The Garonne Lateral, May 23 - 27

In the last post I put up a not very good picture of a typical small church bell tower of the region and promised a better one. This a picture of the church in Lacourt San Pierre at the beginning of the Canal du Montech, a better example.

Monday morning it was just 10 k and three locks to get back onto the Garonne Lateral canal from the Baise River, a task completed by 11 am. I had arranged to meet friends from Briare, Pete and Sarah, for lunch at the restaurant at the moorings. They sold Marianna at the end of last season and were on a car trip to France collecting stuff they had left behind and reconnecting with friends, including Lennie and Di on Elysium, who had bought a house on the Lot River, not too far from the Garonne. We had a great time catching up.

From L to R Lennie, Sara, Di and Pete at Lennie and Di's new house.. 

There may be wine involved.

(Pic borrowed from Pete)

Tuesday morning we set off to the west in the direction of Bordeaux although we didn’t intend to get there. The canal ends quite a way short of the city and that necessitates a trip on a tidal section of the Garonne River. I didn’t want to do that and there wasn’t time anyway. The plan was to return to Agen by around the 27th so Kevin could take the train up to Paris and maybe catch a few of the opening matches of the Paris Open tennis tournament.

Our first stop was the halte nautic the village of Villeton. A women from Maine we met earlier in the summer in Castelsarrasin, Anita, was a new canal boat owner and she had run into a little trouble in Agen. As she was on her own (her crew had to leave) she needed someone to help her back into the Agen marina. Kevin volunteered and there was a train station in the nearby town of Tonneins. He could catch the train back to Agen, assist Anita and then catch the train returning to Tonneins later in the afternoon. Meanwhile, I could catch up on a little painting.

Anita on Arabelle leaving Agen

Our tasks complete, Wednesday after lunch we pushed on to the small marina at Pont de Sables where we would turn around to head back to Agen. 

6 k from the moorings there is the good sized town of Marmande. I took a quick bike ride into town on Thursday, visited the tourist office which is located in an old restored house with a nice fountain.

Of course, I also visited the gothic style Notre-Dame church with it’s magnificent organ.

There is a beautiful tile mural long the city wall facing the Garonne River.

Friday morning it was back up the canal about 25 k to the village of Damazan and its small marina.

A walk through town revealed more of the typical half-timber construction typical of the old buildings of the area.

Saturday it was 33 k and about 6 hours back to Agen. 

Kevin would be leaving Sunday morning by train to Paris, returning on Wednesday. I had plenty of boat chores to attend to so I wouldn’t be bored!

Down the Baise, May 19-22

 Kevin took this photo. Not much room in those Baise locks for Oldtimer!

Friday morning the river had calmed down sufficiently that we could head downstream back to the Garonne Lateral Canal. 

We returned to the village of Montcrabeau, just 11 k downriver. With the current pushing us we quickly made it through the 3 locks and were tied up by about 2 pm.

This time I felt comfortable enough to leave the boat and wander around the small village up the hill.

I found a small lavoir that hadn’t had a lot of restoration work.

The church wasn’t open but it featured the same kind of bell tower seen on many of the smaller churches in the region instead of a steeple.

I also found a place to take the obligatory view of the countryside countryside movie.

Saturday morning we set off at the usual time and arrived back in Nerac just after 1 pm.

This time a walk took me to the other side of the river and the Eglise Notre Dame.

And a pretty typical church interior from the 18th century.

I also had a nice circular walk that began in the large riverside Parc de la Garenne, crossed the river on a pedestrian bridge and then returned to town on the other side. There are several water features along the way including the Fontaine St Jean.

Sunday, after a quick cycle to the grocery store, we set out by about 10:30 am to make the 10k to a town we hadn’t stopped at on our way up the river, Vianne.

We found a very picturesque medieval village still with its ramparts and gates intact. They were also having some kind of fete and vide grenier so we had a nice afternoon wandering about the narrow village streets.

The interior of the church was pretty austere.

When standing on top of the southern gate (that use to house the jail) you can get a good look at the lock and weir on the river.

Looking back from the lock to the old mill on the right and the city walls behind

Monday morning it was just a couple of hours back to the Garonne Lateral Canal and our usual stop in Buzet-sur-Baise. This time we were going to head further west and see how close we could get to the end of the canal before we had to turn around to Agen so Kevin could catch a train to Paris for a few days.

Condom, May 16-19

So we would have several days to explore Condom.

