canal du midi à la chaser Feb 2017

moved on to Castelnaudray, a paid for aire and as mentioned earlier in the thread a slightly complicated entrance, as in how to pay at least, no problem finding and getting to the barrier, then sent Bev out to do the technical bit

trouble is you have to buy a card to allow access, that costs 4€ the another 8€ for admission, but that includes electricity, water and dumps so not bad really

more impressive is we got through the barrier inside 5 minutes without outside intervention :)(y)

now we are in I am not so sure it is worth it, noisy road alongside aire, walked into town, seems pretty much closed up, but that might be our fault for travelling in February o_O

it will do nicely for tonight though, and we can leave with full water and empty waste

at Twin Lakes we had decent satellite reception, nothing last night but parked under trees, tonight satellite did a full spin stopped and locked on to something, but we couldn't get any pictures, I made the mistake of retuning, go loads of channels but no UK, except loads of challenge and god channels, did watch a few minutes of Takeshi castle, had forgotten just how bad that was, now watching a DVD, drinking G + T thinking about dinner, too far to walk back to town, so will have a run round the fridge in a bit :)(y)

aire is right beside the canal and about 1/2 mile from town along the towpath mainly

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it wasn't quite as warm as the sky suggests, but decent double figures at least, about 14/15C (y)


forgot to photograph the aire before it went dark, will try and remember in the morning (y)
 
DavidG58 said:
and I also fixed a new one on us, all ready to go this morning, legs up, engine started, can hear a faint whistle type noise, couldn't find it, walking the length of the MH and back it seemed to move from end to end

decided to check outside, found it in the battery locker, which also houses our E + P pump etc, the hand held controller has a red triangle alert on it and is whistling

we also have a remote which doesn't have this symbol or noise, didn't really know what to do, but pressed the leg retract button, the legs made a small noise and movement I guess the alarm went out and the noise stopped

shut locker door back up and then noticed the 'normal' last event by the E + P which is a quick burst on the pump, not sure why but now think I hadn't heard that when I retracted them remotely. But I was sure the legs down orange light was out and I had by now taken the hand brake off which force an auto retract anyway

the only thing different was I had deployed manually as the remote said too uneven, a regular thing for ours which really cant be right, the ground was nearly level, although the front wheels did clear the ground by 3" or so, so not as flat as it looked maybe

Probably something that will not happen again and certainly not if we get it back to Mick at SAP :)(y)
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3 inches of daylight under the front wheels confirms it was not that level David, thats why the too much slope light comes on. I think your rams might be slightly shorter than ours because of the clearance under the chassis so that does not help.

Martin
 
When we were there about 4 months ago there was supposed to be wfi included in the cost of that aire, but it wasn't working.
When we rang the helpline number the girl checked and said they were aware of the problem, had issued a job ticket to the 3rd party company who looks after wifi on their aires, but it would "probably be a few more days" till it was fixed.

If there's still no wifi at the aire now, you can get some sneaky free wifi by leaving aire and walking straight towards canal along the footpth beside the aire, then turning right at the towpath and about 100 metres on your right there's the back of the little boutique hotel...if you stand near to their fence you can pick up their wifi which was was free/open when we were there.

If you cycle, then the towpath running away from town (ie to the left as you stand in the aire looking at the canal) is just gorgeous for miles and miles.
 
DavidG58 said:
and so far a week in still on our first 8Gb (y)
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I would hope so!

We did six weeks in Scandinavia & I worked on-line for about 15 days while away, including VoIP & remote support of customers. I still had nearly half of my 12Gb card left when I got home. To be fair, I didn't take or post anything like as many photos as you do!

Great photos though - I'm enjoying your trip from here in the Lincolnshire sunshine (maybe shouldn't have mentioned the sunshine :oops:).

