All last week I spent on the canal de midi in a private cruise liner.
OK, it wasn`t quite that big, but big enough by my standards, and any other reasonable person. Three bedroom, three bathroom, floating mansion. Complete with a kitchen, inside and outside tables and three lovely laydown lawnchairs (not to mention the cupbards full of nutella; chocolate , and a interesting array of flavours in chips) . Despite all these luxuries there were some drawbacks..
My shower/sink/toilet was in a four foot long box. The toilet way too high and the shower so low I had to lean down to be in the path of the water. My first shower I succeeded in drenching my weeks worth of toilet paper. The second shower I slipped and managed to knock the handle off of the door. I, impressingly, managed to lock myself in, and L had to come to my rescue. I can only imagine the wake of distruction if I was a whole 5`5...
The only other drawback (not really the boats fault..sound proof walls I don`t think are very sea worthy..) was the noise. Pellet gun for my birthday please? The flipping ducks almost drove me mad. The feathered demons would finally shut-up, and then a church bell wold ring.. which would set them off again.
We floated from Carcasonne to the meditarinien and back, managing to get through about fifty locks without major catostrophy. The canal was started in 1666, iintended as a shortcut betzeen the Qtlqntic and Med. They added locks to it a little later. to deliver things up and down stream.
The first lock we went through was a bit of a bumper boat. JM not being experienced at steering, and Lauarence and I not so great at the throwing and catching of the ropes. After the boat was secured, the gates shut and the water went down (and up,depending on the way were going). The gates then openned and we either steered into the next lock (the most in a row that we did was three, but there is one that is seven) or back onto the canal. Seeing other `crews`work together was really when we shon the most. Some people should just keep to solid ground, and maybe a tricylce with a shiny helmet and sturdy knee pads. The sufferening that the poor boats go through:.. One boat came in full speed , with two other boats already secured and in. After smashing around for a while, they managed to get it in roughly the right spot, on the right side. Then they throw up the ropes to secure. Not to the side that they can touch, but to the other side of the lock,20 feet away. Perhaps (hopefully) they were a tad drunk...
Every evening we stopped and tied up the boat to a few trees, and went for bike ride to the nearest village. We usually had ice cream and supper, and visited a few little shops. One shop sold every kind of jam imanginable, they hqd coconut and cinnamon, and pinapple. They also had pickled duck, which is apparently a specialty of the region. I saw one that said `squirrel`.. and assumed it was another, slightly revolting , specialty. Laurence laughed at me and pointed out it was actually different types of nuts, the `squirrel mixture`.
Language translation errors happen to me just as much as they happen to L or JM, or to random signs we manage to see. L has trouble with Jam and Ham, and often tells me to put jam with our tomato and lettuce sandwhiches and JM says McDonalds in a way that makes it sound like an exotic high class restaurant. Boat names like little Winky, and my favorite, the courthouse being called the `Palace of Justice`.
I have finallly bought my ticket, I am going to cameroon in mid august until mid november after i travel spain and Morocco. I am going to be volunteering at a school and orphanage there, as well as doing some travelling. Hopefully the planes zill be flying by that time, or I may have to endure the hardships here longer... :)