 One of our first stops was right across the river, the J. Dupeyron armanac house. Here is the wiki page for your education on this delicious drink.  We enjoyed a brief tour through the storage rooms (and their delicious smell!), took a look at one of the older column stills used for producing the eau de vie and saw a short film about the making of the liquor. Then it was on to a tasting where we were given small sips of the three types of armanac, VSOP, XO and Hors d’Age. We went back to the boat with a bottle of their delicious hors d’Age.

Hard to tell in this pic but from left to right those upper barrels are labeled 1976, 1980 and 1981.

Other barrels were from the early 1900’s.

This display case in the tasting room says you can pick a bottle from the year you were born. 

The one from my birth year was one of those little tiny bottles and would sell for around $650.

The other obligatory stop was the Cathedral Saint Pierre with its elaborate rood screen.

I had been in email contact with the waterways authorities about the state of the river. The national VNF does not run the Baise. It is controlled by the local departments but they were very responsive and in contact with Remi, the capitaine. We made a trip to the supermarket Friday morning in anticipation of a departure and by the time we returned to the boat around 11:30, we were told that the river had dropped enough that it was safe for us to get underway.

Lines off, we turned around and headed downstream for a return to the small village of Montcrabeau.

Fun on the Baise, May 12-16

 Friday afternoon we were secured in the small marina and hireboat base in the city of Agen.

The capital city of the Lot-et-Garonne Department, for years Agen marked the boundary between lands owned by the French and English kings. Governance of the city changed hands eleven time over time, being ruled by the Count of Toulouse and Richard the Lionheart in addition to the English and French kings.

With Kevin planning to leave the boat for a couple of days at the end of the month to attend some of the French Open tennis tournament in Paris, we will be back to spend more time there. In the meantime we had a very nice dinner in town and set off for a trip up the Baise River, which intersects The Garonne Lateral in the small town of Buzet-sur-Baise.

Five hours and 7 locks later we were tied up outside Au Bord de l’Eau, a small restaurant run by an English couple that also features some moorings. Cathy Jo and I visited in 2020 to check out wintering possibilities but it’s just a little remote with minimal transportation options.

Kevin and I had nother nice dinner and Sunday morning we dropped down the double lock into the Baise River.

The first part of the navigation is a section that doubled back along the Garonne Canal and passes under the pont canal where the river passes under the canal. In a case of perfect timing, a hireboat was crossing the pont canal just as we were going under.

Navigation on the Baise began in the 13th century but flooding in the spring and fall made navigation difficult. Over the years, locks were introduced and navigation conditions improved. In the middle of the 19th century, as many as 90 barges at a time were loading or unloading in Lavardac, the busiest of the ports and 130,000 tons of freight moved up and down the river. However, a huge flood in 1952 destroyed many of the locks and river traffic began to decline and the waterway was almost completely abandoned until a complete restoration of the locks and waterway between 1988 and 1997. 

It’s a beautiful small river with several very picturesque medieval villages. It’s also still prone to some flooding, as we were to find out.

It also features very narrow locks, with only about 4 inches to spare with Oldtimer’s 3.95 meter width. Some very careful barge handling would be required if paint damage was to be kept to a minimum.

The current seemed a little strong (we were heading upstream, at least) as we headed for our first stop in the village of Nérac.

We were tied up about 3 pm underneath the city walls and climbed up a set of stairs to see some sort of costume parade happening.

The participants in their very elaborate costumes were introduced to the stage and then later posed for pictures.

Kind of lonely when the river's in flood.

Monday morning we proceeded to our next mooring below the very small village of Montcrabeau. I noticed that the current seemed to be increasing and there were times when I had to give Oldtimer some extra throttle to keep up a reasonable speed.

Tuesday morning it was off to Condom, a medium sized village that is in the center of the armanac producing region, a perfect place to stop. The last stretch of river into town required quite a bit of power to overcome the current and I was seriously worried about the trip back down as with that much current behind the barge it would be very difficult to control, especially when entering the very narrow locks. 

After mooring in Condom we went to speak with the Capitaine and he was very surprised to see us. “Where did you come from?” Remi asked. “Montcrabeau,” we said. “Didn’t they come to tell you the river is closed?” Nope.

Later, I took a look at Vigicrues, (crue is the French word for flood) a very helpful website that gives river levels for all the various rivers in France.

This was the chart for the river at Nérac. We entered the river on the 14th. That big peak? That’s they day we went from Montcrabeau to Condom. The river was about two feet higher than normal.

So we would be spending a few days in Condom. Luckily there was everything we needed there; a secure mooring, supermarket, nearby wine store with a very helpful owner who spoke good English, the armanac museum (and tasting room!) and a very helpful capitaine who kept us updated on the situation.

