Back aboard… Chaos reigns

Well a good journey back to the boat – all to plan – bit of a wait in Beziers but hey we’re in France so no probs!
Arrived on the canal (weird phenomenon….muddy footpath) found the boat she had been moved since we left her. After brushing the dead leaves aside in the cockpit (no slumbering mice or hedgehogs involved) we went inside – very dry & clean – relief – a slightly mouldy duvet, our fault since we left it scrunged up – lesson learnt. We then settled with a box of wine!! and make do food, but tasty……
A lot to do tomorrow but hey it’s another day.
Oh and we have no electric or water (being installed last autumn) and Cornwall is warmer than us it’s only 10 degrees. The solar panel worked well both battery banks full, so we have lighting but no heating!!!
So early to bed I think – for warmth!!!

We spent a few days at Capestang cleaning and victualling the boat – the weather started off quite cool then warmed up beautifully. It took us several trips on the bikes for the shopping but very enjoyable – we left Capestang and stopped after an hour for lunch at Poilhes oh it’s a hard life! We set of again the Tramontane was blowing quite strong Leighton said if the sprayhood was up we could have sailed down the canal.
Some stretches of the Canal Du Midi have been devastated by the tree canker disease – whole areas of the 2 hundred year old Plane trees have been removed and thousands more marked to go, quite sad to see. We went through the Malpas tunnel – I gave a hoot with the fog horn as instructed – much to the delight of a bus load of school kids who on seeing the red ensign all kept babbling “hello” – bless…… exited the tunnel and stopped at the sunny corner for a free night (lovely) and walked up to the Oppidum d’Enserune – which has a lovely view of the Etang de Montady and saw our first glimpse of the Med. Woop Woop – we’re nearly there
Next day we stopped just before the ecluse de Fonserannes (6 locks all joined together) a bit daunting when we started but we felt we were quite efficient and it’s so much easier descending locks even with the mast stowed – not so easy going up!
A stretch of the canal gets within 2 km of the coast so at Vias plage off we went for a swim………………..( far too cold for me !!!!! ) lovely sunny days – water “bit cold” tis early May spose. On to Agde with its famous round lock …the approaches seemed rather run down, end of the line for some boats for sure. Didn’t like it anyway. Plan was to stop here for a while, but didn’t – before we knew it really we were through the lock and on the river Herault which you have to transverse before turning in to the canal again so we stopped just before the final lock of the canal……….. Then walked back to Agde for a wander.
Wine tasting in Cap d’Agde………………..
Well for 3euro’s you get a very nice wine glass which is slung around your neck and 3 billets (tickets) which are to be handed over in exchange for a taster of wine at any of the 95 stalls offering their produce stretched around the marinas – Leighton was repeatedly asked if he had a billet and in his best English replied “yes I have a ticket thank you very much” we left with 5 billets not used! Hic!! In fairness most stalls didn’t even ask for one : ))))))))))

We stayed at the last lock and became beach bums again – then for a treat on our 36th wedding anniversary – Leighton had booked us into a hotel near the beach for a few days – lovely….
After a lovely few days of sun and sand we returned to Zig to be eaten by mossies just getting aboard, luckily we killed most of them before they bit. The boat was filthy with tree blossom etc so after a scrub & a trip to the supermarket we were off again, through the etang de Thau which is 10 miles long, our first bit of open water for ages – lovely to feel some movement aboard at last. From there we entered the canal du Rhone a Sete and stopped at Frontignan to wait for the bridge to lift at 4pm & met another boatie who told us that the electric here was free at the mo and you could stay for 3 nights with no fees ……bargain! He kindly gave us 2 tokens for 200l of water when Leighton tried to pay him was told not to be a xxxxx & keep his money in his pocket haha. We stayed 3 nights Leighton getting on with his needlepoint ha I mean the bimini. A surprisingly nice little town with a very old church.
The bridge raises at 8.30am so up at 7 to get ready and off we go, this canal borders part of the Camargue so we were hoping to see some wildlife. We stopped for lunch and wow what a stop – so many beautiful Bee-eaters swooping and giving us a glorious display – Flamingos on the lakes as well.
We planned to stop at several halte nautiques / ports en route but they were either nonexistent or full so we carried on to the last lock of the whole canal system – whoopee…… we have a short stretch on the Petit Rhone then turn down the Rhone to the med………………….. whaahay..
Waited outside the lock circling with a Legend 36 – waiting patiently still a red light………. the lock keeper comes down to give us the bad news – Apparently there’s been a lot rain in Europe? The Petit Rhone is in flood, levels raised and the lock will not be opening until the level goes down…………………………………. who knows when it’ll open……………!! So the first lock when we wanted to enter the canal system was closed for repairs so we couldn’t get in now we can’t get out! Oh well so we tied up alongside an old barge and the German couple in the Legend did the same – very nice couple who joined us for a few drinks and a chat that pm. We awoke to a beautiful sunny morning and alarming loud clunks! Only to find the barge we tried up to (which looked like it hadn’t moved for ages) was to be craned out of the water that afternoon. Bloody hell!!
Boats moved, cycled to town and found some wifi in the local tourist office. Had a look at the river humm very fast, probably have to back track 20k to another Med port, weather report is for very strong winds towards the end of the week (not good for putting the mast backup) so we may stay here a while – some events on Saturday including Camargue cowboys riding through the streets pictures of them wrestling bulls to the ground.. We’ll see. Sounds good to me 😉 …………….
Confirmed by the tourist office they’re running bulls through the streets…. we’ve been warned, apparently it’s very dangerous!

Running Bulls
A festival over the weekend in St Gilles, so another 5.5km walk in to town. We enquired at the tourist office about the event and were warned it is great fun but very dangerous….. Okaaay. So when we arrived in plenty of time the barricades were already up, 8ft metal railings – ideal. After an ickle glass of wine and a chat with Sheryl (our daughter) on Skype… Horror of horrors she told us that morning she had skydived over Perranporth / Truro!!!!! Good God, who’s child is she!!!!!!!
We found a good safe vantage point to watch the horse riders of the Camargue attempt to control a herd of bulls – I say attempt…… We thought the barriers were to protect the people but no no no – to stop the bulls escaping. Most of the spectators stood inside the barriers and seemed totally unfazed when a bull escaped and came hurtling towards them. The younger (fit macho types) men would then chase and grab the horns and wrestle the bull to control it! We were amazed and very glad we were out of the way. Even with the horses hurtling down the road parents with young children just stood and ambled out of the way, although a 5 or 6 year old had sense and was pulling his parents frantically to the side of the road. After a tasty meal we headed to the arena where we saw horsemanship which was unbelievable – games where they seemed to defy gravity by staying in the saddle. This was followed by more teasy bulls where youngsters 12 to 13 yrs run in and away from him trying to take the prize from his horns, needless to say teasy bulls can jump the wooden barriers in place……. crazy! It was a very cold evening and as we had to walk back to Zig we left about 11pm. What an experience..
The next day our German neighbours decided to attempt to go up the Rhone against a 5 knot current, needless to say they returned about 4pm as their engine couldn’t cope.
We went the following day and had 3 knots against us in the Petit Rhone and 5 knots with us as we turned down the Rhone. Sadly we couldn’t stop at Arles as there were no facilities and the current was way too strong. We carried on into our last lock – the 120th, only about an 18inch drop into Port St Louis. Whoopee we’re in the Med. Now to organise putting up the mast.