France 2013: Bateaux - Toulouse - Boat trip on the Canal

Wednesday 28 August

Bateaux - Toulouse - Boat trip on the Canal

This was Mel's last day so we decided to go on on a boat trip on the river Garonne, there was one at 12.10 which included a nice lunch and a trip up the Garonne and into one of the canals. About 3.5 hours.

We just caught the bus in time, it was obviously in a hurry, or the driver didn't believe in going round roundabouts, he took the straightest route possible. We arrived in plenty of time to catch the metro for a couple of stops and got off at Calme Square. With about 40 minutes to go we consulted our trusty (albeit getting a bit worn out) map, however all four corners of the square and every street - sorry, Rue - was called Rue de Calme. Something has happened to David's reliable antenna, must be the northern hemisphere, because we wandered around sort of vaguely hoping we were going in the right direction of the river. We came out further down than we thought, so the idea of a leisurely coffee was out and we headed upstream for Pont Neuf where the boats are tied up.

It was a lovely day and a pleasant walk up the tree lined path beside the river admiring the beautiful buildings along the way. David and I walked along this path last time we came into Toulouse, so we were able to impress Mel with our new found knowledge.

We found the footpath down to the landing stage and checked out the boats. Non of the advertising boards had a 12.10 lunch which was a bit of a worry, and there was no one there, except for a permanent restaurant boat and a smaller version of the one on the flyer that we had intended to go on. No sign of any tables and chairs or any one preparing food.

Fortunately there was a little cafe dug into the wall, so we got a coffee and sat down to wait. I did ask the owner of the cafe about the boats and she was quite positive about them leaving on time every day (at least I think that's what she said).

So we sat down and watched a young woman practising pole throwing, she was good, and then became aware of a French family next to us who we made out were also wondering about the boat and lunch.

We needn't have worried, we saw the boat we were waiting for coming down the opposite bank, it did a U-turn and tied up inbetween the two boats. So many people got off it must have had a full compliment for the morning cruise. So we waited until the crowd thinned and went down to see a Billy Connolly look-alike to ask him if this was the boat.

It turns out he is the captain and waved us up the gang plank and into the inside where there were two tables set up, both occupied, so more tables were brought in and set up. So the four tables filled up and Cap'n Connolly moved out and tied up next to the smaller boat - obviously didn't want anyone else for lunch. We had the best spot on the river for lunch, there wasn't a lot of traffic on the river, but it was a beautiful day and we were visited by 3 little ducks, which were obviously well fed (Mel was not the first to throw her rather hard bread out of the window)!

A carafe of red wine was set on the table along with a jug of water. We had two glasses so one for red and the other for.... well we had no sooner filled it with water than she came along with a bottle of white wine, just as well we were thirsty, we downed the water and accepted her kind offer of a glass of sweet white wine.

So we started off with a nice Waldorf salad, the main was a bowl of cassoulet beans, which are haricot beans cooked up forever with lardons and tasted delicious (definitely something I am going to cook when I get home ) and a crispy duck leg (yeah, if I was those ducks I wouldn't risk it for a piece of stale bread) and potatoes cooked in duck fat, sounds terrible but I've seen it on Master Chef, and the dish has a name which I forget, but not greasy or fatty at all, just very tasty. That was followed by a cheese platter, Brie, rockfort and Camembert, (oops, should have saved our bread), followed by apple tart, two scoops of ice cream and cream, then coffee. Glad we made it!

So onto the serious stuff of a trip down the Garonne, we went upstairs to select a good viewing spot, just as well, a whole bus load of what looked like a Golden Oldies day out, joined us, and Cap'n Connolly was running up and down the landing stage persuading yet more people to come on board. Dogs, prams, tourists, until I was a bit worried about the stability of the boat!

However, no worries, we moved gently downstream to the entrance to Canal de Brienne and he manoeuvred into the lock, we waited for the water to level out and the lock opened and we moved on down the canal.

There were many lovely bridges for us to go under, which was a bit of a worry for Mel and I as we were taking some great reflective shots and the sun shade roof was lowered over us as the bridges went lower and lower.

No doubt Cap'n Connolly had given us plenty of warning - but it was all in French! And I have a feeling that we may have been the butt of some French jokes which the 'golden O" found hilarious. Or maybe not, but the commentary was definitely peppered with plenty to make all the french speaking people laugh, Mel and I just looked at each other, and thought that their history can't have been taken seriously! We did have one explosive laugh together when everyone was quietly listening for the next joke, however, it was when I took a backward photo on my IPhone of the people sitting behind us....

We reached the end of the Canal de Brienne and turned round in a confluence of canals, and came back up Canal de Brienne, through the locks again and into the river Garonne.