32. ...... for life on a Canal. Part 2

On Saturday morning, equipped with wet weather gear, and in very overcast conditions, we headed for our first lock.

Here it is ..... coming up.  We have two bicycles on the front deck.  They manage to appear in most photos.

We are going downstream, so we sail into the lock at the same water level.  We are in the lock with the ropes tied off and the water level falling .... and I remember the camera.  This is the lock keepers house: remember my competition for the most beautiful lock keepers house?  This one is not in the running. 

I turn around and the lock gates are closed behind us - but water still cascades over, under and around.  This is a very wet business.

Down and down the water level goes.  Paul hangs on and I take pics.  Finally it is all clear - the gates are open and we can pack up and leave.  No, I mean we can stow the ropes and motor out of the lock, several metres lower than the level at which we motored in.

And this was our first lock keeper.  What a nice man!  Very helpful and encouraging.  Told us how to tie off with our ropes, how to hold the best position, etc.  And he was the spitting image of Kenny!  I reckon he's got his name on my "Best Lock Keeper" trophy!

Looking back at our first lock as we sailed away.  Phew!!!!!

And no sooner than we had looked ahead, we were at the second lock.

No chance for this house either!

Paul tying up our boat .............

....... and these were the two other boats that went through this lock with us.

And already we are up to lock No. 3 and this house has a chance, I think.  Contender No. 2 (the first was on Canal St. Martin in Paris) complete with an extensive garden and a local produce (produits regeneaux) stall.

We come out of the lock only to find that it is a double lock!  Directly into the second one!  Phew!

And on and on and on we went - all day.  At 11.30 am I said to Paul " I feel like we've been doing this for a week and we've only done seven locks!"  

Then there came a point in the navigation of the Canal du Midi at which a decision was required.  Would we go straight ahead (due East) towards the Mediterranean ... or would we take a southern canal to Narbonne (and possibly some better weather)?   We chose Narbonne and found ourselves in an automated canal.  

A supervising lock keeper, on her bicycle, checked that we were doing things correctly as we negotiated our ninth (and second automatic) lock.  That's her on the bridge (above).

Here we are at the next lock, completely alone (above ). Paul has landed me before the lock, and has held the boat on a rope while I walked to the centre of the lock and initiated the electronic sequence for the lock (and took this photo).  Firstly, I open the gates on our incoming side.  The water was already at our level as the last boat through this lock had been going in the opposite direction to us.  So in the photo above, Paul is driving the boat into the lock where I will tie it up. Then I push the button to close the gates behind us and drain all the water from the lock.  

The lock gates close behind us and the water drains away.  

Paul leaves the boat in neutral and hangs onto the front rope as the boat lowers in the lock. 

It is essential that I am back on board before the water drops too far, or I WILL BE LEFT BEHIND - high and dry on the upper level while Paul is sailing off downstream without me.  In the pic above, Paul is standing on the forward deck, with the bikes, holding the front rope.  You can see our baggettes on the table and the steering wheel on the right. I have just jumped back on the boat at the rear - with the camera, obviously and I'm hanging on to the rear rope.

Finally, at 3.45 pm, we call it a day.  We have travelled 27.25km at 6kph for 5 hours and navigated 11 locks, one of them a double lock.  We are exhausted!   

A lovely little place called Salleles d' Aude will be home tonight.

This is Paul's idea of a joke.  He saw a German guy do this in Homps on the first night.  He reckons all Germans are anal retentives - and they do things like this with rope.  I reckon the German guy was just bored!

So here we are - all tied up and ready for the night and it's only 4 o'clock.  What to do?

A very pretty little village with a very pretty lock.

But the lock has a huge drop in water level ...  will we be able to manage it in the morning?

Some big boats pull up for the night.  They dwarf us!    The two big 'uns have 8 passengers on the first and 4 on the second.  They are hired from Le Boat and cost over $4,000 per week plus about $20 per engine hour to run.  We are slightly more affordable!

The boat on the other side of the canal was gorgeous!  A real canal barge that had sailed from England, across the channel and down the inland waterways of Belgium and France.

Do you like my "almost night" photography?

Tomorrow ... Narbonne.