Tag Archives: Detour

The Canal du Midi – Port de Castelnaudary

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Port de Castelnaudary has been our home on several occasions. Our most recent stay was for six weeks during which we absolutely fell in love with the port, the town, the Capitanerie, port staff, and the boaters.

What is so special about Castelnaudary?

THE CAVE – Each Friday evening, members of the boating community gather at “The Cave” to enjoy excellent libations, charcuterie boards, and the company of fellow boaters and, townspeople. That is not to suggest we won’t be seen there on other weekdays.

One example of the delicious charcuterie boards made on the spot at The Cave

THE COMMUNITY – There is a community of long-term boat owners who visit Castelnaudary and travel the Canal du Midi. Some live in Castelnaudary over the winter. As such, longstanding friendships have developed there between boaters, Captainarie and port staff, shop, and restaurant owners.

This photo includes many of the friends we made in Castelnaudary and new friends we met in Toulouse.

SPECIAL EVENTS

The Captainaerie and team that manages the port are welcoming and inclusive. They make sure we are aware the many special events being held in the area.

Periodically they open the garden patio behind the Port Office to tourists, boaters, and townsfolk providing complimentary samples of delicious meats and cheeses and a selection of drinks to purchase. Just one of the ways they bring people together. These events are widely attended and a great way to socialize.

Our recent addiction to smoked, dried, duck began at one such delicious event.

We were fortunate to enjoy the celebration of Bastille Day in Castelnaudary. This celebration is in memory of the storming of a medieval French fortress, “The Bastille” in 1789. The Bastille was constructed in the 14th century to protect Paris, and in later centuries, was used principally as a state prison by the Kings of France. The storming of the Bastille on July 14th, 1789, is seen as a precipitating event that kicked off the French Revolution.

Basic training for the French Foreign Legion is located in Castelnaudary and Bastille Day was celebrated with a parade following the inauguration of new members to the French Foreign Legion. There are numerous variations of the Foreign Legion uniform, each of which may specify the particular role a member of the French Foreign Legion plays, their regiment, or the activity they are engaged in.

These Legionnaires have just received their white caps (Kepis) as they had completed their first 4 week training.
The “Pioneers” of the Foreign Legion are bearded, wear leather buffalo aprons, and carry axes. They march first in the parade signifying their role in preparing sites for subsequent regiments.

The crowd of people who attended the parade was impressive and it was heartwarming to witness such national pride.

Later that evening the crowd grew by an order of magnitude prior to the fireworks display at the Basin. Very few towns were permitted to have fireworks due to the extreme heat and drought France is experiencing. Castelnaudary was made an exception as the fireworks display could be held over “The Grand Basin.”

Castelnaudary’s Grand Basin is the largest body of water along the Canal du Midi and serves as the water reserve for several canals

George and I love fireworks and we have seem them in a number of countries. For sheer beauty and orchestration, we have agreed these were the absolute best we have ever seen.

The lone swan in the Basin should not be mistaken as the lonely swan. Multiple attempts have been made to add female swans for his companionships and he has hunted down and killed them all.

Periodically, the beautiful and talented, Anca and head of Castelnaudary Tourism, Thomas assume their theatrical persona and provide a tour around the basin describing the history of Castelnaudary.

Festival Convivencia

The Festival Convivencia is a world music festival that sails every summer on the Canal du Midi aboard a 30 meter barge offering a free festival of music from around the world at each port. The musicianship is outstanding and features a horn almost as long as the barge in some of their pieces. Many offerings of French and other ethnic food are available along with libations to please any pallet.

The impressively enormous horn being relocated from the barge cabin top to a location from which it could be played

The Canal du Midi – Port de la Robine

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Our newly purchased canal boat “Detour” was moored in Port de la Robine. We spent our first season on Detour in and about this small and charming port.

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“Détour”, our canal boat (previously known as “Bosun Higgs”)
Port de la Robine

To exit or enter the port you will need to arrange with the captainarie to have a small bridge opened. With reasonable notice, they are unfailingly prompt.

Swing bridge must be opened to enter or leave the port

Electricity is available for a reasonable cost and potable water is free of charge. You can utilize the address of the port to have letters or packages delivered but understand the caveat that there may be no one in the office at times and packages will not be dropped off without someone signing for them.

There are limited services available for boat maintenance or repair. It is a nice quiet place to relax and socialize. There are a number of beautiful paths for walking or cycling, running, and horseback riding.

Provisioning

Port de la Robine has no markets or stores within immediate vicinity of the port. We relied predominantly for groceries, beverages and cleaning supplies at the Intermarché Supermarket. It is an easy half hour bike ride. Next to the supermarket there is an outdoor self-operated laundromat. Just behind the supermarket is a Brico Dépôt that carries a variety of hardware, some lumber, and household products.

For food, and beverages, you can also take a beautiful walk or bicycle ride along a well maintained Towpath. The path is lined with massive Sassafras trees and leads directly to the town of Mirepeisset.

This beautiful trail frequented by walkers, cyclists, horseback riders, and runners leads to Mirepeisset

In Mirepeisset, you will find a small store, well-stocked with fresh fruits, vegetables, baguettes, pastries (come early), espresso and ice cream…. The gentleman owner also carries cooking gas and you can exchange your empties for full tanks.