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So this is Castelnaudray, one of very few paid for aires we have used, fairly complex means of entry but explained in English at least, but you have to buy a card which in theory then is valid here again and at a few other sites, but they don't have very many

Quite noisy with traffic till about 9 last night, then as the traffic noise dropped we then heard the trains which are not far away, went to bed around 10 by 2 was aware the birds were still singing due to the parking area lights being on all night and quite bright

By 7 the traffic had started again o_O

so with a half mile walk to not much in town, the noise, the light and the 12€ charge, albeit 4€ for the card and €8 to park, but with electrics :) however read the sign by the service borne this morning, electric is only for charging batteries!! not sure what the Amp limit is but we had 2Kw Alde on last night, only 6C here this morning

sun just poking through we are on our way to Homps, possibly with a stop over at a village on the canal :)(y)

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Off to find somewhere prettier to sit for breakfast :)(y)
 
Afraid that machine defeated us, even though Julie talks perfect French we couldn't get any sense out of her, think it was broken as well as complicated, and the French in there were no help either, so we moved on only a couple of miles and found a free oneo_O(y)

Edit, this was where park4night became our friend(y):)
 
There's a really nice free aire/parking about 5 kms eastwards, then another free one just a few kms further east right on the canal side. No facilities or shops but very peaceful for an overnight stop.
 
could have done with looking in earlier @The Nomad had a bad day today, only have a few miles of canal left to do and 2 days to do it, had decided to miss out on Carcassonne, been before too touristy for us

so trundled past, turned off the main road at Trebes, spotted a good place to have late breakfast, turned round went back, loads of room to park, but sign saying no waiting for camping cars, decided to stay we weren't in the way and wouldn't be long. quick wander along the canal side to some locks and back, no problems here (y)

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and this little fellow, not rare, but nice in the sun feeding

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then moved on to Homps our intended destination for the day, only another 12 miles and only 30 all day. Found Homps, but no official signs for a MH aire, but followed campercontact directions, parked up and went for a walk. As ever nothing at all open, but we sort of now know why, the canal is closed to navigation from 1st Nov - 28th Feb o_O, doesn't change the views but nothing is open because of it

Homps is full of boats to hire and a few older wooden ones

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we had only been back a few minutes and Bev says that Frenchman is walking straight towards us, looks like he is coming here, on the basis that there was nobody else around it seemed likely. as it was close to 20C we were sat with the door open but flyscreen closed

The man looking just like a local French man, demands euros for food, we say non, allez, he doesn't move and keeps asking for euros in French. I get up and let Lola out and follow her out, he is stood so close the door I have to push him back to get out. he is completely unphased and just keeps asking for money, now saying he is Moroccan and has no food or money

I don't think we were in any danger, but felt that if we gave him anything he would ask for more or turn up with more people. I got back in and we drove off, it has really unnerved Bev :(:( but headed off to where would have been our tomorrow night stop (y):) all OK again really but Bev still saying how much it has affected her :(
 
These things happen. Dont let it affect your holiday. As youre a day in advance now and the canal is closed it gives you the opportunity to see somewhere else magical in France.

If appropriate the phrase I remember from my O level french is "Encoulier" or something similar to the unwanted.

This may be more accurate though
http://www.francetravelguide.com/french-swear-words-my-10-favorites.html

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Hi David,
We had similar experience , at Bonneval aire,back in september , he was jabber on about 2euro's ,gave it & he pee'd off thank goodness , Ann a bit like your good lady was a bit miffed . It was only when we looked on line and found afterwards the aire there is outside of a Phychatric hospital ( Henry Ey hospital) . Ann said that it must be me that attract's those sort of people & I'm too soft parting with good money.
Hope it doesn't spoil the rest of your trip, Keep the daily reports coming please.
 
If you have time travel up to Quillan and circle back through Perpignan or Foix...

Shame about the Moroccan, we had a similar experience recently south of Barcelona..We settled on 2 slices of bread and he went to a German van nearby and got some sausage, he was well happy and very friendly and appreciative...
 
David, when you get to the Mediterranean head for a little town on the coast called Gruissan - it is southeast of Narbonne. The Aire is right on the lagoon and has lots of room and good views if you park around the water side. About 9 Euros a night include free dump and water. It is called Aire Municipale des 4 Vents, and is number 2161 of Campercontact. Open all year around.

