Canal du Garonne - Posting Five

 More lock houses...

The light and green foliage amazed me with joy.

More ancient tobacco drying sheds...

 another eclusier..

 We stopped for refreshments at Mas d'Agenais

where water flowed into the Lavoir...it was refreshingly cool in the shade compared to the heat we had cycled in...

 Who's this?

 We went inside the church called Collegiale Saint-Vincent.

 where there is a REMBRANDT!!! 1631 Christ on the Cross

on we cycled!

 This was our reward on the morning we departed...the small bakery was in the same village where we had arrived and so it was fitting to say GOODBYE...

and this a not very good photo of an amazing lunch..
chicken kebabs with sundried tomatoes, carrots braised in stock, potato souffles...7e at le Commerce in Castelmoron.

 The market hall was made of metal and iron...quite unusual...memory fading a bit here!!!

 There was beautifully restored architecture near the river...

We traveled the return journey without air con in the car on the hottest day of the year...
we stopped with this view for the last of the choc ice and camp tea.
I was bushed and went to sleep for an hour!

THANK YOU world for letting me be here when I'd heard various comments which had made me decide that I would not make the effort! I am so glad opportunity opened a door and I hope that one day I will return now that I know I could cycle alone the two canals over a period of a few weeks enjoying the views and villages on the way.

Canal du Garonne - Posting Four

On Bastille Day we climbed high to the village...we were almost level with them as they were released from the river.

This wonderful commercial building, a former bar restaurant with herbegement is for sale.  Maybe it experiences flooding on occasions! This part faces the river. The light was glorious! It seemed to have an Italian quality.. not that I have ever been to Tuscany but is what I imagine!

This is the FOR SALE sign at the front of the property.

I am glad I went to explore the river before seven one morning.  The river is the lowest for many years and boats were restricted from travelling.  Steam is rising as the sun rises.

 The Canal in each direction...

I wandered down the lane...

to find more old tobacco drying sheds which have special shutters be opened to control ventilation.

I rather like this photo! Like a painting!

Canal du Garonne - Posting Three

This impressive riverside house opposite the camp site is for sale.

 

This garden fence could be made by someone impractical like me. It defined a little garden for someone's canal barge mooring.

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This barge was probably for hire for parties and such!

An eclusier.

 The river and canal du Garonne meet at La Confluence at ...

 The final eclusier... note its height and steps to the door for when La Garonne is flooded!!!

 Steady now.. the final drop from the canal level to the river level in July 2015 is quite giddying!

This is where you would wait to enter the Canal lock above.

Cycling up the hill to the village one gets an overview.

 This is a house in the town of Castets en Dorthe that begged to be picced ...

Weed taken from the canal, presumably used for compost.....

 Another eclusier...

 Another ecluse...

 Barges...

 Another eclusier

This is an auberge (large B&B business) for sale just by the canal... A notice revealed that ice creams were for sale...we had passed this going west and stopped returning to the east. The vendor / proprietor invited us to walk around his garden... behind this and in this building are several gites accommodating in total about 50 or so people!!!! Gorgeous garden!

This is their lovingly restored former tobacco drying store.. now used as a venue for weddings etc.
It is Patrimoine and therefore protected.

 Another eclusier

My friend managed to phone the owner of this boat, then handed the phone to me to organise!!! Eventually I understood that the man was in Arcachon and if we went to the pontoon he would give us the code.  The pontoon gate closed behind us.  This is the boat we climbed aboard and then discovered it wasn't the one and we were trespassing!!! It was also for sale hence the two notices at the gate.

This is the boat we climbed aboard with permission ... it showed us the extremes between what we saw a day or two before and oh these two are too much work even if cheap!

Now how do we get out of the pontoon? The gate is firmly locked and climbing over the gate was impossible due to security wire above.  A boater noted we were in there and climbing. Eventually a phone call and I eventually understood to step back from the gate to a BOX and press a button. Meanwhile phone credit had expired so we could not phone the man and say 'No thank you!' Magic! The gate opened. We needed another ice-cream!
We did 40km cycling that day... wonderful!
My plan was to make a little photo book of all the eclusiers... but I can't see their numbers on the photos and I didn't take a notebook!!!