Canal du Midi

Canal du Midi, France

We had been looking forward to exploring the countryside of southern France and experiencing some warm weather once again. The French food and wine just added to the temptations!

We met up with my mum, Anne, who was joining us for two weeks in France. We started by driving to Homps and collecting a canal boat, which would be home for 4 nights. We cruised along part of the Canal du Midi, a 205 km canal which was built in the 1640s as a major transport link across France. 

The view on our first night on the boat. 

The experience on the canal boat was both fantastic and challenging. We saw some amazing scenery along the way; explored some quaint little villages and enjoyed cycling into town each morning to buy croissants and baquettes. 

With good steering (Tony in charge) we fitted through these arches!

Most of the canal is lined with plane trees, which gives beautiful shade to the canal. A pest is unfortunately killing these trees, so the authorities are on an active renewal program, where they are systematically working their way along the canal, removing the diseased trees and planting new ones. Despite this, the views are stunning and its beautiful to cruise through the trees.  

The lock system is a marvel of technology. It took us a while to literally "learn the ropes" as we travelled through the locks. We passed through more than 20 locks during the week, travelling from Homps to Carcassone and back to Homps. Some locks were quick to traverse; others, especially the double and triple locks, had long waits - for one, we waited more than 90 minutes. The lock keepers stop working for an hour over lunch, which is a lovely French tradition of making you relax and enjoy your lunch; however it does create long queues at the locks.

These photos show some of the various jobs. Everything involved either tightening the ropes or loosening the ropes, depending on whether we were going up or down! We had a land crew and boat crew each time. Things went awry went the crew member "got bored" at their particular post; or felt "left out of the conversation" as the rest of us chatted to someone on an adjoining boat. Some funny times. 

Tony was captain. He was not allowed to wander too far otherwise things went really bad! Gemma actually was taught to drive the boat, but this only happened in short doses, as I seemed to be jinxed. On my shift, we came across a boat straddling the canal and blocking all traffic; I nearly ran into a bridge; and the children had bike troubles along the edge of the canal. It did however, give Tony a few moments of refuge from the steering wheel and allow him to admire the view - albeit temporarily!

Morning tea of coffee and croissants on the front deck each morning. Cool mornings but by lunch time, it was close to 30 degrees each day. 

One of those few times away from the steering wheel! 

Unfortunately, there is no (intentional) swimming in the canal. All the excess water and by-products go straight into that water, so its not very clean. It was rather icky just pulling ropes out of the water! There were no associated smells however, as there is still significant movement of water along the canal. 

It was a big week. A great experience but 4 nights was enough for us. Its a bit like camping: if you have the right equipment, its fantastic. If you do it as a once-off, you struggle a bit. We also compared it to our times in the RV: they got easier as we learnt more and were more prepared. We were grateful for real showers, proper toilets and a still bed by the end!

Visiting the Henges

Avebury Henge and Stonehenge

Avebury Henge

On our drive from Bristol to Southampton, we visited Avebury Henge and Stonehenge along the way. Avebury Henge is the lesser known henge, only 40 minutes from Stonehenge, free to visit,  allows you to walk amongst the stones as well as touch them. This differs to Stonehenge which costs money, requires advance bookings and keeps you quite a distance from the stones. We missed the tours at Avebury however, so didn't come away with much knowledge about the how and why of these stones. 

The grey sky tells what is coming!

Tony and I have been to Stonehenge before, but I don't recall coming away with much knowledge about it. For this visit, we got the free audio tour (I'm sure it wasn't available ten years ago!). We also knew we wouldn't be able to answer the children's questions, so we needed to hear from the experts!

Love the audio guides!

Our visit to these two locations completely frustrated Lachlan. He is such a 'facts' person and thrives on being able to recall details. There is so much unknown about the henges: how the stones came to be; how they got there and what their significance was to the people of the time. This annoyed Lach - he really wanted answers! Even after the audio, he still was coming up with his own answers and couldn't deal with how much is unknown about this history. A great insight into his character and personality also! It was a very cold and windy day and we just avoided rain at Stonehenge ... we were glad to be leaving as we watched everyone get wet!

Wandering around Bristol

Bristol, west coast of England.

Many months ago, I discovered some bike riding trails around Bristol and Bath, the two major towns towards the west of England. There are excellent paths, relatively flat land and beautiful scenery ... as well as great little pubs dotted around the place, which conveniently provide an ale or two at lunch time!

