Beginners attempt Canal du Midi - Homps, France
Homps, France
Where I stayed
On Sheeba 24 (Le Boat canal boat)
What I did
Canal du Midi
Hi everyone!
Well we are on our boat - there have been highs and lows to say the least!
We picked up our boat - the guy looking after us showed us over it and I thought that he would show Steve how to drive it etc. and then later Steve could show me and I could practice on a quiet stretch of the canal later when no-one was around - not to happen. When the boat guy realised Steve would be tying the ropes etc. he said to me "c'mon turn on the engine and lets go for a practice". I thought I would be sick I was so nervous. Bumped into a few things and went a bit off course but managed to get through the tutorial without too much mishap. We decided not leave until the next morning and that was fun - not!
We threw off the mooring ropes, Steve fired the engine and we were off - well nearly. There was a strange noise and I turned around to see the electricity cord was still attached - bang off it came, Steve went running to catch it before it hit the water - too late - and as he did the boat went backwards into the jetty. Talk about Abbott and Costello at their best - lol.
Finally on our way and doing quite well until we arrived at the first lock - you have to drive in and park (usually 4 boats at a time), manouver close to the wall of the lock and then one jumps out and throws the rope over the bollard at the back and one at the front. Fun, fun, not. Boat was bouncing on the wall, Steve's yelling to me (I was manning the wheel), forward - neutral, now reverse, gently, gently,wheel right, now left as he was pulling on the rope to get it tight. What a bloody circus!!! Long story short the other 3 boats started yelling advice and instructions to us - that waslovely except 1 was in Italian, 1 in German and the other in French! Bloody hell feeling like a frog in a blender was the moment in time!! Anyway we survived - just!
Meandering down the canal and my hat (my special "Commander" hat) blows off - buggar I say as many Germans in the following boat gesture and yell where it went ( on the back of the boat at the lowest point) - I want to leave it but Steve refuses as it's "special" so he at the next lock bends double to retrieve it. We go through lots of locks getting better at each one (kind of) and then cruising down a perfectly beautiful part of the canal congratulating each other on doing so well when a gust of wind gets under our umbrella and takes it away! Steve in action!! Air blue!!! He immediately throws the boat into a sharp turn (almost a donut if you can do it at 6km which is all the boat will do!) yelling instructions for me to get the the back of the boat and bend over and get the umbrella - yeh right! He jumps to the back and grabs it - problem solved!!! We did laugh our heads off and were so pleased there was no-one around to witness!
We were exhausted by the time we docked and went to a wonderful restaurant in the middle of no-where. The food was amazing but typically french so rich, I had pate' that was so gorgeous but like eating butter it was so intense,Steve had a seafood cocktail that left him almost drooling, our steaks with pepper sauce amazing and the desserts, poached figs for me and for Steve eclairs filled with vanilla bean ice cream covered with dark chocolate sauce to die for. A lovely way to end the day.
A lovely romantic moment for me at the restaurant - sitting there waiting for our desserts and Steve slides a small jewellers box across the table saying " I was waiting for the right moment to give you these as a thank you for all the hard work you have done organising our holiday". He gave me a beautiful pair of three coloured gold earrings and made me cry.
Today was a big day - we had to go through 5 sets of locks, two singles, two doubles and the big mother of seven and that is a lot of work.
Last night we had the biggest storm imaginable - yes our boat leaks so Steve was kept busy. It was so bad that at 3am we got up and got dressed - "in case". Never seen rain, thunder and lightening like it. Early start to get through the locks so when we docked really tired we had a nap - needed it, Has been raining and stormy all afternoon so decided to eat on the boat instead of dining out. Good choice.
Tomorrow we reach our last stop and then the next day will pick up our car for the next leg of our journey. It has been great but a lot more work than we thought - you really need more than two to handle the locks better but it has been fun and we have really enjoyed ourselves. We met lots of people on the canal and many were so helpful. We are waiting for photos of us going through one lock that a lady from an Island near Iceland and Norway took of us and will email to us.
We wouldn't have missed it for the world.
Love Steve and Sandy
Norway took of us and is going to send us by email.