Toulouse to Moissac

Lenny and Colin joined Carmen at Toulouse after a very early start in UK.

 We dropped down through the very deep lock in Toulouse




 

 followed by two more

and then we were in a large basin into which the Canal Lateral a la Garonne opened on our right, and the canal down to the Garonne at Toulouse on our left.  The turn was too tight for Carmen to achieve in one go and so we had to enter the port in order to turn.  In any case a dumb barge and pusher had been blocking the route into the Canal lateral de la Garonne.  I had been told that the beginning of the Canal lateral de la Garonne was very boring and so we pushed on hard making my longest day for years of 12 locks and 32 km, taking nine and a quarter hours.  We were also warned that the railway ran alongside.  In fact it was not unattractive if viewed through a different expectation window, and I will not rush through it next time.  On the Lateral a la Garonne the locks returned to the normal straight walls shape and are mostly automatic so as we were dropping down all the time it was relatively easy.

We encountered this lovely little chap just watching us go by. 

We stopped the first night at Grissolles.


 Even after such a long day we had not got away from the railway, although we did not find it a problem.

The next day we met these interesting characters just bimbling along the canal.   Unfortunately the third member of the team, a dog, is just out of the shot.

 We restricted the day to just over three and a half hours to get to Montech.  Pretty enough, but very difficult to moor because of pontoons forsmaller boats taking up most of the space and shallow water occupying what seemed like the rest.  Seeing Marie Helene, a small luxemotor moored in the leg down to Montauban we crept in to find a nice country mooring and Colin treated us to a barbeque.   In the morning however Saint Louis, a local hotel boat, came through to test our moorings.

We then reversed back down the leg and out through the bridge you can see in the photo.  Colin positioned himself on the corner of the leg in contact with us by VHF radio to ensure we did not meet anyone coming in the other direction.

It is at Montech that the first inclined plane lock built in France is positioned to give barges larger than 28m a way up an down.   However the health and safety people have closed it for the time being for reasons that are not entirely clear.  Being of only 25.2m length Carmen was able to go down through the five originally bypassed locks to the bottom.  Here we decided to go and have a look at the inclined plane and so reversed all the way up to it. 

That night we had planned to moor in Castelsarrasin but were warned by the last lockeeper quite correctly that it was very crowded with boats.   Considering how few boats we had encountered en route we discovered where they were all hiding -  Castelsarrasin. We tried for the mooring that the lockeeper had recommended only to prove that lockeepers are not always experts in boating matters as the proposed mooring was small, did not allow overnight mooring and was about 100m from a noisy motorway.  We carried on but into a series of radar controlled locks allowing no stopping in between them.  I then realised that we could moor just the other side of the famous canal aquaduct above Moissac and so we did.  A difficult mooring due to shallow water, but with poles out to keep us off, and no traffic it was comfortable enough.  We were able to take time to examine the aquaduct that had survive floods which had swept the old railway bridge away in the 1930's flooding the town and killing many. 

This old aquaduct was then adapted temporarily for trains to run on it alongside a narrowed canal until the new railway bridge was built.  As trains on the canal were limited to 5km/h it is said the bargees loved overtaking the trains whose wheels were just a few cm away from them.

The new railway bridge can be seen here.

The next day we locked down into Moissac and then turned sharp left into a double lock down onto the Tarn.  As we inched out into the river I was stunned by the beauty. 

After a day exploring the town we took a day to explore the Tarn by barge.   We are told that one day soon it will be rejoined with Montauban allowing a circular tour using the Tarn and the canal embranchement. 

Obtaining a chart we explored first upstream to the first lock overlooked by Chateau Saint Paul (looking rather derilict with birds flying in and out of the windows),

We nosed into the river Lemboulaise to moor up for lunch.

 then down as far as the confluence with the Garonne.  We found a delightful mooring on the right bank.   As it was a very hot day we took the outside cooker onto the bank for a lovely barbeque with Lenny cooking the vegitables and Colin the meat. 

We then sat up very late on Carmen's terrace to enjoy the lack of surrounding light to watch stars and satellites and see the full moon come up.  Beautiful.  This is what it is about.

The next day we cruised back to Moissac and back to earth for Lenny and Colin leaving on the train to Toulouse and the trip to UK.  Lenny says she will be back.