View from our house with clouds over Bozeman & the Gallatin Valley
The snow storm has extinguished the familiar lights of Bozeman and the Gallatin valley that are spread out beneath our house. The kitchen is warm and bright, a beef stew simmering on the stove fills the house with a comforting aroma and our guest are on their way. Fall weather is a fact of life, not an excuse. The wind is noisy as it buffets the windows and doors, the house is warm inside. I make the final preparations for dinner while Lori continues to straighten thing up around the house.
HJ and Tammy settle in with a glass of wine before dinner as we begin to describe the trip we had just completed. They are good friends, I can tell them half baked ideas and I will get an honest answer. We look at photos and visit about the pleasures and trials of the trip. We casually entertain the idea of going to Europe and renting a boat for a trip, knowing that purchasing one was impractical. They are game for the conversation and have ideas of their own.
Over the next few weeks we continue to visit with friends about our adventure, most were surprised and somewhat intrigued by our experiences. This along with trying to adjust to our real life again kept me considering options that would enable the continuation of the experiences that we had.
One morning while enjoying my morning ritual, surfing the news while drinking my first cups of coffee, I did a search for boats for sale in France. One of the first websites I came across was the site that I had used to research rental boat options, Holidays H2O. The company has a couple of harbors in France from which they broker boats and display them on their website.
As I was wasting time pursuing through their site I found some good looking boats that weren’t as expensive as I had expected them to be. I looked at the details of the boats and kept thinking that something must be wrong with these, since I have always assumed that boats were expensive.
Over the next few weeks I continued to day dream in the mornings with an expanded search though different boat brokers, and I continued to find reasonably priced boats. They weren’t new by any means, most of those I found that were affordable were of the 1970s to 1990s vintage, but they looked good. Even so, I thought what good is it to have a boat in Europe while I have to work in the U.S.
***
This is the first installment of the second chapter in the ongoing series that details our introduction to river cruising on the European waterways and to our purchase and outfitting of our own boat to for travel and living in Europe. If you are interested in being notified of future installment releases, Subscribe to this series in the sidebar on the right.
If you missed the Previous installments they can be found under the category “A New Adventure-Series”
Part of the pleasure of the boat travel is that it is by nature slow, about 8 KPH on inland waterways. Traveling at that pace we could actually see and experience the country side. If desired, some of our party could ride bicycles down the old tow paths and meet with the boat at the next town, or could read while underway while others could draw or take photos. We were together but able to pursue our own interests.
As we went down the canal I saw many other boats, some rental boats like ours, old barges converted to live aboards and steel dutch cruisers. My first thought regarding the private boats was the number of rich people who could choose this lifestyle, then I started visiting with them. It turned out that many of these boaters were British and retired, a common answer to the question as to how they came to be doing this was that it was cheaper than living in Britain, furthermore the weather was better. When a change was desired you could just move on down the river or canal.
Removing plane trees
On a sad note, the Canal du Midi is rapidly changing in some places due to a fungus that is killing the plane trees that line and shelter the canal. To combat this the French government is proactively removing infected trees and are planting new ones of different species to increase the diversity and reduce the chances of this happening again. There is one bright side to the loss of the trees, and that is a better view of the countryside.
The popularity of the Canal du Midi has also become an issue, especially between mid-June and mid-September. Only about 4 boats at a time can fit into a lock, so during periods of high use the ability to get to your destination can be limited by the congestion at the locks. We were on the canal in October and being off season we never had to experience congestion at the locks.
I learned a lot on our first boating experience on the Canal du Midi. It introduced me to an option of exploring a Country that provided an intimate immersion into the culture at a pace that allowed me a more complete experience of the sights, not just the advertised highlights.
Our destination harbor at Homps
One of the most exciting things we were introduced to was a way to affordable spend time in another part of the world beyond that of being a short term tourist. Part of the expense of travel is getting there, but the bigger part is room and board. A moving apartment is quite a ticket, the cost of your room is fixed and your board is significantly reduced by being able to cook for yourself rather than eat out all of the time. Add a couple of bicycles to the boat and access to public transit and your transportation is accounted for too.
