We woke up early to say goodbye to Mathias.
waterfall in the black forest
We took a lovely drive through the Black Forest and we had lunch along the Rhine in a small village.
looking into France
After Hockenheim we had a 50km ‘detour’ to the airport. Flew overnight to Johannesburg. Flew back to Cape Town and came home – what a lovely holiday! By far one of the most relaxing ones we have had.
We had a huge breakfast and then went to Schloss Lichtenstein.
Schloss Lichtenstein
We walked a massively steep hill to Ruine Hohenurach.
view from Ruine Hohenurach
We had lunch at the bottom of the hill and then went to Teubingen. We walked through the old city and had a beer on the River Neckar before heading back to Reutlingen.
Teubingen
We walked 7kms today. We had racelette for supper and it was an awesome evening of chatting.
raclette
We woke up early for breakfast and to get to the airport for our flight. The flight to Frankfurt was delayed. We arrived in Frankfurt and drove on the autobahn to Michelle and Mathias. We stopped at a truck stop for lunch. We got up to 200km/h on the autobahn!
huge white asparagus
We arrived at M&M late afternoon and they have a beautiful home. I went shopping with Michelle. We had soup with flaedle to start and white asparagus with hollandaise sauce and potatoes for supper. Dessert was a chocolate and chilli ice cream with strawberries.
Michelle’s beautiful orchids
We were up bright and early to clean up and pack. Caught a taxi to the station in Villefranche-de-Lauragaus. Good thing we know how to use the ticket machine as the station office is closed until 10h25. We are taking the 09h48 train back to Toulouse.
the river Garonne
We checked back into the hotel and then went shopping for things to bring home. We caught the metro to the other side of the Garonne. We had lunch on the river bank. We had a very long walk and got ice creams for tea. We went for a beer before heading back to the hotel to relax before supper.
Toulouse
We had a fantastic meal at Le Colombier. We walked nearly 10kms today.
Dave cycled into Gardouch so we could have fresh croissants for breakfast. Had a relaxed morning. Out last lock was a double lock. We are all done going down.
the last of the locks
We tied up at Negra just after 12h00. Went for a short walk and then had lunch. We took a walk into the closest village. Had beef ravioli with a tomato and cream sauce for supper.
the end of an amazing journey
We had a relaxing morning. The lock gates at Renneville were mechanical.
relaxing on the Midi Canal
We moored at Gardouch and walked into the village to buy a baguette. We then walked into Villefranche-de-Lauragaus. It is a lovely village with a huge supermarket 1km from the lock.
lock markers
We had crushed potato, tomato and shallots with duck sausage for supper.
our barge safely moored
We woke up at 08h30 and loafed a bit. We did not unplug the electricity before going for breakfast and shopping and the cost for the mooring and the electricity was €8.00. The Spar in France is just as expensive as South Africa.
breakfast and shopping in Castlenaudary
The lock keeper at the triple lock was very helpful and friendly. We stopped after that for lunch. Our plan of losing the barge in front of us did not work! We went to Mr Not the Potter which was a waste of time. We stopped at La Segala but there was no water and nothing to see.
looking back from an up lock
We then went to our first down lock. They are much easier than going up. We moored up and took a walk to Narouze and the obelisk.
obelisk at Narouze
The one lock’s sluice gates had to be opened manually! We waited at the double lock for the barge that was one lock behind us. We walked up a seriously steep hill to Renneville. I did at least 8kms of walking today. We had pasta with shallot, garlic, lardons, tomatoes and marrow for supper.
pasta with shallot, garlic, lardons, tomatoes and marrow
