Toulouse, Aug. 23-27

 It’s a two day trip from Castelsarrasin to Toulouse. When Tanya and I visited Toulouse last May before our departures (mine back to the US, hers north to Saint Jean de Losne) we had dined at Fogos, a restaurant she had visited on an earlier visit and really enjoyed. We were determined to eat there again. We arrived late Friday afternoon but as the restaurant is only open Monday through Friday (ah, the French) we would have to wait until Monday evening for our return visit.

In earlier visits to the city I had seen the modern art museum and the Airbus center but Tanya introduced me to La Machine, a theater troop that specializes in fantastic machines and exotic musical instruments in their productions. I’m going to post some pictures of the Minotaur and the spiders that are at the center but I urge you to visit the website (especially “Long Ma” and “Les Mécaniques Savantes” in the “Productions” section) and see some of these fantastic creations and other performances that are featured all over the world. It’s really amazing stuff.

On Sundays, a meal is served with much mechanical help. It really is a performance.

More on the website.

There are regular rides aboard the Minotaur around the facility.

One of the two spiders here.

The machines are all hydraulically controlled

 and there are 10-15 people aboard each one 

to manipulate the legs and other body parts.

The main driver sits right under the head.

Those four seats are for the performers that manipulate the legs on this side as the spider “walks”, one seat for each leg.

More about a performance on the streets of Toulouse.

Meanwhile, on the way to Toulouse we had discovered that the engines alternator had died, no longer charging Oldtimer’s batteries when we were underway. Luckily the nearby auto parts store had a replacement;  that was Monday’s chore. Task completed and a very satisfying dinner consumed, Tuesday morning we were off to our next stop, Castelnaudary, another two days east on the Canal du Midi.

Return to Oldtimer

 When last I wrote, I had just completed an attempt at some maintenance in late fall of 2023. The weather didn’t cooperate so I really didn’t get much done in the three weeks I was in Castelsarrasin but, as I wrote at the time, I did get to eat some great bread and sample more great wines.

It had been five years since the last time Oldtimer was out of the water and the insurance company was requiring a bottom thickness survey to renew the policy. Plus, it was time for new bottom paint so I had made preliminary inquiries with the local boatyard about a haulout in the spring of 2024. Sebastian, the yard manager, said he would be able to lift Oldtimer out of the water even though it was a little over the capacity of the crane. I would have to make sure the water tank was empty.

I returned to France in mid April with big plans for maintenance but again, the weather did not cooperate. It was cold and raining off and on most of the five weeks but luckily turned decent for the week Oldtimer was out of the water. I rented and Air BNB in Castelsarrasin so I wouldn’t have to live aboard while up on the hard and got a good coat of paint on the bottom although it was pouring rain the day Oldtimer went back in the water on April 29.

With plans to return to the US on May 17, I tried to squeeze in some paint and varnish between rain showers when fate intervened. A Dutch cruiser with an American flag pulled in just down the quay. Being the chivalrous person that I am, I went to give a hand with the lines and met the owner, Tanya Binford. She turned out to be a very experienced boater having completed the Great Loop in the US ten years ago singlehanded and writing a book about it. She had moved to France three years before, living aboard in Saint Jean de Losne and had travelled south in late 2023, spending that winter in Castlenaudary on the Canal du Midi in her 11 meter Dream Catcher. We struck up a close friendship and when I mentioned I wanted to move Oldtimer back up to Burgundy, she offered to accompany me on the trip.

We made plans to reunite in Castelsarrasin in mid August to begin the trip and I returned to the US May 17.

I was only home for a week, though, as a friend had offered me a spot on a charter trip from Anacortes, Washington to Ketchican, Alaska during the month of June. (At some point I’ll post some pictures from the Voyage of the Ellie K.)

So Tanya and I reunited in Castelsarrasin August 16 and made preparations to head north. This would be basically be a delivery trip with not a bunch of time for sightseeing as visa requirements would not allow me to remain in France past early November and heading north on the Rhone against the current could be a challenge. Preparations complete, August 22 we set off in the direction of Toulouse. Burgundy here we come!