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.
Winnie and Bill Post, with Gretige Henriette in the port of Castelnaudary
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.
Port Saint-Sauveur vanishing bike act; champagne at Castanet; Bo Peep and her boathook; my many and multifarious roles; lunch hour rules; important-little-towel philosophy; sympathetic éclusier at Sanglier; Le Diné at Port-Lauragais; the insightful M. Riches from La Rochelle
In the wee hours of our last day in Port Saint-Sauveur, Toulouse, neighbour Hans (Comtesse) had a bike nicked from our shared pontoon. In full view of the surveillance camera, someone had come through the gate – must have had a key – and carried the thing away, lock and all.
Welcome to the Canal du Midi; high drama in Bayage lock; Victor Hugo market; Toulouse dry docks; IKEA is cool; double martyrdom at Saint-Sernin; cultural cuisine at L’Ouverture
Having waved off daughter Wendy, who was returning to her job in Marseilles, we set off from Grisolles. Lock Emballens was followed by Castelnau, l’Hers – and it was at L’Hers that Roy resolved to push on to Toulouse, rather than moor somewhere overnight. (L’His decision, not L’Hers.)
Summer itinerary; travel travails; party people; broken bones; fetching the Twingo; music in Montech
Summer plans
So, after two months in Durban, what’s on the cards for the next four months in France aboard Karanja? Nothing hectic, it must be said. We’ll start the cruising season by heading eastwards along the Canal de Garonne to Toulouse, and spend a week in that lovely city. Then we may continue along the Canal du Midi to Castelnaudury for a few nights, before retracing our steps back to Montech. There, you can join the Canal de Montauban, which takes you to – you guessed it! – Montauban.
Flashback to August last year, aboard Karanja on the Tarn River
After almost four months on our Dutch replica Piper barge “Karanja”, cruising the Canal de Garonne and enjoying our home port of Moissac, it’s almost time to fly south for the winter. Before we go, here’s a tribute to an interesting local restaurant with a unique heritage – Le Kiosque de l’Uvarium.
It’s located literally three minutes’ walk from our mooring, on the esplanade that leads along the bank of the Tarn river to the Hôtel Le Moulin.
Promenade along the river Tarn, leading to Hôtel Le Moulin
It’s been a hot summer, and I’ve been dying to swim. Officially, you’re not allowed to swim in the Tarn River. But there’s a way around this: you can wild-moor your boat in a spot where no-one is looking.
That’s what Roy and I did for a couple of days – we on Karanja and our Dutch friends Jack and Sanne on their beautiful, 124-year-old Dutch barge, Artemis.
(I’d like to say they invited us to join them, but that wouldn’t be entirely accurate. Rather, they didn’t say no when we invited ourselves.)
This was the third edition of what is locally known as the fête des plaisanciers, organised by popular couple Tony (Aussie) and Rita (Swiss) from Kanumbra barge. They were about to leave Moissac after nine years here, and what a send-off it turned out to be!
Day One
The three-day programme was launched at 3pm on the Friday with registration of the boaters who wanted to take part in the flotillas planned for the Saturday and the Sunday, followed by live music.
Duly registered and name-badged, Roy seems utterly carried away by the music, along with Louisa and David (“Tesserae”), plus Terrie and Phil (“Mr Pip”)
It was time to fetch the Renault Twingo from Fontet and bring it back to the boat, so Roy and I walked to Moissac station and caught the 13.26 train to Agen.
With two hours to kill before our connection to La Réole (the station nearest to Fontet), I thought we’d end up lunching on a tired baguette – but no! We lucked out with La Grande Brasserie, located right next to our arrival platform.
He spots it, right on the platform – La Grande Brasserie!
Only later did we find out that it’s pretty famous, and that UK chef Rick Stein recommended it in one of his travel series.
Review: La Grande Brasserie, Agen train station
The décor is perfect. In the chequerboard-tiled bar, oversized clocks show the time in Londres, Agen and Moscou. High ceilings, comfortable banquette seating and wooden strip-flooring set the scene for Art Deco mouldings on walls hung with travel posters from the golden age of train travel.
La Grande Brasserie, view to the back
With miles to go before we slept, we decided on a beer and a single course. Roy’s salade niçoise (around €14) came with generous chunks of seared fresh tuna and looked great. I had the bouillabaisse-like marmite de la mer (€18.50), a thick, bisque-y broth crammed with delectable little mussels, more salmon and tuna than I could manage, and small saffron-yellow potatoes, topped with a giant prawn.
Salade niçoise
Marmite de la mer
This is a destination restaurant – how lucky we were to stumble upon it en route! Fabulously quick and friendly service added to the experience, too.
Once at La Réole, Roy installed himself at a café to rest his knee while I set off on foot over the bridge across the Garonne River to the Fontet halte nautique car park, about a 3km walk. It was a relief to find the Twingo intact and raring to go after having been abandoned for two weeks.
