux Mers, a canal between two oceans, which means the two canals join to connect the Mediterranean at the port of Sète to the Atlantic after the port of Bordeaux. The Canal de la Garonne is 193 kilometers, and has 53 locks, so since we are now navigating it for our third time, we have covered over 579 kilometers, and 159 locks this summer. There is a wonderful Voie de Vélo, a bike path that follows both of these canals (the Midi and the Garonne) from sea to sea, and people traverse the entire distance on their bikes. Chris and I met two seventy year old men riding along the Canal de la Garonne who had started in Bordeaux and had already ridden 2000 kilometers. They were planning to ride the entire trail from Bordeaux to Sète on the Mediterranean, tent camping along the way! It would be wonderful to be that fit at 70!
The French in general seem very active, and love enjoying the outdoors with their families. We often see three generations of a family hiking the trail along the canal, or riding bikes together or having a picnic in a park along the water. They seem to have a great quality of life in France, five weeks of vacation a year, and all the Catholic holidays off, even though not many are practicing catholics. They often “ fait le pont” (make a bridge) between a day off and the weekend when one of the holidays lands on a Tuesday, so they enjoy many four day weekends. In August alone they had four day weekends to celebrate Pentecost and the Assumption. Because they have so much quality time, and have such a joie de vivre, they are very relaxed and friendly with everyone around them, calling out Bonne Promenade to us, or Bon appétit when we have moored the boat for lunch.
The Canal de la Garonne in our opinion is prettier and more interesting than the Canal du Midi, which is much more well known and therefore crowded with rental boats. Just like along the Canal du Midi, there are many areas along the banks of the Canal de la Garonne that are covered with a canopy of towering plane trees, even more than the the Canal du Midi because it has lost a lot of plane trees due to disease. There are more interesting towns on the Canal de la Garonne, and many more ports with cafés and restaurants along the canal. Best of all, it is very quiet, not many rental boats, and we often have the canal to ourselves. There is always room in the ports when it is time to moor, and the captains of the ports are always friendly and helpful.
The Canal de la Garonne in our opinion is prettier and more interesting than the Canal du Midi, which is much more well known and therefore crowded with rental boats. Just like along the Canal du Midi, there are many areas along the banks of the Canal de la Garonne that are covered with a canopy of towering plane trees, even more than the the Canal du Midi because it has lost a lot of plane trees due to disease. There are more interesting towns on the Canal de la Garonne, and many more ports with cafés and restaurants along the canal. Best of all, it is very quiet, not many rental boats, and we often have the canal to ourselves. There is always room in the ports when it is time to moor, and the captains of the ports are always friendly and helpful.
In this part of France, in the region of Gascogne, or Gascony (the land of d’Artagnon from the Three Musketeers, and of Cyrano de Bergerac) you see many more orchards and sunflower fields than vineyards that you see on the Canal du Midi. This area of Gascony is known for its prunes and apples, peaches and melons, more than it’s vineyards. The fruit is always sold at the peak of it’s flavor and juiciness too, so you can only keep it for about a day or so before it goes bad. But biting into a peach or a melon here is like heaven on earth! A very interesting phenomena that we witnessed was the shooting of cannon into the atmosphere when a severe storm is predicted to prevent hail from damaging the fruit on the trees. We heard the cannon when we were in Moissac, and thought there was a reenactment the French Revolution taking place! In spite of the fact that orchards outnumber vineyards here, that doesn’t mean that we haven’t tasted many good wines from this region, not even counting the Bordeaux wines at the end of the canal. There is a wine region along this canal called Entre deux Mers, and they have some really nice whites. Other wines that we have enjoyed from the region are the Gaillacs, the Côtes de Tarn, Malbecs from Cahors, and then of course the most celebrated the Bordeaux wines of Graves and Sauternes near Castets en Dorthe.