***
This is the end of the seventh installment in the ongoing series that details our introduction to river cruising on the European waterways and to our purchase and outfitting of our own boat to for travel and living in Europe. If you are interested in being notified of future installment releases, Subscribe to this series in the sidebar on the right.
If you missed the Previous installments they can be found under the category “A New Adventure-Series”
One evening we tied up on the bank of the canal in the village of Argens-Minervois. On the tow path beside the boat some old men were playing an intense game of Pétanque, a few other villagers were around watching the sport.
Bringing in the harvest
Across the canal was the local wine cooperative. A couple of tractors with trailers full of grapes drove up to the winery to unload. About a half a dozen young folks in their late teens or early twenties were crammed into a little car following the tractor. When they got out they were stained purple, their arms, shirts, trousers along with some streaks on their faces. Most wandered off after milling about socializing, while a couple helped shovel the grapes onto the elevator. We watched this process in awe, parts of it were like stepping back in time.
When their work was completed we made our way to the winery, the lady who had driven the tractor was still on site and putting things in order. I asked if they had wine for sale. “But of course”, she spoke English well. We followed her into the wine cave, it was almost as one would expect, dark, damp, but instead of the wine being laid up in bottles in racks, there were cases upon cases scattered around and wine barrels lined the walls with taps sticking out of them. After moving things around so that we could see the wine they had to offer, I had a chance to ask some questions. The first on my mind was who uses the casks along the wall. “Some of the people who contribute grapes just come here to refill when they are ready for wine that is reserved for them.”
We didn’t fit into that category, so we just looked at the bottles they had available for sale. The bottles weren’t dusty they were protected in cardboard cases, most were the usual GSM blends so common in the Laugnedoc region, but they also had a cabernet that had been aged for a couple of years. We chose a couple of wines including the cabernet and returned to the boat to enjoy them with dinner.
The dinner that night turned out to be perfect. It was to be our last night on the canal, we had to turn in the boat the next day. It was a simple dinner, we made a red sauce from some tomatoes we had picked up from the local market along with vegetables, mushrooms and meat that would need to be eaten before the end of the trip. This along with the last of our pasta, bread and wine made an excellent meal.
I think cooking and eating meals are part of what connects us. While I enjoy eating out and being introduced to new cuisines of other cultures, it’s not the same kind of companionship as can be found at your own table. So we do both, eating out to get introduced to the local specialties, and eating in for good company.
Part of the joy of cooking while traveling in Europe was the opportunity and challenge cooking of with the fresh foods that are available at the market. In the Markets I found foods that are in season and of the highest quality. Because of there seasonal nature of the markets, we had to cook with what was available at the time, but the reward was freshness.
A last comment about the galley on our rental boat, its small which is to be expected, but it was equipped well and had every thing necessary to cook with. When my parents had their 50th wedding anniversary we rented a house on the beach on the outer banks of North Carolina. It was a VRBO advertised as having a gourmet kitchen. While it did have a Wolfe Range, a Sub-Zero fridge and a crab steamer, it didn’t actually have all of the tools needed for cooking. It’s obvious that the French understand and have an appreciation of cooking good food.
*****
This is the end of the sixth installment in the ongoing series that details our introduction to river cruising on the European waterways and to our purchase and outfitting of our own boat to for travel and living in Europe. If you are interested in being notified of future installment releases, Subscribe to this series in the sidebar on the right.
If you missed the Previous installments they can be found under the category “A New Adventure-Series”
When we started down the canal the next day we had to become familiar with going through the locks and maneuvering the boat, we all ended up with a job that quickly became familiar. Entering a lock everybody had a task, I usually drove the boat, Mom, Dad and Lori took turns working the mooring lines on the bow and stern, while the free crew member orchestrated and took photos when able. The first trips into locks were less than stellar until everybody got the hang of it, not to mention me actually learning to make the boat do what we wanted it to when it was necessary. Fortunately we weren’t the first to have problems with the maneuvers. All of the locks on the Canal du Midi have lock keepers to operate the locks and they are used to tourists who don’t know how to operate their boats. When we did something wrong as we entered a lock you would hear a litany of rapid French interspersed with a few English words giving directions.
