Canal du Midi 27 May 2016

Up early, and feeling some pressure, we retrieved our car, bought apples in the barely open market, and headed east through Agde, around Beziers, past the Foncérranes Staircase (more on that later) and then across vineyards into the Aude departement and to the center of Narbonne. No problem buying gas, and so we were early, and had time to go looking for a little breakfast.

Our outfitter, Emily, had agreed to pick us up and take us to our boat at Le Somail. “I'll find you,” she said ...and, with a little help, she did. A delightful young Mum from Warwickshire, where her Da builds the narrow boats, she and her husband Tony took over the French operation, and are raising two bilingual children “with Southern French accents and Northern English ones.” She gave us a short tour of the boat, and a short shakedown cruise. It's a rudder boat, not a wheel, and so it steers “counter” – you push right to go left. It makes sense once you're doing it. I got a grip on the steering right away, negotiated a couple of bridges, a three point turn, and then back to a landing. Rochelle had to jump off the boat with the rope to moor, and found that challenging the first time, but she'll get it.

We are on strictly managed electricity, and connecting to the 'Net is very slow and intermittent, too ...so my transmissions will be abbreviated, at least for now. We expect to shop a little in Le Somail, and then cruise a bit east later in the afternoon if it's not too windy.

We lunched in Le Somail, at a lovely restaurant called l'O à la bouche-- we're in Languedoc, and some of the langue is Occitan.