The Canal du Midi has been selected as one of the world's greatest treasures by UNESCO. It was completed in 1681 and most of its original bridges and locks are still there to this day! It was to this canal that my family drove more than 1,000 kilometres from Austria, while my brother Will and his girlfriend Ivanna came from New York City, with a short stop in Spain to visit my sister Susie, to cruise on a Crown Blue Line houseboat. We had agreed to meet Will & Ivanna in Port Cassafieres on July 29 at 3pm, but we were all a bit late for the rendezvous! I greeted my brother, whom I had not seen in five years, and then we sat in the Crown Blue Line cafeteria to have a drink and get acquainted with Ivanna.
There were many boats waiting on the pier that Saturday and they all looked so inviting, with names like Calypso, Crusader, Tango, Salsa and Jamaica! Registering in the office took a while, but then we were ready to board finally! They showed us around the boat and how to operate it and around 6pm we were on our own to cruise the famous Canal du Midi!
The canal winds its way from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic and we could only go for a small stretch, but nevertheless, we were eager to see all those vineyards and medieval villages along the way! The first day we could not go far, as the first lock closed at 7pm.
Breakfast the next morning was a happy affair, all sitting together at the table, with fresh fruit and juice, real French croissants, homemade jam I had brought from Austria, coffee and the days International Herald Tribune for the news!
We set out on the boat after breakfast, with my teenage son Christopher as helmsman. I sat upstairs and could not believe it, so quiet and peaceful, only the sound of the boat and the cicadas all around! The slow pace of the boat (max 8kph) appealed to me and even joggers and cyclists went past us! One could see the big trees, planted at regular intervals, with the vineyards in the distance. We went past fishermen, bridges, houses, towns, churches and even boat shops. Sometimes trees would make shadows on the green water and then they would resemble pillars. People complained about the draught, yet everything looked so green!
Trees provided a welcome shadow on the canal and it was interesting to watch how it meandered around the countryside. It was incredible to think that it was built more than 300 years ago! Once in a while we would pass another boat, but most of the time it was single file in both directions, although we went past many stationary ones along the edges. We noticed all boats had flags, but I wonder which flag we should have used. Austrian as we live there now? Australian, as we used to live there and that was where the children were born? USA, as that is Will’s country now and Ivanna’s, or all three perhaps? Should I add Peru and the Dominican Republic too? Many people also brought dogs along and maybe we should have had one too! For the next trip, perhaps!
At 11am we had our Happy Hour and as Ivanna reminded us about Pastis, we drank that every day with ice and chips. The next stop would come at lunch, when we would take the white plastic table and chairs and find a shady spot on shore. For lunches we always had baguettes with assorted cheeses, pate, sausages and fresh tomatoes. Being in France, the only thing we could think of drinking was wine, just to support the local industry, of course!
In addition to enjoying the sailing and scenery, our usual activities included feeding ducks, waving to people in other boats, helping fellow travellers, taking pictures, writing diaries, shopping for fruit, drinks and ice cream, cycling, going for walks and wine tasting, without forgetting the collecting and discarding of rubbish, of course! I had taken my embroidery and a few books to read, but there was no time for that! I did not read a page!
Sailing did not only mean steering, but also watching out for low bridges, aiming for narrow ones, waiting for locks to open, going through them, mooring and cleaning the boat. One also had to watch out, as 2 hats flew away in the wind, but we only managed to recover one; Gisela fell in the water while cleaning the boat, loosing a bucket in the process; the wind also blew away one of the legs of the table and the yellow umbrella nearly suffered the same fate! Gisela was also lucky that her brother used the lifesaver when she fell into the canal while feeding some hungry ducks!
We were all on alert when we went past locks. My husband would watch and advice the helmsman, Gisela would stand in front directing, while Will and Ivanna looked after the ropes, which meant having to step on shore sometimes. One would watch locals and tourists on the locks when one went through, but I noticed that the people we were watching were also observing us and taking pictures!
We normally went to a restaurant in the evenings, but for the last night we decided to have our Last Supper on board and we cooked spaghetti with Bolognese sauce and a fresh salad. That evening we sat upstairs, amid all the Port Cassafieres boats, to enjoy the lovely evening, while we talked and drank our recently purchased muscatel wine.
During that week we met people from France, Spain, Italy Netherlands, England, Denmark, Switzerland and even a man from Western Australia, who had been sailing on his own boat with his wife for three months already!
We had many uncertainties regarding this trip. Would Ivanna be nice? Would we get along with her? Would the space in the boat be enough for us all? Would the two singles without kids adapt to life with two teenagers? Well, there was no reason to worry at all! Ivanna turned out to be very nice, talkative, with a sense of humour and we all enjoyed her company very much! What was nice about the trip was that we were all a team working together and age was irrelevant really. We enjoyed many breakfasts, lunches and dinners together and there was always much talk and laughter among us! It was a good opportunity for the kids to be able to speak English full time for a whole week too! It had been a most enjoyable week and what we consider to be our best holiday ever!
The web address is:
http://www.crownblueline.com/