Has a nice little port as well as a nice old town with a big market on a Saturday I think. On the Boulevard de Corderie (road you go down to get to the Aire) there is a local wine cooperative which sells from the pump. Excellent Rose and White. Did not try the Red.
 
when in planning phase I found 6 best places on the canal, which are all just about in the last 10 miles or so as it reaches the med, so the next best option and on the list was la Someil, I listed a photo from there earlier lifted from the web site for the canal. Got there, no more signs again, no parking signs along the canal and just another vague gravel area, but pulled in , took a stroll, maybe we were just feeling a bit down but really couldn't find anything nice about the place, other than this bridge , which was very pretty, but nothing open again, not even a bar

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so decided to move on, used Bevs iPad and CC app, found an aire in Colombiers, free :)(y) but reviews were not up to much, but not recent, so headed there, out on a limb down a rough track an old MH parked with a transit and another car all together, decided they were probably gypsies, bit judgemental I know but blame it on our feeling a bit off, but we didn't want to stop :(:(

so we have now just about exhausted the rest of the canal route and don't really know what to do, but I suggest a site to boost Bevs confidence, had been looking to visit Narbonne so looked there, only one open wanted 45€ on the web site, guess it might be negotiable but too much trouble to find out and we have left our ACSI card at home o_Oo_O

Bat to iPad and CC app, Bev reads out a random place name, but no geographical reference other than it was 15 miles away, at least that ruled out the Mediterranean, but a lot of other possible places,o_O but I find it on the map, a few inches above Beziers. Listed as a camp site but only 6€ + 2€ for electrics, very good reviews so we headed off, what a gem, bit of a bugger to find but for the money and the security it gives us all we want and a great view :):)(y)(y)

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now going to check weather options and decide whether to do Beziers or Narbonne or head home with an extra day for the journey, already had a whole week, tunnel next Thursday morning, don't want to be in a rush or do too many miles each day. So will review this evening, check the weather through France and more importantly here for the next 2 days and decide what to do next

A disappointing end to the canal bit of the trip, but maybe in summer with bars etc open it would be different, or it might be a lot worse for being so busy maybe o_O(y)
 
moulin 87 said:
If you have time travel up to Quillan and circle back through Perpignan or Foix...

Shame about the Moroccan, we had a similar experience recently south of Barcelona..We settled on 2 slices of bread and he went to a German van nearby and got some sausage, he was well happy and very friendly and appreciative...
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we did review afterwards if he was genuinely hungry and were we mean not to give him anything, so hard to tell, but if we did, or because the last ones did he will now pester the rest that come in o_O

there isn't a perfect solution unfortunately, but having just necked a bottle of wine I do have some guilt :(

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Chin up, just been catching up with the ourtour blog in Morocco and their struggles with coping with all the touts and beggars pestering them. I think the chap probably thought you were on your own in the car park, tourists, so will give it a go. I would not feel guilty if fact I think you dealt with the intimidation admirably. Just give Bev and hug and Lola a bone, and yourself a smile. (y)
 
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Sorry you have a bad day:(, have you planned your return route yet?
 
Your 'odd bod' at Homps sounds like the fellow that was hanging around every day when we were there earlier this year.
He came round the vans begging but spent most of his time 'helping' the boaters tie up and play dodgems with the other hire boats. He was just hoping for tips I think and seemed quite harmless.
When told 'non' he just shoved off but then there were lots of others to cadge from in the summer. He's probably a bit more desperate in the winter so won't take non as an answer.

Richard.
 
peterc10 said:
David, when you get to the Mediterranean head for a little town on the coast called Gruissan - it is southeast of Narbonne. The Aire is right on the lagoon and has lots of room and good views if you park around the water side. About 9 Euros a night include free dump and water. It is called Aire Municipale des 4 Vents, and is number 2161 of Campercontact. Open all year around.