Waiting for a lock
On the Canal du Midi each of the locks have a lock keepers house next to it to house the lock keepers. They are simple 2 story houses, all similar except for the unique character each lock keeper brings to them. Some adorned with flower boxes, some sold wine and jams or baked goods on the side. One in particular was inhabited by an artist and the grounds around the locks were covered with sculptures.
Lock Keeper selling goods
Many aspects of the canal travel were as expected. We meandered through the countryside littered with farms and vineyards, passed by occasional chateaus and regularly went through small villages and towns that lined the canal. Even the smallest of these villages had some sort of provisions even if it was just a small store with only the most basic of supplies. Many villages had a bakery and a restaurant, some had a butcher and a wine cave that produced the local cooperative’s wine. Almost all had old churches at their center and many were built around a now decomposing chateau.
Parked in Trèbes for lunch
Stopping to visit a town or for a rest simply involved pulling the boat to the side of the canal. Most villages have developed moorings to make it easy to stop, but if they didn’t or we were outside of a village we simply staked the boat to the shore. Once secured we could cook, eat and explore, or just enjoy the day in the sun.
We had everything we needed on the boat, including the basic supplies we had picked up. Our clothes were stowed in drawers, our galley was equipped well enough that we could cook when and as we liked. Our time was optimized to do what we liked, instead of spending hours each day packing and moving to the next set of sights. The only obligation we had was to arrive at our final destination by the end of the trip.
Market day in Bram
Options to resupply as we traveled were common, but one of the most interesting were the farmers markets. The markets move from village to village on a schedule throughout the week. The canal guide we used noted the market days for the villages so we could plan our visits to take advantage of them. The markets start setting up about 7:00 in the morning and are usually closing around noon. On market day a normally quiet village comes alive with activity. Booths take over a street or village square to supply a seasonal array of fruits, vegetables, meats, fish, cheese and bread along with street food vendors and some dry goods merchants.
The one large city we passed through was Carcassonne, a city that grew outside of the associated fortified city Cité de Carcassonne. The city has a port facility with electric and water that we hooked up to and stayed for a couple of days at a cost of 12 Euros per day. It is the largest city in the area and has a thriving city center, with characteristic narrow winding streets and shops.
Cité de Carcassonne
The Cité de Carcassonne, now a World Heritage site, was started by the Romans in about 100 AD. Between the founding of the Cité and about 1650 the fortifications were expanded to the current configuration. It fell into disuse after the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 and in 1849 the French government moved to have it demolished, but due to local pressure it was preserved as a historical monument. While some of the restoration isn’t historically accurate, it is the only fully intact fortified city left. It is still inhabited and functions as an entity of its own with shops, a school and a Cathedral.
Travel down the canal helped establish a routine that was relaxing and rooted in the familiar. Up in the morning for coffee then a quick walk or bike ride to the local bakery for bread for the day, followed by breakfast. If it was market day in a village nearby a visit was in order for fresh food supplies, not to mention the atmosphere. When we had seen all we wanted, we got underway. While underway we also had a routine, chores to be completed, washing dishes, taking showers, drawing, reading and planning for a future stop.
Lori writing
Our pace of life changed. The French don’t work over lunch. Locks closed at noon, well actually before noon. It takes about 15 minutes for a lock to cycle, if that was going to impinge on lunch time the lock closed. Stores and shops in the smaller villages closed for lunch too, with the exception of cafes. When we were in a village we could eat in a restaurant or we could park on the side of the canal eat a leisurely lunch, like the French, and relax while the locks were closed.
*****
This is the end of the Fifth installment in the ongoing series that details our introduction to river cruising on the European waterways and to our purchase and outfitting of our own boat to for travel and living in Europe. If you are interested in being notified of future installment releases, Subscribe to this series in the sidebar on the right.
If you missed the Previous installments they can be found under the category “A New Adventure-Series”
As we left Paris on a train to go to our rented boat I noticed the city changes from old to more modern with suburban, industrial and run down areas. This was not unexpected, what was unexpected was how suddenly it ended. A line was crossed and the sprawl vanished into county side. Again I noticed the numerous small farms reminiscent of a pastoral society of times gone by, but without a farmhouse dedicated to each. The villages were made up of exclusively old structures that were tightly spaced together with little evidence on new construction, although some of the larger towns did exhibit some signs of expansion and new or newer construction.
