August 21st to 25th We liked the Saône. It is generally a pretty river and in the southern part there are plenty of places to moor – not so many after Tournus for a biggish barge like Calliope. It would have been easy to spend far longer on the river, exploring towns and villages, butContinue reading “5 days and 4 nights on la Saône”
Tag Archives: Piper barge
“Je veux montant s’il vous plait”
Avignon to Lyon – 5 days ascending the Rhône August 15th to 20th Feeling confident about diminishing wind and current speeds, and not too much in the way of Meteo alarms we set off from Avignon. There is always a little bit of apprehension about the Rhône for us. There are not that manyContinue reading ““Je veux montant s’il vous plait””
Juillet sur le Midi and la mer
I planned not to do a blog for a while, but the temptation to share some of the things we have seen and done proves too great. To be precise, 25 days were spent on the Midi, 1 on the Hérault, and 5 on the Canal du Rhône à Sète, which connects to the Mediterannean allContinue reading “Juillet sur le Midi and la mer”
Trebes tranquility to Castel musique
15th June – 22nd June 2018 Our trip from Marseillette to PK116 outside Trébes was gentle and meandering, passing by Millegrand and Millepetit on the way. Just outside Millepetit is a steepish bend. In the past the big barges had to be ‘roped’ round these bends and the evidence – a stone pillar engravedContinue reading “Trebes tranquility to Castel musique”
Back on the Midi with Stu
8th – 14th June 2018 Last episode I left us at Le Somail, with the huge ancient bookshop, brebis (sheep milk) ice cream, and mooring under the fig trees, shady enough to eat outside on the warm summer days. We also ate at one of the local restaurantsContinue reading “Back on the Midi with Stu”
Up the Jonction
I didn’t do my research properly for the blog going down to Port de la Nouvelle. I regret that I used the names Canal de la Robine and Embranchement de Nouvelle interchangeably and incorrectly! So let’s put that right. Narbonne is key. A mixture of Romans digging a channel to connect Narbonne to theContinue reading “Up the Jonction”
Canal de Robine – the start of the return
Saturday in Port-la Nouvelle was like Friday but better, and interesting! We even had steak haché and frites cooked for us by the crew! Our mooring seemed to have gate-crashed a pompier (fire and rescue service) training weekend and we enjoyed watching about 25 young people climbing in and out of wet suits, runningContinue reading “Canal de Robine – the start of the return”
Semaine Trois
Will we, won’t we, windy, windy, windy. Deciding when to leave Marseillette is a wind blown decision – waiting for the gusts and gales to diminish so that our progress on down the canal is more enjoyable. Eventually on Friday, mid morning, the leaves are rustling less and the Red Ensign drops below 90 degrees,Continue reading “Semaine Trois”
And then we had visitors!
During the summer Calliope enjoyed becoming a hotel boat! From mid June to mid August we had friends and family aboard for 30 days out of 60 days, and felt quite dazed as a consequence! It was lovely; our plan when buying the boat was that it would be a pleasant place for people toContinue reading “And then we had visitors!”
Short Stretches – Montech, Montauban and our first 10kms of le Tarn.
It was so great to have some of the family with us for the 9 locks, 1 overnight stop, and 10 kilometres of l’embranchement (canal) de Montech. It also gave us the chance to drop down onto the Tarn and experience some river boating – in all weathers as you will discover. On the returnContinue reading “Short Stretches – Montech, Montauban and our first 10kms of le Tarn.”
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