Has a nice little port as well as a nice old town with a big market on a Saturday I think. On the Boulevard de Corderie (road you go down to get to the Aire) there is a local wine cooperative which sells from the pump. Excellent Rose and White. Did not try the Red.
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We were last in Gruissan in November and the office was closed and everything else was open. So, water, dump and overnight were free.
Nice place which we really like but it can be very windy.
Oh, the red from the cave is first class too. (y):D

Richard.

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Clarky said:
We were last in Gruissan in November and the office was closed and everything else was open. So, water, dump and overnight were free.
Nice place which we really like but it can be very windy.
Oh, the red from the cave is first class too. (y):D

Richard.
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do you mean the plage aire, there are 2 listed?

not really decided on the route home yet, but that's not far back
 
chaser said:
Sorry you have a bad day:(, have you planned your return route yet?
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thanks no route fixed, other than we have booked Lola in at La Mailleray, a new favourite of ours since discovering it lst year, 14€ for the dog check over has to be about the cheapest I have seen, :)(y) having paid over 50€ at one some years back :mad:

So la Mailleray on Tuesday night, then Gravelines for last night on Wednesday night (y)(y) in honour of you and us following your trails (y)(y)

so a gentle toll free run up to la Mailleray over three days :)(y)
 
DavidG58 said:
thanks no route fixed, other than we have booked Lola in at La Mailleray, a new favourite of ours since discovering it lst year, 14€ for the dog check over has to be about the cheapest I have seen, :)(y) having paid over 50€ at one some years back :mad:

So la Mailleray on Tuesday night, then Gravelines for last night on Wednesday night (y)(y) in honour of you and us following your trails (y)(y)

so a gentle toll free run up to la Mailleray over three days :)(y)
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Very pleased, and very humbled because most on here think my posts are crap, that you like my input , but we really liked that tour and Julie is already arranging a new trip down that way, but then turning right to Marseille and the camargue owning to the James Martin prog on the tv at the moment.:)
I suppose parc verger and oradour could be a stop on your return , we liked charoles and Dijon but it's probably a bit of your direction.(y):)
 
DavidG58 said:
do you mean the plage aire, there are 2 listed?

not really decided on the route home yet, but that's not far back
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The Aire at the plague is closed except n high season.
The marina Aire is usually a better option as it is a little more sheltered and not quite so windy.
It's a lovely place to just wander around and gawp at he boats.

Richard.

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La Mailleraye is our very favorite Aire in the world.
Just a shame that it isn't much further south where the weather is better.
At this time of the year it's free to add to its attractions.
From where you are the A75 up through Millau is a fabulous road and one to be enjoyed.

Richard.
 
Clarky said:
La Mailleraye is our very favorite Aire in the world.
Just a shame that it isn't much further south where the weather is better.
At this time of the year it's free to add to its attractions.
From where you are the A75 up through Millau is a fabulous road and one to be enjoyed.

Richard.
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On our way down to Twin Lakes last September we stopped there for a night. Ended up staying for 3 nights. Weather was beautiful as was the scenery. Loved sitting and watching the boats go by. Had a nice lunch at the restaurant on the corner by the Aire. Lovely relaxing time. We moved on when the rain started!
 
chaser said:
Very pleased, and very humbled because most on here think my posts are crap, that you like my input , but we really liked that tour and Julie is already arranging a new trip down that way, but then turning right to Marseille and the camargue owning to the James Martin prog on the tv at the moment.:)
I suppose parc verger and oradour could be a stop on your return , we liked charoles and Dijon but it's probably a bit of your direction.(y):)
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Chaser I don't think your posts are c--p, l love to read yours and Burtonbirds details of your stays and food stops , always find them useful . Thankyou:)cant wait for your next trip.
 
I think Bev is delaying us long enough to make Mendes tonights stop over, stayed there this time last year. lovely location right by the river and really old bridge

weather today is brilliant only about 12C right now but bright blue Mediterranean sky :)(y)

parked at Champion Beziers, decided to head north and go a little less distance each day on the way home(y)

we love the A75 will be stopped at a layby we often use just before the airfield at Millau, then through town to avoid the punitive class 3 toll for the bridge (y) I think it might be 30€ but will not be finding out :)

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