We arrived at the Castelnaudry train station, a quiet building with no traffic except the departing passengers all of which were going to have to walk the 5 blocks of rough residential streets to the marina to pick up our hire boats. It was near lunch time, actually 1:30 pm, but the staff was still occupied with their lunch. By 2pm the staff had returned, but it took till 3 pm to get our boat. Lots of papers to sign, including one that indicated they were going to teach me to drive the boat and for the duration of the trip this piece of paper would serve as my Captains license.
Their idea of teaching me to drive the boat was a little bit of an overstatement. The staff person showed us around the boat, then in broken English ask if I needed instructions on driving the boat. I told him I was unfamiliar with this kind of a boat and would need instructions. He in turn handed me the key and indicated where to insert it, then pressed the starter button and pointed to the power controller on the boat and said “this makes it go forward” indicated by pushing it forward and “this makes it go in reverse” he indicated by pulling it back. “If you need to stop quickly pull it all the way back”, then he pointed to the steering wheel and said “you turn it with this.” With that we were ready to go.
We still had chores to do before we could settle into life on the boat for a week. For one thing we would need to provision the boat and considering the time of day we wouldn’t be leaving that evening since the locks close at 5 pm.
Castelnaudary is a small old town with the canal du midi running through it and a rental boat base located in a large bay across from the town center. The walk to the store was a little more than a kilometer since you had to walk around the bay to get into the town. As we walked we passed restaurants, bakeries, butcher, post office and wine caves all in the towns center, enough to meet all of our needs. We purchased the basic provisions we would need to start our journey from the various businesses and returned with them to the boat stopping by the wine cave to finish the task.
Castelnaudary, across the bay from the Port
Since the locks were closed by the time we had finished outfitting the boat for our journey we opted to eat out in town. Castelnaudary is known for the speciality dish cassoulet, said to be developed there to support the village during a long siege of the town castle in the 100 years war. Cassoulet is a white bean stew and due to the town legend there were numerous offerings of it at restaurants. We chose one of the restaurants that specialized in the dish to celebrate getting our adventure underway and Lori and my anniversary.
*****
This is the end of the Fourth installment in the ongoing series that details our introduction to river cruising on the European waterways and to our purchase and outfitting of our own boat to for travel and living in Europe. If you are interested in being notified of future installment releases, Subscribe to this series in the sidebar on the right.
If you missed the Previous installments they can be found under the category “A New Adventure-Series”
The Seine just North of Notre Dame. The locks on the bridge represent commitments made.
As we are flying into Paris I notice the Picardy countryside passing under the plane. A mosaic of small fields in differing shades of green, regularly punctuated by small clusters of habitations I take for villages. Then every so often a larger town or small city with a old town center. For the most part my initial impression is of a pastoral society, which hasn’t changed in a long time. I had known and indeed expected to see some old villages, but I expected them to be like in the U.S. with more sprawl, along with more houses scattered across the countryside. Here there appears to be only an occasional house or chateau on the land. Furthermore I didn’t expect to see so many villages, only a few kilometers apart if that. I live in Montana where it isn’t unusual for there to be 20 to 30 miles between towns.
This is not what I expected. I don’t really know what I expected, I hadn’t really thought about France before. In fact I had never really had any desire to go there. I’m not sure why that was, I had thought about Ireland, Britain, Scotland, Spain, Italy and Germany, but never France. Perhaps it was a sub-conscious prejudice, from where I don’t know and certainly unwarranted.
I had always thought of Europe as more industrialized than the U.S., so while the country side made sense it was a change in my expectations. I remember growing up in rural southwest Missouri, I had the idea that New York State must just be a suburb of New York City, at that time the largest city in the world. When I traveled there in my teens I was surprised to find that upstate New York was predominately rural. Once I saw it, I had to wonder how I could have had such a misrepresented view.
After arrival at Charles de Gaul airport we took the train into Paris arriving at Les Halles, a train stop in Paris. We were a little early to meet the caretaker of the apartment, so we parked ourselves at a sidewalk cafe to pass a little time. We were at the end of Rue Montmartre, an area closed to traffic to allow an open air market. Even exhausted from the flight and jet lagged, I found the city exhilarating and laid back at the same time.
