First
navigation-day: from Argens to Paraza
It's three o'clock Sunday morning. Meanwhile we had our first experiences in navigation. To be honest, it was a little bit disappointing. We bumped a couple of times on the bank because I did not get the gear-lever backwards. In time meanwhile I know what I did wrong. I have to move the gas-handle quite back to be able to move the gear-lever (Quite logical, is not it?). Pepijn was the first to solved the problem.
When we come out of the train in Lezignan, there is a cab in front of the station. This cab brings us with all our luggage to Argens which is 6 kilometers further. This way we arrive yet at a quarter past one at the destination. I talk to the cabdriver. He tells me that it's very busy in June, July and August at the Canal du Midi. There are a few Dutchmen, a lot of Germans and Englishmen.
It's sunny weather in France, There is just a fresh violent wind.
When the office of Locaboat opens, we are told that the little shop in the village is closed on Saturday afternoons and also on Sunday and this particular Monday. Monday is the first of May and is a national holiday in France. All shops are closed, the locks also. The closest supermarket is in Lezignan, where we just came from with the cab. A German who is in front of us in the office, offers me a lift to the supermarket but I have to come home by myself, with a cab par example.
After having thought for a moment, I ask for the bicycles we are going to rent with the boat. Both receptionist and mechanic frown their eyebrows when they hear I want to cycle to the supermarket. But I succeed. I return with a rucksack, a basket on my handlebar and a plastic bag full of purchases. It gives a good feeling to have solved the problem this way.
When I am back it takes still a lot of time before the mechanic comes to give instructions.
Marga and the kids have surveyed the boat in the meanwhile and are displeased because they can not find a shower on board. In the brochure was emphatic in saying so. After investigating some other boats in the port they discovered it. What seemed to be a tap on a sink, can also be used as a shower-head.
Our boat 'Le Ponant'
Our boat is called Le Ponant. When I look in my dictionary it appears to be an old term for 'the west'.
After endless waiting on the boat we get at least our instructions. When I tell that I wanted to navigate today to the aqueduct of Répudre, the mechanic does his best to explain us everything very quickly. We get a lot of information. To get us trough the lock he puts his bicycle on deck and we are going rapidly on a test-trip. The mechanic steers out of the port and hands over the helm. I am steering calmly and the boat reacts well on the corrections I make. Meanwhile the mechanic explains something of everything. I ask whether we have a left or right propeller. He does not know, it appears to be different from boat to boat. When we arrive at the lock, we see no action. After waiting a little while a the 'éclusière' appears, a small fat elderly women. She locks us together with an other boat down. The control of the lock is electrical. While locking the mechanic explains how the toilet is working, how to remove rubbish from the propeller, etcetera. He turns the boat and jumps with his bicycle ashore.
Now we have to do everything by ourselves. The first thing to do, is to turn again. That is not so easy as I thought. The boat is not turning enough. We turn backwards. It takes a while before I remember my lessons at navigation-school: Turning in narrow water. It isn't that easy. I do not know if the propeller turns right or left. I make the curve from the other side and yes: the turning is correct. I regard myself quite a helmsman.
Pepijn steers under the first bridge. It's narrow but it turns out right. I hope to make a photograph of a bridge later but I don't dare to leave the helm yet. It's too dangerous to trust on the kids and Marga doesn't want to know anything about steering.
Later on we get a lot of stress. Mooring at the aqueduct of Répudre Pepijn is gone ashore. Maarten throws a rope and Pepijn pulls it around a tree. There is a lot of panic when a loop of the rope grips around a foot of Maarten. Marga yells several times to Pepijn to let go the rope before he understands. Everything turns out right but it's easy to get an accident. Then the gearing fails again and we bump on the bank once again. The door of the refrigerator opens and all the cucumber-pieces fall on the floor.
The aqueduct of Répudre
At the aqueduct of Répudre we moor at the site of the mountain. This aqueduct is built by Riquet, the mental father of the canal and is thus 320 years old. Pepijn throws some stones from the path into the canal. I am annoyed by this. I am feeling it as a violation of something that is centuries old. The building is by-the-way not as impressive as I thought. The quiet is however overwhelming and breathtaking. Our boat is still in the evening-sun, the birds are warbling and the wind is rustling through the leafs of the trees.
Because of the whole show with the gearing we miss the landing-stage and moor somewhere further at the village. I hammer two great pegs in the ground and fasten the boat well. Everybody is seized with alarm. Especially Maarten is not amused at all. He was frightened by the rope around his leg. He feels that I am not in control of the situation. I hope it will be better tomorrow morning. I am convinced that the gearing will go better tomorrow.
It is really irresponsible that anyone can navigate with a boat like this. One does not need a license. I went to school to get my license but I fail experience. It's a good thing that the boat appears to be bump-proof.
The toilet is an experience in itself. By pumping with a handle the dirt slowly disappears in the hole and vanishes. Everything turns up in the canal. We see the soap-water stream outside the window. When I asked the mechanic if we could swim in the canal, he said -referring to his explanation about the toilet- that he wouldn't advise us because we could meet with old acquaintances.
When we go to bed, Marga can not sleep. She smells something she worries about. She thinks it's gas. I am also smelling something strange but I impute it to the water. When Mara, eventually, falls asleep -I can hear it from her breathing- I keep thinking left or right propeller? How to do with the mooring? It isn't dark on the boat. We are moored close to a lantern. By the light of the lantern I can see well. There is enough light to write this travel-report without switching on the light on board.