Almost Dead In The Water
By Lothar. Filed in France |
We did very well with driving our house boat. We did not ram into any locks, narrow bridges (with little clearance overhead or on the sides of the boat), tunnels or other boats. None of us hit their head, ducking under the bridges, and we always remembered to quickly take down the sun umbrella. We avoided being hit by low tree branches, most of the time, and did not swipe the glasses of the sundeck table. But on Friday, the battery charge warning light would not go off, while running the engine. Eventually, the boat’s lights went dim, the pumps would not pump out the shower water and overnight, the refrigerator stopped working.
The friendly French mechanic, who was dispatched to our location close to Castelnaudary, diagnoses a broken alternator. The house boat is not equipped with a separate generator! This explained the smell of burned wiring, which we had detected earlier. We had concluded that it was caused by the RPM needle, which quit working. The mechanic promises to replace the alternator on Monday. The only problem with this plan: we are scheduled to return our boat Monday at 9 AM, the end of our one week cruise.
On Saturday morning, it rains for the first time this week. I pilot through the last locks: Ecluse Gay, a double lock and Ecluse Chapelle St-Roch, a quadruple lock. Here we encounter a new lock-procedure. The “Eclusier” manages the boat traffic, by having boats going in the opposite direction, meeting in the middle lock. It works well and, without any delay, we motor into the Castelnaudary marina. We have no choice and plug into shore power at the marina, where we remain for the rest of the weekend. Now even the Provence sun is quitting on us and the sky is gray with a few rain showers, as we pull into the Castelnaudary harbor basin. We explore the town, but there is not much to see. It is weekend, and only the bakeries and Spar supermarket are open. At least, we still have good French food.
On Sunday, we find a great restaurant : “Au Petit Gazouillis”, tucked away into a corner of the town. We join the locals, who are wearing their Sunday clothes, and are celebrating the day with a good meal and some wine. Next to us sits a white-haired French couple, husband and wife still holding hands and being in love after so many years. I hope that Gabi and I will do the same, 25 years from now!
Back to the restaurant: we eat “Cassoulet”, a delicious white bean, pork and sausage stew. It is the culinary specialty of the region, and according to legend, already fortified the local troops during the 100 Year War, when Edward, the Black Prince”, besieged the town. “Cassoulet” helped the better nourished French troops to be victorious over the malnourished English.
Fortunately, we do not have to fight a battle, after finishing the very tasty stew. We just sit back, relax, and take in the laid back atmosphere of this small restaurant. The meal is our celebration of completing a beautiful week on the Canal Du Midi.
This was one of the best restaurant meals on this trip, and the whole Sunday dining experience, shared with the Languedoc people, is one of the highlights of the cruise.