From molly_mockford@my-dejanews.com Sat Sep 25 17:18:15 1999 Date: Mon, 07 Sep 1998 08:46:27 GMT From: molly_mockford@my-dejanews.com Reply-To: canals@blacksheep.org To: canals@blacksheep.org Subject: Molly's Holi's - Trip Report - Part Two Tuesday 18th August 1998 Woke about 7:30 - again, the night was rather disturbed by passing boats, and also the wind had got up by bedtime and was rocking the boat. We left everything open - doors, windows - for the sake of the breeze. Breakfasted, then (around 9:20) cast off the complicated knots which the harbourmaster had tied for us and headed back to the crosswaters, turning right. Had the canal almost to ourselves for a while and saw masses of wildlife - a rabbit, lots of white Little Egrets, a pair of grebes, Paul saw a coypu and a kingfisher although I didn't. White Camargue horses. Realised that the bird Paul saw a couple of days ago was an avocet. Swifts, swallows and sandmartins. Sandpipers. Passed (overtook) a large barge, and later on passed (other direction) a huge Dutch one. Arrived at Aigues-Mortes about noon. Fortunately another hire craft was just leaving, so we took its moorings. Efficiently done. Walked back along the canal, with the mediaeval city wall to our right, the other side of a road we weren't allowed to cross. Through a gateway we caught a glimpse of the colourful city within. Round the corner to the main gate and started to explore Aigues-Mortes. Slightly less touristy, more real, than Carcassonne, but of course not so impressive. Ancient church (restored) had modern, non-representational stained glass. (Exploration of Aigues-Mortes snipped. Lunch was oysters and moules marinieres. Temperatures in the mid-30's, relieved slightly by the wind) Back at the mooring, we found that we and everyone else had been turned stern-on by the harbourmaster. Made much more room. The Capitaine came around shortly after we got back and charged us FF64 for the night. No showers or security, but our own watering point. (Mind you, we have had no problems watering anywhere - I just wish that we could use these electricity points, since the electric fridge takes up so much juice.) Flotilla of ducks in the moorings, plus one sad, waterlogged juvenile blackback gull. Very odd - last night there was only one duck around. But so many dead fish, both at Palavas and in the canal on the way here! Also a collection of dead crabs. Presumably this is down to the fishermen who net the rivers/canals and then just chuck back what they don't want. Fed our stale bread to the ducks. The gull just bobbed unhappily and didn't want any. First time I've seen a gull - especially a juvenile - that wasn't hungry. I don't hold out much hope for it; it's very low in the water. Now sitting with a jug of Pimms and a packet of crisps. And in comes a hire-boat in all sorts of trouble. Man and woman, both in cabin, attempting to moor bow-first. I offer to catch bow rope. Woman accepts gratefully, throws me the only free six feet of a huge sodden tangle. Of course it doesn't reach me. I mime coiling. Eventually I am thrown a triple loop of rope, which I manage to get once around the bollard cleat before they drift back out. The man decided they didn't need help from (a) a woman and (b) a British one. Back to the Pimms. He had great fun trying to turn the boat side-on by pulling at the bow rope through the wheelhouse window. Some of these boats have only two ropes, one bow and one stern; we must be lucky to have three, but oh, how I do long for two bow ropes, especially in locks! The other boat eventually accepted assistance from someone else (male, French) and got moored. Some of this does make us feel a bit superior - much as we have to learn, what we do know we were well taught. But I don't think I mentioned how, on our arrival at Palavas, we mistakenly attempted to moor at a private mooring, jetty to stern and pole in the water to bow. (They have a brilliant way of mooring to these, along a double pulley-type line so that when they got off the boat it can be hauled away from the jetty and any potential trespassers.) It was very tricky to get out again when we realised our mistake, but eventually we did it by holding a single stern-rope and fore-and-afting gently until we swung the bows round clear of the pole. When we saw these moorings in use, we realised we had been nearly two metres nearer the bank than they ever go, so they have no trouble getting out. Second jug of Pimms, and here we are moored outside the ramparts of a 12th-century city listening to a tape of Languedoc troubadour songs, drinking the most English of drinks! Flamingo-coloured sunset (pink and dark grey). A large shoal of grey mullet, having kicked up some green scum, and now going around with their mouths wide open hoovering it all up. (Rest of day snipped. Supper was bread, butter, cheese, pate, fruit. Discovered that the Eurocheques had been left behind in the car.) Wednesday 19th August Left around 9:30, heading for Grau du Roi. Only half-an-hour's run, so we will have to run the engine quite a lot once moored to bring the battery up to scratch. A strong wind, plus current from a river on our right, meant that we had to pass our intended mooring, turn, and come back to it, but then did OK. Scorching hot day; went to the beach. The water was warm, with good waves because of the stiff breeze, but so shallow! After walking out about a quarter of a mile to waist depth, I found I was going up a sandbank back to knee depth. Swim the Hellespont? I could have walked to Morocco. Too shallow to swim, but sported in the waves. The strange thing is the total absence of shore life. All those things which live between the high and low water lines, from sand-flies and worms to oyster-catchers. This is maybe why the crabs live in the rivers - there is detritus to eat. All there is on a Mediterranean beach is human debris (not much) and shells washed up, usually broken. Seaweed floats in the water but is not deposited on the beach. (Maybe in winter storms, but not in August.) Lunch was one of the huge shellfish assortments they all offer around here. 12 oysters, 12 raw mussels, 6 clams, 6 raw sea snails, 4 king prawns and a little bowl of tellines, tiny oval shellfish in a garlicky sauce. I enjoyed the oysters, clams, prawns and tellines. Prefer my mussels cooked - these were too slippery and impossible to control. The sea snails (I was very brave here) actually tasted quite good, but looked so revolting that I gave up during my second one. Best brown bread I have ever had in France. Back to the boat, and found we had to pay to moor even though not overnighting (very unusual, but then Grau du Roi is a beach resort) and set off for St Gilles, which should provide sufficient engine-hours to charge the batteries. Very pleasant run, although it must have been 35 degrees. Oodles of wildlife - flocks of terns, flamingos, a herd of white horses (mostly stallions, maybe all), a herd of black bulls, a MARSH HARRIER!!! with a rat in its beak. (I always thought that birds of prey carried their kills in their feet, but this was definitely in its beak.) As we got nearer to St Gilles we saw rice fields to starboard. (Apparently this is a Bad Thing because it means flooding with fresh, rather than brackish, water.) And three coots. Also a number of fish leaping, and one huge dead one the size of a salmon. At St Gilles we found a mooring, found and better one and moved to it, found the Capitaine and found that Crown Blue Line boats are exempt from payment because they have a base here. Found more ducks than we have ever before seen assembled. Ditto mosquitoes. Opposite us, on the other side of the canal from the town, is the industrial estate. Pretty ugly, but redeemed by the fact that the industry is wine. (After this it gets a bit silly and you can skip it if you want. A certain amount of alcohol has been consumed.) 10p.m., and the huge duck convention is getting pretty threatening. Hitchcockian. Daphne du Maurien. "The ducks are gonna have their day - tonight! "The ducks are gonna have their way - tonight! "You think that we just sit here - quack, quack - "But wait until we hit yer, right in the back "Tonight!" The thing about these ducks is:- They are all DUCKS. No drakes. They are NOT HAPPY. Not sapphic ducks. They are ducks who like ... (We have finally arrived at the point of self-censorship! Sorry, folks.) -- Molly -----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==----- http://www.dejanews.com/rg_mkgrp.xp Create Your Own Free Member Forum