From Patiasses to Rubia

For this journey, like all on the Midi, Carmen's wheelhouse had to come down.  This is at minimum a three person job, two of which have to be fairly strong and the other tall, and normally takes 90mins if I have prepared things well.  My all Dutch crew from left to right was Bert,  Ruud and Herman.  I knew that Bert and Hermen had boats of about 10-12m and that Ruud had been brought up on a barge.

They demounted the wheelhouse in half the normal time.  There was still other work to do, but Ruud asked me to start the engine which I had warmed up earlier.  The next thing I knew was that all ropes were off, Ruud had taken the wheel and it seemed we were off.  I had expected to drive myself and was not sure what to say, so not wanting to upset Ruud, I just asked to take over before we came to Le Somail bridge- a typical small, round Canal du Midi bridge.  I explained we might have to stop to take down the terrace side rails if it seemed too close or we might bend the rails, and if so I would rather be responsible.  Carmen went under Le Somail bridge with no problems and Ruud took over again as soon as we were through.  It was suggested that the coffee I had proposed earlier would be welcome now.  Bert took over driving.  Uneasy about the differences between driving Carmen and a 12m boat, I explained that Carmen would need far longer to stop than their smaller boats, and went below to make the coffee.

Later when I asked where they would like to stop to eat, they said that Dutchmen would eat "en route".  A little later it was suggested that now would be a good time to eat.  I felt Carmen was being kidnapped, but was so grateful for their help, that I didn't want to say anything.   I didn't prepare the food, but just loaded it onto trays so that I could get back up top as soon as possible.

I briefly took over during a moment of uncertainty at a tight bridge, hence bringing my total driving time for the day to about 5 mins.  The sun was out and it was lovely.  I interupted the flow of Dutch to ask what they had done before they retired.   Both Bert and Herman had been barge captains, in Herman's case of a 110m barge (four times the length of Carmen).  Ruud it seemed had not only lived on a large barge but driven it.

My day would have been totally destressed if I had had this information at the beginning.  We all had a good laugh at my expense.

At the end of the voyage the wheelhouse had to go back up.  Now that they knew what they were doing they put it up in just a tad over 30mins which I think will remain a record for a long time.

Later when I told this story to Ruuds wife Tina she explained, "Well of course, driving Carmen was what the day was all about for them".