It's fair to say the Mystique 03 wasn't in perfect condition. Of particular annoyance: Facia of dashboard broken - doesn't inspire confidence in the boat, does it? Power cable not properly insulated Barbecue a total lottery (got it working once, failed to get it working two later occasions) Kettle whistle doesn't, like, whistle Steering leaking … Continue reading Snag List of the boat, and, well, Le Boat →

On our last full day, we had a bit of a plan to make sure Marie-Laure experienced the freewheeling turn-up-at-an-amazing-restaurant-in-the-middle-of-nowhere Canal du Midi signature lunch. I'd checked out there were a couple of places after Villeneuve-les-Beziers that looked suitable. Reality had other ideas. One thing to note: if we'd done this again, we would have … Continue reading Last day – serendipity still looking out for us →

Mamie arrived on schedule and there was much rejoicing. I think she'll be happy to get home to her bed - it's occurred to me that she may well think this is our new life now, and returning home may come as a (hopefully welcome) surprise. When it was time to stop pottering about, we … Continue reading Fonserannes – Time to Queue →

You know my earlier remark about canal saisonniers being dismissive and rude about ingénu tourists? Well, I reckon it doesn't take long to get off the first rung of that ladder. We are quietly parked up at Colombiers when there's a sudden thud of impact from a barge of a boat (another Le Boat, bigger … Continue reading Yeah, definitely glad not to be here in high season →

The girls have had a great time on the boat. I think they've enjoyed being with us so much (like 10 weekends back to back!) and haven't missed nursery at all. You don't see many young kids on boats, and true, it's not an optimally safe environment, but that's been part of the adventure. We've … Continue reading The Girls →

We have our day without cruising in Colombiers today and so the obvious thing was to head to the Oppidum which has an amazing view over this incredible land formation of fields in the site of an old lake. We took the bikes up and had to push a fair bit of the way to … Continue reading Unexpected Pleasures →

The absence of locks certainly makes getting from A to B much simpler. There is a bit more traffic now, perhaps as we get towards Easter week, which means coping with oncoming boats - normally not an issue but there was one close-ish call when passing a big, badly-moored boat one side at the same … Continue reading Colombiers →

It's weird to think the long trip is coming to its end. It's a nice thing about a trip that is also a journey - you have a feeling of progression in distance as well as simply time, which somehow gives more of a sense of purpose. Which I like.There was a fair bit of … Continue reading Closing Stages →

Today we repeated the routine we have largely perfected. A leisurely start after breakfast (there wasn't a boulangerie in range, but thanks to my amazing wife, we still had provisions of brioche, pain de mie, jams, yoghurts - plenty), with the goal of reaching somewhere suitable for lunch...around lunchtime. We had two options, however Le … Continue reading Gradual Return to Civilisation →