Bram to Castlenaudary: Monday 25th April

Woke up at 08h30 and managed to shower and get through the 1^st lock at 09h00. We slept at the lock mooring for 10 hours! Fresh air and exercise will do that! We were the only barge in the lock and we got through the 1^st two locks in 30 minutes. We were complimented by a lock keeper for our tying up.

entering a lock

We stopped at Villepinte for breakfast. Dave cycled into the village but nothing was open. Our next stop will be Castelnaudary – 11kms and 15 locks. We stopped for lunch at the first triple lock – we have made good progress. The lock was like a staircase – the front and rear gates closed and the middle sets open. I got the rope caught on the mechanism while greeting the lock keeper. The ropes and I are full of grease. It took us 25 minutes to do the locks into Castelnaudary. There is a huge open water section between the locks and the port.

open expanse everywhere

We moored at 15h00 for the night and we are still a night ahead of schedule which means we can sleep in tomorrow if we want to. We walked around Castelnaudary and had a lazy afternoon reading and relaxing. It would be a good idea to invest in a 12v – 24v inverter for charging cell phones etc. Easter Monday was a public holiday in France. We had a really nice dinner – the cassoulet was much better here than in Toulouse. We thought we were lucky and that we had scored free electricity and water left over from the previously moored barge. It was a good thing the electricity was on as the port office was closed.

Church in Castlenaudary

Trebes to Bram: Sunday 24th April

We were ready in the morning after a good night’s sleep to do the 7 locks to Carcassonne.

Waiting for the lock to open

Got to Carcassonne before 11h30 and moored up. We topped up with water and charged the electrical things. The charges for mooring at Carcassonne are €4.00 for ½ a day and up to €12.00 for overnight stops. Water and electricity cost €3.00 and there can be an additional supplement for overnight visitors as well.

Carcassonne

We walked to where we could see the Old City and did some shopping. We went into a lock with boats coming out and it was a squeeze to get it correct. We had one surprise lock that we did not see on the map as it was under a bridge.

Bram

We tied up for the night just past Bram. We are one night ahead of schedule. We did 35kms and 12 locks today plus 8kms of walking. We walked into Bram and back – Bram is the largest circular city in Europe. We stopped for a beer at the canal basin – total walk distance was 4kms. We gnocchi with a sauce of shallot, lardoons, asparagus and cream.

gnocchi with a sauce of shallot, lardoons, asparagus and cream