I didn’t expect much from my visit to Paris, just staying long enough to see some museums and monuments and move on. I’m not a big fan of cities. I like New York and San Francisco but don’t have much desire to spend a lot of time there.
Paris was a surprise. We had an apartment in the 2nd arrondissement on Rue Montmartre one of two remaining market streets left. It was alive as a community, like it could have existed without the rest of the city. Over the course of the next few days as I ventured though the streets and alleys of the city I found numerous other neighborhoods to each have a feel of their own.
We, of course, started out with a laundry list of sights to see, but after a day settled into slowing down and pretending to be Parisians. Each day making the rounds to shop for the days meals, but taking time to stop at a brasserie for a cup of coffee in the morning or lull away an hour for lunch watching the world go by at a cafe with a pitcher of wine, referred to by the Parisians much more eloquently as a Pichet.
I had hoped to practice my French in the city a little prior to arrival in the countryside where they speak less English. I did’t get much practice, I would start speaking to a shop keeper in French and I presume after hearing me butcher their language they would usually reply in English. Oh well, the stop in Paris was a still a good primer on France prior to departing to the boat.
*****
This is the end of the Third installment in the ongoing series that details our introduction to river cruising on the European waterways and to our purchase and outfitting of our own boat to for travel and living in Europe. If you are interested in being notified of future installment releases, Subscribe to this series in the sidebar on the right.
If you missed the first installment it can be found under the category “A New Adventure-Series”
Lori and I were on our second passports with less than 5 years remaining and they were still unused, the first had expired without a stamp. We had envisioned visiting Europe with my parents for years. We had guide books to Italy and Scotland that were no longer current enough to be useful. We dreamed of leisurely walking tours in the Scottish highlands or bicycling through Tuscany. We could imagine going from Inn to Inn, milling around villages in the country side. We anticipated spending quality time enjoying good company without the imposition of projects we have joined to participate in in the past.
We have fond memories of time spent with my parents. They have come to spend weeks with us helping to build our house or finish a project. We have made visits to their house to work on projects that needed to be done. These projects were always gratifying, some of my favorite memories. The work was good, we got a lot accomplished and we had good company, still I would like once to spend time exploring with them at leisure, not working on a schedule.
My parents are getting older and are not as able to travel as they were. We realize that there are things that are important to us that we are missing. If we keep waiting till tomorrow, tomorrow will never come and those opportunities will be gone for good. Some of the types of trips we had considered in the past were no longer practical, since my father suffered bouts of issues with his back that could at times limit his mobility, but we were still interested in a trip that fulfilled that basic desire for exploration and was not limited to ingesting sites tailored for consumption.
October is about the earliest I would be available to travel since I had fire fighting responsibilities as part of my job. The previous years fire season had been active so we were financially ahead and we had our 25th anniversary coming up this October as another excuse. A call confirmed that my parents were excited about planning a trip together, now just to decide where and what to do.
My father had purchased a timeshare that could be traded for timeshares in Europe that we were perusing for ideas when I noticed narrowboats in England. Timing wasn’t optimal, a cold wet fall in England didn’t sound so appealing. Much to my surprise, canals and inland waterway travel was common throughout much of Europe and France has about 2700 miles of inland canals.
Boat travel from a practical stand point seemed to meet our needs, but it also evokes some romantic notions. We could move at our own pace through the countryside and villages along the waterway, we could enjoy a routine and not have to regularly relocate, we could cook and a boat would accommodate travel even if mobility was an issue. Considering the time of year we were going to travel we settled on France as a destination due to the climate and the numerous hire boat operators and regions available.
We haven’t had the same travel experiences since I traveled with my parents as a child. They have been traveling as part of retirement, mostly with guided tours. It is a convenient way to travel, there are some bargains to be had and the details are dealt with. For the last 6 years Lori and I have been motorcycle touring without a great deal of planning other than a general direction, a map and reliance on the ability to cover a lot of ground to give serendipity the opportunity to provide insights.
