28 March 2011: Nice/Boat Cruise Day Eleven.

Its an early start this morning, out of bed at 4.15 am to get ready for our long train trip to Homps where we will pick up Le Boat (that’s French for “the boat” in case you were wondering).

There were a number of connections and Dominique had the timing right down to the last minute, so look out anyone who messes with the itinerary and that could be anyone of us on the trip, bus drivers, train drivers, ticket dispensing machines, customer service officers, other passengers, the Police and any other emergency transport worker. When I say she had it planned, I mean right down to the arrival time at Lezignan train station (12.23 pm) to being picked up by the taxi (12.25 pm), everything went to plan (by the way, the train tickets and taxi pick up were booked on the internet two weeks previously).

Arrived at Homps where our boat is and, as the owners were enjoying their lunch, we had an hour or so to kill before we could take possession. We wandered down to the local supermarket to purchase our supplies for the next few days. If nothing else, we will be eating like Royalty.

The boat is ridiculously big and classy. It houses all four of us very, very comfortably with rooms at either end that include toilet and shower. Its about 14 meters in length and can best be described as luxury on water. After an extremely brief “brief” from the technician, we took it for a trial run. No problem can’t go faster than eight kmph and the cruising speed for the canal is six kmph.

There is something that we have been both aware of and a little uncertain about and that is the lochs that are positioned along the canal. The lochs have been built to compensate for uneven depths in the canals and are manned full time by the loch keepers who live right on the water. Basically you have to enter a pen (for want of a better word), the gates are closed behind you and then the pen is drained of water to the level of the river ahead. Once you have been lowered, the pen doors in front of you open and you proceed on down the canal. It’s sort of like an elevator for the boat (very technical terms used here).

We didn’t get to practise the loch manoeuvre with the technician but he did give us the drill on what to do. Besides, we had to pass through one not more than 300 meters from our start point so plenty of opportunity to practise then. So off we go!!!!

At the first loch, we approached very slowly. I was the man on the land ready to secure the ropes to the moorings so that the boat would remain steady in the loch. “Gee these things are a bit narrow” I was thinking to myself as the boat edged closer to the opening of the pen. Our helmsman was having a little trouble keeping the boat pointed straight as the wind was playing havoc with the steering.

The loch keeper was standing on the bridge above us waiting for the boat to be fully in the pen when he started yelling something in French. I don’t honestly know what he was saying but as I looked up at the boat I’m guessing it was something like, “left, left, left, oh my God its going to go through sideways…” Crunch, the boat hit the side of the loch which sent me scurrying to see if we had put a hole in the hull. The loch keeper grabbed the rope attached to the bow and pulled the boat close to the land. Not a very confident start to the trip.

Once inside the pen, the lock keeper drained the water and opened the gate at the other end and we moved on. “Merci” we said as we moved on and I reckon he would have been saying, “Yeah, mercy on that boat the way you lot are travelling…” But as with all things, practise makes perfect and after the third loch, we had our routine down pat.

It had been a long day and the excitement of the first loch had taken its toll, we motored on for a few km’s and then pulled over to spend the night. Had a lovely meal of roast pork, several cool and refreshing beers and a nice bottle of red to wash it all down.