Mr Piper picks a peck of pretty Pipers; living it up at the Leander; beer with buddies at the Boater’s Bar
It just so happened that Roy and I found ourselves in the south of England on the weekend of the annual Piper Boats get-together at Henley-on-Thames.
On our way to England, Roy surprised me with a classy castle stopover on the outskirts of Orléans
It was an exciting moment all round when our Perth, WA-based son Carl, his wife Carrie and granddaughters Mia (9 going on 29) and Holly (5 and a half) arrived in Moissac to spend a couple of days with Captain Granddad, daughter Wendy and me on the boat.
This was nearing the tail end of the girls’ first trip to Europe, seeing the sights of London and visiting friends and family elsewhere in England, followed by several nights in both Paris and Eurodisney. What an adventure!
Previously peaceful Pommevic; sexy squid at Boé; green mooring at Sérignac and Buzet; nostalgic return to Moissac
This may be our last jaunt* west on the CdlG, and I felt nostalgic from the get-go. Next June, we’ll be cruising east to dry-dock in Toulouse before continuing along to where the Canal du Midi starts, at Sette, and then heading northwards to St Jean-de-Losne on the river Saône, where Karanja will spend winter 2020/2021.
Sometimes, we leave Karanja in her home port of Moissac and go off for a while. From what we got up to in August, here’s a trio of sister-centric outings, in the UK and in France.
While visiting my sister Dale and her family in Kent, England, she and I did a couple of day trips – first to Shoreham village and The Mount Vineyard, and then to Herne Bay. Then Roy and I went back to the Dordogne to meet up with his younger sisters Lyndsay and Cheryll.
#1 Shoreham (Kent)
You have to specify Shoreham (Kent) because there’s another one – Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex.
I’d been itching to cruise the Canal de Montech, and it was great! This pretty waterway runs from Montech to the gracious city of Montauban, linking the Canal de Garonne with the Tarn River. It’s just 11km long and manages to squeeze 11 locks into that distance.
Smooth sailing and few surprises as we retraced our wake back west to Montech along the Canal du Midi after five days in Castelnaudary.
Day One, to Port-Lauragais: First La Planque lock and then La Demergue and the triple lock at Laurenz. At the double lock at Roc, the kind éclusier let us in even though it was past noon and he was supposed to be lunching.
Located on the Med, pretty Narbonne city is about an hour’s drive from Castelnaudary – and we’d never been there. So we filled up with petrol and headed east in our little Renault Twingo in search of some different scenery and perhaps a sea breeze.
Living the dream – Bill and Winnie Post talk to me about their gorgeous old tjalk, Gretige Henriette
I first saw Gretige Henriette and met her owners Bill and Winnie Post two years ago, when Roy and I arrived in the port of Moissac after our three-month-long journey on Karanja from England.
Originally hailing from New York, they have been living in California for many years. Now, though, they spend four to five months each year in France aboard their unique vessel.
Pizza, fisticuffs and the drunken sailor; Bill, Winnie and Gretige Henriette; antiques and anchovies; back to Chez David
Castelnaudary – or simply “Castel” to locals or wannabe-locals – is one of the Canal du Midi’s prettiest ports. We had a great first visit in 2017; click here to read all about that.