Off Again, May 7-12

 Kevin Murray, my next guest, is retired from the Australian Air Force. In the air as a navigator, he graduated to more administrative positions, serving in several capacities around the world including military attache. He and friends are considering buying a barge after a narrowboat experience in England and he posted on the Dutch Barge Association forum asking if he could catch a ride for educational purposes and to decide if this was something he really wanted to do. I responded to his post and here we are, two old guys cooped up on a small boat for about 6 weeks. What could possibly go wrong?

Luckily, all has gone very well.

Kevin arrived Monday afternoon a few hours after Tim and Christine’s departure. We used Tuesday to get him moved in and do some instruction on how canal cruising works and set off to the west Wednesday morning. Well, we tried to depart. 

The engine starting batteries are the same one’s that came with the boat when Cathy Jo and I bought it in 2015 and there’s no telling how long they were on the boat before that. They had been acting up a little on the trip to Montauban but Wednesday morning they refused to turn the engine over. I used jumper cable from the house batteries to get Mr. DAF humming and we set off through the first lock to the grocery store pontoon. There is an auto parts store (pieces auto in French) just around the corner from the supermarket. New batteries purchased and galley shelves stocked, off we went after lunch; first stop Moissac.

We stopped in Moissac several times last year but I wanted introduce Kevin to the cathedral and cloister so we stopped a little after 2 pm. and made a visit.

This tableau is in the church.

You can read my description and see pictures of the cloister from last year at

https://donandcathyjo.blogspot.com/2022/09/le-canal-de-garonne-aug-20-24.html

Thursday morning we set off for the 26 K to Valence d’Agen. We visited this town last year by bicycle from Pommevic but there is a small marina in Valence so we were tied up by 1:15 pm.

While preparing this entry I was going to refer back to a posting about our visit to another one of “the most beautiful villages in France”, Auvillar. We cycled there from Pommevic last year, Cathy Jo’s last real cycle ride, but looking back I realized I only made passing reference to it. Thursday afternoon Kevin and I rode there from Valence.

After crossing the canal and the river plain, a bridge crosses the Garonne and the road climbs a steep hill to the village. We locked the bikes up at the bottom of the hill and climbed up.

One of the village streets with typical brick and half-timbered construction.

The very unique round market

One side of the church has seen “remodeling”

The porch near the tourist office gave a great panoramic view of the Garonne valley, including the Golfech atomic power plant.

Touring complete, Friday morning we set out for our next destination, the small city of Agen.

La Pente d’Eau, Montech

 Built in 1974 when water transport was still very active, two diesel electric engines attached by a beam went up or down a slope about 13 meters high pushing a pool of water to carry a boat. To let the boats enter or exit, a huge hydraulically controlled, watertight gate was lifted. The idea was to eliminate the five locks on the main canal and save about an hour for commercial operators. The whole operation didn’t last long, however, as a series of breakdowns put it out of service in 2009 and it is now a tourist attraction with an “interesting” paint job.

The Wiki Page

The two locomotives with a peniche between on the slope

Montauban and Back, May 5-7

 We arrived in the Montauban Marina shortly after lunchtime. Luckily, since the marina is a good hike from town, there is a collection of restaurants and snack bars right at the port so we could grab something to eat. A quick conversation with Lennie and Di resulted in a Thursday night dinner invitation for more of Di’s delicious curry so we were set for our visit to town.
Montauban was founded in the 12th century where the Tarn and Tescou Rivers meet and was originally surrounded by defensive walls. They restricted the growth of the city, however, and new neighborhoods and churches were soon built outside. During the Religious Wars of the 1560’s, the churches were burned and dismantled with the materials used to build new city walls. The city returned to the Catholic Church in the late 1600’s and a new cathedral was built.

 

 

The Pont Vieux, built over the Tarn in the early 14th century
with the steeple of Saint Jacques in the background

 

 

The interior of the church of Saint Jacques, built and rebuilt many times between the 13th and 18th centuries

 

Place Nationale, the heart of town

Not wanting to spend five days in town before Tim and Christine were scheduled to leave (we wanted to be near a train station), and being pretty far from town, we decided to return to Castelsarrasin, spending two short days underway. We didn’t leave until about 11 Saturday morning for the 9 locks up the Canal de Montech and then five more locks up alongside the Pente d’eau to reach a bankside mooring in the small village of Escatalens about 3 pm. Then it was just 3 locks and 2 hours to Castelsarrasin. Monday morning my first guests would be on the train to Nimes and my next guest, Kevin Murray would be arriving in the afternoon for an extended stay.

 

 On the way to Escatalens, a “Green Tunnel”