Castelnaudray…and memories!

Monday 12th May 2014

How about this for a view from bed???.... and it’s so quiet too.



 



Simon has happy memories of Castelnaudray. He visited here whilst on a canal boat holiday with his dad a fair few years ago now, so it holds some very happy memories for him, not just of the canal basin but also of having a meal in the town with his family.

We negotiated the town...not easy in Bluebelle as the streets are SO very narrow, and French drivers are not terribly patient or courteous! At last, we found a quiet place to park right at the top of the town, by a windmill, and overlooking the countryside...what a view!





By some amazing coincidence it happens to be market day....more bread and fruit purchased, then coffee by the canal, watching the boats go by.....

[caption id="attachment_629" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Looking through to the canal basin[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_631" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Coffee stop[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_634" align="aligncenter" width="640"] The canal basin..lined with gorgeous little houses[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_635" align="aligncenter" width="640"] We know one's a duck but what is the other???[/caption]







[caption id="attachment_643" align="aligncenter" width="427"] Images of Castelnaudray[/caption]

enough of this lazy living...time to hop on the bikes for a ‘short’ (said BT) cycle up the canal and back. Unlike yesterday, the path is not paved and is extremely bumpy...tree roots, potholes and sticks line the route, which has made it hard to take in the views and the canal as you have to keep an extra vigilant look out on the path. However, the lock houses along the way have all been beautiful.





It seems that, unlike the Garonne canal, the lock houses are all occupied, but not necessarily by the lock keeper. Alongside all of the houses is a small office that belongs to the lock keeper and he spends his work day there, seeing the many boats through the lock, and then returning to his home in the local village. On the Canal latéral à la Garonne the locks are not manned...they are worked by a system of ‘switches’ over the canal (a long pole suspended across the canal which, when turned, sets the lock in motion) and buttons to push once in the lock, however, so far, we have noticed that all of the locks on the Canal du Midi have a lock keeper who presses all the buttons!! The lock house at Peyruque was serving tea and refreshments...definitely needed today...

[caption id="attachment_650" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Tea time[/caption]

the cycle back up the canal definitely feels ‘up’! All we keep telling ourselves is that, as most of the lycra clad cyclists have small derrières, we will too if we continue with all this cycling!!!

[caption id="attachment_651" align="aligncenter" width="427"] Beauty at the lock house[/caption]





50 kms later we arrive back in Castelnaudray slightly shaken and ever so tired, but we had found a place we could stop for the night whilst we were on our cycle, so headed there for the night. On the one side we have views of the canal and on the other, far reaching views of the fabulous countryside....what a spot!