Castelnaudary, Aug. 28-31

 Leaving Toulouse at the usual hour, we spent Tuesday night in the village of Negra. Wednesday morning we were off for another longish day to reach Castelnaudary. I spent several days here in 2022 waiting for the waterways authorities to fix lock that had been sabotaged. Read the entry here.  Tanya spent last winter here so was friends with Odile, the port captain and her assistants, and several others who had overwintered. During my stay in 2022 I had just tied up at the free mooring but this time took full advantage of the facilities for three days, moored right in front of Tanyas boat. Also, we had discovered that the alternator wasn’t the only electrical problem as the batteries that power the house functions (lights, refrigerator, etc.) had failed after 9 years; a very respectable lifespan. A trip to the auto parts store was required and luckily they would be willing to deliver the batteries to the boat and collect the old ones. I really didn’t relish the idea of fetching them by bicycle!

While visiting with Odile in the port office, Tanya met a newspaper reporter that was interested in women on their boats and why they had stayed in Castelnaudary. A couple days later a nice story appeared, complete with photos.

Chores complete and visiting accomplished, Saturday morning we were off. From here on it would be long days and many kilometers traveled until we reached Saint Jean de Losne in Burgundy.