The lovely town of Mirepeisset

Dining out

If you visit this port, don’t miss the opportunity to visit a charming outdoor restaurant run by Amy and overseen by the largest and gentlest Great Piranese I have ever encountered.

From Port de la Robine, walk alongside the canal on the Mirepeisset side. Just after you cross the aqueduct, you will see Amy’s restaurant.

Lots of locals gather there in the evening as well as visitors. It’s entirely outdoors. The restaurant is open most nights around 5pm (17:00) for beverages – alcoholic and non. Amy always provides a snack. We particularly favored a very nice Pression (draft beer).

Amy’s pair of kittens would often visit and delighted us with their antics.

Sweet kitten entertainment at Amy’s restaurant

Future posts will detail our experiences as we travel along the Canal du Midi.

Springtime in France

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France has much to recommend no matter the season, but springtime is my favorite. As we spend much of our time on the canals, you can be sure there will be plenty of water, the countryside is a feast of flowers, the temperature is comfortable and mosquitos have not yet arrived.

We do not often see formal, manicured, gardens. In my mind, these gardens are a reflection of how I have come to know the French people- kind, and mindful of what matters most to them. It is a delight to observe young children in a restaurant, cafe, or park. They are not required to sit in silence at the table. They often wander about, play with other children, and snatch a French fry from the plate of an adult. Crying or anger is rare, and when it is seen, is calmly and lovingly addressed by an adult.

On a side note (while related in my mind) dogs are welcome in venues where they would not be in many other countries. This is not quite as prevalent as it once was. The observation that French dogs are remarkably well behaved has been studied. They are often unleashed, but rarely stray from their owner or show aggression. At the same time, their obedience is immediate.

It is true, that adherence in France to picking up dog excrement is not high. I imagine their reasoning is – it is natural fertilizer and will be gone in a short while; the plastic bags used to pick up the waste is more of a pollutant. We do however, pick our dog Duhkxy’s poop up.

Duhkxy

Back to the beautiful Spring flowers

Back to Canaling

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Our first experience on the French Canals began in April, 2017. We had just purchased our sailboat “Ice Floe deux”. We bought her in Cherbourg, situated in the north of France on the English Channel.

This depicts the extensive canals and waterways of Europe. The arrow in this photo between France and England points to Cherbourg and the arrow on the Mediterranean coast points to Nice (approximately).

On this voyage we passed through beautiful villages, vineyards of great distinction, the very heart of Paris, Lyon, and other beautiful cities and towns. Our trip on the canals ended in Nice, on the Mediterranean coast. The trip took 3 weeks.

We flew through 189 locks, and crossed 2 aqueducts as we bisected France from North to South following a brisk itinerary that involved joining guests and family at specific locations.

There are quite a few Blogs on this site detailing this amazing journey. We knew we must come back. This time, we would immerse ourselves in all France has to offer at a snail’s pace.

Speaking of Snails…

Snails, we have concluded, thrive in France – with little to no sense of boundaries.

They sneak in through your windows (we have put up screens)
Snails find their way to planters on the boat deck (we gently send them back to land).

It is well known that many snails are eaten in France prepared as escargot. I cannot personally verify that the small garden snails we have been entertained by are eaten, but I do see some reference to that in my reading.

The snails we have been observing are most active in the rainy season. They are known to display a very interesting behavior during very dry and hot weather. We saw this shortly after we arrived. It did not rain for a solid month and temperatures were a stifling high 90s and low 100s.

During hot, dry spells, these snails climb up a tree or stalk, cover the opening to their shells with a thin membrane, and remain dormant until weather conditions improve. This behavior is called “aestivating”

We have also seen larger snails that appear to have partially buried themselves in the soil.

These, and many more interesting things await our discovery as we canal our way through the miles and miles of French canals.

After spending two seasons in the Mediterranean (detailed in blogs on this site), we had Ice Floe shipped from Genoa, Italy to St. Thomas and have been exploring the Eastern Caribbean and ABC islands (Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire) for several years.

We always knew we would someday return to canalling.

As our travel schedule took us away from home for a good portion of the year, we began considering, the wisdom of selling our home in the US. It was, for me, an agonizing decision. George built our beautiful home, almost single-handedly, and I will always feel a little ache at the thought of never living there again.

My ache has been somewhat assuaged by our decision to purchase a canal boat in France, and a beautiful vacation home in Carriacou.

Never too late for a new ride

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On, July 12, 1975, it rained so hard at my childhood home, the streets flooded. It was George’s and my wedding day. Fifty years later, we are celebrating our wedding anniversary, on our Canal Boat in France and the rain won’t quit.

Our lives have included a roller coaster of twists and turns and ups and downs. The anchor has always been our daughters, their husbands, our grandchildren, and our extended family.

After retirement our love of exploring the world took us away from home most of the year. It made sense to sell our home, but this was an incredibly hard decision for me. George had designed and built this home and we had planned for it to be our “Forever Home”. I will never stop “missing” this home, but life poses difficult choices. A large family including a grandmother, husband and wife, and four children now live there and we wish them much joy and memories.

We now live on Ice Floe while sailing, our canal boat “Detour” in France, a small minivan while visiting family in the US, an apartment in my brother’s home in Florida and a beautiful home in Carriacou, while needing a bit of extended landlubber time,

Future blogs will not always be chronological. They will be about experiences we hope you will enjoy reading about and know we will enjoy revisiting.