Every region has its own food specialties, and in the sud-ouest of France, or Gasgogne and the Dordogne they are known for their duck dishes, and foie gras ( fattened goose or duck liver pâté). We have noticed that the specialty of the day, or plat du jour of local restaurants is more often than not a salad with foie gras, and magret de canard (duck breast) or confit de canard (duck leg) slowly cooked over a long period of time, and served in its own fat. . Lamproie is a strange fish, eel creature that they like to eat here, as well as perch, and trout that come from the river. It’s not that I don’t like duck or foie gras. I have eaten it here, especially when it is the only thing offered in a restaurant. I am just not a fan of eating duck. I love the wild ducks on the canals and rivers to much to think of eating them. I usually stick with fish, but not lamproie!
We were lucky to moor in small towns that were hosting marchés nocturnes this summer. A marché nocturne, which means night time market, is not really a market, but a big community fair with food, regional products for sale, wine tastings and music from live bands. We were able to meet a lot of nice French families this way since you sit at community tables to eat and drink, and Chris got to hold a lot of little babies (getting ready to meet our granddaughter this month!) Even at these marchés nocturnes, our choices were magret de canard made into hamburgers, sandwiches, stews, you name it, with a big slab of foie gras on top, so yours truly would have the cheese platter.
We were lucky to moor in small towns that were hosting marchés nocturnes this summer. A marché nocturne, which means night time market, is not really a market, but a big community fair with food, regional products for sale, wine tastings and music from live bands. We were able to meet a lot of nice French families this way since you sit at community tables to eat and drink, and Chris got to hold a lot of little babies (getting ready to meet our granddaughter this month!) Even at these marchés nocturnes, our choices were magret de canard made into hamburgers, sandwiches, stews, you name it, with a big slab of foie gras on top, so yours truly would have the cheese platter.
Some of our favorite towns and ports along this canal have been Valence d’Agen, Moissac, Montauban, and Castets en Dorthe. Valence d’Agen is an interesting Bastide town with lovely lavoirs where women used to wash their laundry using water from the river or canal, and a pigeonier,(many towns in this region had pigeon houses to raise pigeons for food for the citizens) For me it’s greatest attraction is its cool bath house that the boaters and campers visiting the town can use, built in a former slaughterhouse, with meat hooks and everything (that part was a little disconcerting). Near Valence d’Agen, within an easy bike ride are two towns that are on the list of plus beaux villages ( a list revised every year of the most beautiful villages of France, which is a great draw for tourism for those towns), Auvillar, and Lauzerte. They are also pilgrimage towns frequented by pilgrims hiking the part in France of the Saint Jacques de Compostelle trail or San Juan de Compostela in Spanish. They even have beautiful gardens for the pilgrims where they can choose to pick vegetables to maintain their energy while hiking to the next pilgrimage site. We saw many pilgrims along the Voie Verte, or bike trail/ walking path along the canal with their backpacks and hiking poles, and some with the scallop shell hanging from their necks or packs, once used to request alms as pilgrims hiked the trail. Moissac is another favorite pilgrimagee city where we brought several of our visitors. You enter the port of Moissac after crossing a beautiful pont canal (canal bridge in which your boat crosses a river or road) over the Tarn River, and you can moor your boat in the narrow port leading to the town, or on the Tarn river after descending a double lock. We have done both and they both have their merits. On the Tarn there is a beautiful view of it’s bridge, and a nice breeze off the river, but you also have people on kayaks, and racing skulls that bump into you, and loud partiers late at night at the park along the river. The port itself is quieter and closer to town. The small town has a great, colorful market on the weekend, a lot of small art galleries, and a lovely abbey that is a UNESCO world heritage site, and is also part of the St. Jacques de Compostelle trail. Montauban which is reached by a separate little canal off of the Canal de la Garonne, is the capital city of the region Tarn et Garonne is a beautiful town mostly made of red brick which reminds me of Toulouse, and it has a wonderful market. We love the port of Castets en Dorthe, at the very end