As the first trip with my parents as an adult and what could be the only one, I wanted this trip to meet all of our needs. As I consider the logistics and our desires for an envisioned trip, I develop parameters, these included; boat availability with 2 cabins, potential for decent weather, a travel path that included numerous towns and villages, and ideally a one way tour or a loop to avoid backtracking. Backtracking turned out to be a limiting factor for most of the hire boat operators. There are 8 hire boat cruising regions in France, but only a couple that have multiple rental boat bases in a single region, which would accommodate a one way rental, the loops would take more time than we had available. This narrowed the search down to the Canal du Midi and the Canal de Nivernias.
We choose the Canal du Midi since it is the furthest south and passed though a variety of towns, villages and cities as part of the route we had planned. We completed our Itinerary with a plan to fly into Paris and rent an apartment there for a few days, then take a train to Toulouse before going on to Castelnaudary to board our boat.
We have some friends who are from the Languedoc region of France & they let us know that in the countryside people may not be able to speak anything but French and that it would be good if we knew a little bit of the language. By June all of our planning was done and we just had to work and study French until we were to leave in October.
*****
This is the end of the second installment in the ongoing series that details our introduction to river cruising on the European waterways and to our purchase and outfitting of our own boat to for travel and living in Europe. If you are interested in being notified of future installment releases, Subscribe to this series in the sidebar on the right.
If you missed the first installment it can be found under the category “A New Adventure-Series”
The sun washes out the fall colors as it climbs toward noon. We slowly pass orchards on one side of the canal, where wagons are being filled with the grapes. Fields of sunflowers yet to be harvested bent yearning toward the sun on the other. Chateaus that have overlooked this ground for 400 years are on the distant hills, as we approach a tunnel of plane trees that will engulf us in shade and hide us from view.
Sunflower field
The next lock will close a little before 12 o’clock so as not to infringe on the lock keepers lunch. We could speed up and maybe make it before the lock closes, another lock behind us before lunch. The sun is warm, the canal peaceful. I am checking off benchmarks, efficiently using the day to accomplish my goals. I struggle with non-action.
A fisherman has parked beside the canal, his stool set in the sun for a day of waiting for a fish to bite. Just before entering the tunnel of trees and leaving the sun is a little wharf separated from the fisherman by 500 meters and the width of the canal. “There is a good place for lunch”, Lori points out, supported my my mother.
It would mean farther to go after lunch, but we wouldn’t be racing time to catch a lock and missing the delights of the day, besides there is a wharf here. Fortunately I am the only person on this boat obsessed with goals. I bring the boat in and tie up.
It was market day in Bram this morning. A small village built with streets arranged in concentric circles around a fortress church dating from the 12th century. We rode our bicycles the kilometer from the canal where we had moored for the night to find the village transformed into an outdoor market. The stalls began just as you entered the village on the main street then snaked through the town, a feast for the senses occupying the entire street with a menagerie of colors, smells and activity. When I had come into Bram the night before the streets were empty and signs of life were scarce, this mornings bustle elicits images of a summer fair. We moved from stall to stall selecting fruits, vegetables, cheeses, meats and bread intoxicated by the array of items, before returning to the boat to start our travel for the day. Now pulled to the side of the canal in the noon sun, we indulge in the harvest of the morning.
The Market in Bram
Mom and Lori started laying out this mornings bounty into a smorgasbord of local meats, cheeses, olives, bread and, of course wine, all displayed across the table on the deck of the boat in the sun. Time no longer mattered, the sun had taken the chill off of the fall morning, a light breeze blew the smell of autumn across the fields and we enjoyed it all while life went on around us, following the circadian clock of the season.
It didn’t take long that day, it was our second day on the canal, when I left my stress behind and changed the pace I was living at. I didn’t insist we depart just before one O’clock to ensure we were the first in the queue to enter the lock, we didn’t even depart at one O’clock and I was fine with it. I had transitioned from meeting goals to experiencing another culture.
For me this is the what I am looking for while traveling, not a rush from destination to destination, but to become part of the environment, to experience another culture to become part of it.
Maybe I have taken the first step, I’ve noticed that the French seem to prioritize their life, not on their work and making money, but on enjoying the pleasures available.
*****
This is the end of the first installment in the ongoing series that details our introduction to river cruising on the European waterways, to our purchase and outfitting of our own boat for travel and living in Europe. If you are interested in being notified of future installment releases, Subscribe to this series in the sidebar on the right.
