Blogs from Homps, Languedoc-Roussillon, France, Europe

This morning we cruised through Marseillette and stopped at the Fonfile lock, which is a triple lock. The lock keeper stopped us all there as there was not time to get a group through all 3 of the locks before his lunch break! It takes about 25 minutes to get through the lock in each direction. Consequently, by 2pm when he resumed the opening, there was a queue of about 7 boats waiting. The locks in France are oval shaped and can fit 4 small canal boats or less if any are bigger sizes. 2 big iron gates have sliding panels that the lock keeper can raise to let water through when the gates are shut. The inside edges of the gates are big planks of wood, which as they are wet, expand to seal together ... read more

Leaving Spain today was not as hard as we would have imagined. The emotional part of the departure was filled with the thoughts of the south of France and Provence so we were quite excited. The physical part of leaving was quite straight forward. Once on the motorway we headed for the Pyrenees and Andorra. We have had a great time in Spain seeing wonderful places, meeting people and listening to the language. We are quite amazed at how quickly the weather girls speak and can get through the forecast in one breath. But new adventures await us so we must move on. Our next destination is a small town, Homps, east of Carcassonne. We have chosen a route through the Pyrenees which means going through the Tunel del Cadi, 5.3 kilometres long and toll charges ... read more