of the Canal de la Garonne, just before you enter the Gironde to head to Bordeaux, not because there is a lot to do, or see in the small village, but because it is a lovely little village, and the capitain at the port, Bruno, is extremely helpful and friendly. He rides up and down the quai of the port on his bike checking on all the boats. Also, something we had never seen before, he delivers bread and croissants to your boat in the morning, and helps you get through the deep locks when it is time to leave. He even has an herb garden in front of his office, and encourages plaisanciers to come and pick his herbs for cooking on board their boats. At this port we have also made friends with the older retired French couples that live on their boats during the summer here. One gentleman in particular is very interesting, but hard to understand since he is hard of hearing. He grew up on a barge along this canal. His father owned a barge that transported Bordeaux wine up and down the Canal de la Garonne. He said that he had a picture of himself as a little boy in the very spot where he lives on his boat now. He has an old dog and cat that sleep all day on the quay near his boat, and thus near our boat. The cat is 19 years old and is called Minette. She is fluffy like Cosette and of the same coloring, but is very persnickety, probably because she is so old. She does not like to be brushed, and so, because she is fluffy, she gets matted fur. The little old gentleman has her shaved so that she has a mane like a lion an fluffy cuffs of fur at her paws like a groomed poodle. She looks very funny, and our cats are extremely interested in her, so much so that I have to be careful of Cosette jumping ship.
| |
Castets en Dorthe is the last port at the end of the Canal de la Garonne and after this port the canal empties into the Garonne River and then into the Gironde heading towards Bordeaux and the Atlantic. We decided to venture beyond the quiet waters at Castets en Dorthe when Alec and Brittany were here and navigated happily to Bordeaux, not realizing how strong the current would be from the tides. Chris had navigated this river on a Belgian frigate when he was in the exchange program with the Belgian Navy, so he knew that you have to keep track of the tides, and leave at high tide, and arrive during slack waters. Chris is a great captain of our boat, and understands the tides, and how to moor in a river full of current, We came in with the tide, and got our boat tied onto the pontoon across from downtown Bordeaux on the mighty Gironde without incident. Once moored however our boat was never still. It would rock and roll every time a barge or water taxi went by, which was very stressful for the cats, and not much fun for me either! The water of the river is churned up and muddy because of the tide and strong current, and so our toilets on the boat filled with mud. Inspite of all of this, Bordeaux is a beautiful city, and I am glad that we visited it, and we did have a lovely view of all of its lights at night from our pontoon across the river. Instead of turning around to safe waters after visiting Bordeaux however, we blithely continued down the Garonne and the Gironde to Blaye ignorantly thinking that we could make it to the Dordogne for a few days. The tidal current at Blaye was even stronger than at Bordeaux and when we were trying to tie up to the pontoon we were pushed against a small metal skiff and couldn’t back off. Finally Chris was able to maneuver us off of the small craft with no damage to either of the boats, but after adding many more gray hairs on our heads. We loved the old citadel at Blaye, but with the scare of tying up and a sleepless night of banging against the pontoon, we decided to turn back and not head to the Dordogne where the current can be even stronger, and there is the dreaded Mascaret, waves that actually attract surfers (like in California!) When we passed the entrance to the Dordogne river we were hit by the Mascaret, and did not surf it but were buffeted so much that drawers opened, things fell in these drawers and broke a few of Chris’ precious Belgian beer glasses. I was screaming as things were flying and breaking, and poor Cosette was so traumatized that she tried to bail ship. Thanks to Brittany who caught her by her hind legs as she was jumping into the river, she was saved from being lost in the muddy torrent of the Gironde. That was enough for us of the Gironde, quiet canals are what we prefer, and so do the cats!
We have now said our farewells to our last guests on this lovely canal, and to the canal itself after our fourth tour, and are making our way to Toulouse where we will spend the winter in la Ville en Rose.
Gros bisous mes amis, XXXX
Liz and Chris
Gros bisous mes amis, XXXX
Liz and Chris