Beautiful scenery

This all sounded very promising, but there were a few hitches. We often have trouble hiring a bike for Sophie ... not many places hire bikes that are only 16" wheels. Secondly, we had requested a tow bar on our hire car, but it didn't happen ... so we couldn't keep the bikes with us for the five days, as we had hoped. Instead we opted for a few day rides.

1.7km worth of tunnel!

Our first ride was around Bath. We all got bikes, but they were poorly maintained, so riding them was hard. There is a tow path out along the canal, with a loop about 12 kms or so. We headed out and it certainly was a beautiful ride. We past many long boats, which were obviously the permanent home to many people. We had lunch and ales at "The George", which was right on the path. At one stage, we rode through a tunnel .... that was 1.7km long! Purely for cyclists and walkers! Amazing feeling, with music playing and dim lights the whole way. It came with a warning that it would take you 10 minutes to ride through it. There was a second tunnel, but only 400 m long.

But, one wrong turn and the situation can change! We got so excited by the tunnels that we just kept riding .... until it was too late. We were way past our drop off point; very close to our drop off time of 5pm; no way to keep the bikes overnight as no bike rack .... and very tired kids, as we were up to about 22kms! A minor panic resulted in a ride through traffic, through town and a rather unpleasant experience really.

Bristol is known for this really high suspension bridge!

Storm developing over the harbour

The next ride, a few days later, had to be suspended due to rain. We had to have an inside day, doing some shopping then some museums around Bristol. We went to the M Shed Museum, one of Britain's free museums, which is child friendly and based on the history of Bristol and its people. Bristol is a much more interesting town than we initially thought and the more we learn about the history, the more we like it. The Avon River runs through it and was an important port in the 1800s for getting goods to the west of England and Wales. But due to very high tides, the river height was unpredictable - so the city created a floating harbour, that is based on the same technique as a lock system. So clever! The harbour is now 200 years old and while not the big trading hub that it once was, it is still used somewhat. There is significant retail, cultural and residential development around the harbour, so it was much more interesting that we expected.

Rain jackets on all day!

We planned another ride and despite rain in the morning, we were determined to just go! We hired bikes from a great shop; but again, no bike for Sophie - so the owners went home, collected their 8 year old son's bike and lent us that for the day! What service! We ignored the black clouds, put our wet weather jackets on and set off along the Bristol to Bath railway path. This is an excellent path and we only did half the distance - from Bitten to Bath, then back again. This was a 20km ride which had the added bonus of dodging rain! Thankfully most of the rain fell just as arrived into Bath, so we headed to the nearest pub to wait it out! It was a great ride and we all really enjoyed this. Its a shame we are leaving the area tomorrow, as we've love to explore the other end of the railway path.


The Cotswolds

In between our riding days, we also had a day exploring the Cotswolds region of England, albeit briefly. The children are enjoying seeing different countryside and are fascinated by stone fences and buildings, styles, cows (don't understand this one as they do spend time on a farm regularly) hedgerows and identifying quirky pub names. They have been keen to see thatched rooves and we had hoped to see some in the Cotswolds. That didn't happen but we did have a nice day wandering around the villages of Bourton-on-the-water, Upper and Lower Slaughter and Stow. Cute little towns, but not much more to do other than wander the shops and eat! We did eat the local speciality, scones with cottled cream which were rather yummy!

From Bristol, we are heading south east, past Stonehenge and to Southampton, where we will base ourselves for four days.

Mt Tremblant - in summer

A quick trip to Mt Tremblant.

Mt Tremblant is two hours north of Montreal and was one of our favourite skiing locations during winter. We were keen to return during summer, to explore the village a little more and also explore the National Park area.

As I said in my Ottawa post, in hindsight this was too much to do in too short a time. It was a two hour drive to Mt Tremblant, and we arrived in the village at the same time as a thunderstorm, complete with thunder and lightning. We took shelter in a local cafe for a while until the worst passed. We continued further up into the National Park, where once again, we were overwhelmed by mosquitos.

It was too late to do anything other than an evening walk around our area. The scenery is magical and is the stuff that postcards are made of. With a clear sky, so many of our photos show perfect symmetry. We were camping on a large, clear, mountain lake, where we spotted deer at the water edge. The hills are covered in the greenest of pine trees, so dense that you can't see the ground at all. The mountains surrounding are very old mountains. Around 10 000 years ago, glaciers came down the mountains to create the valleys. Up high, the mountains are sheer rock faces.

It's close to perfection. 

And this again. 

The main reason we returned to Mt Tremblant was to do some canoeing. Tony had discovered some guided canoe trips which seemed something that the children could handle. They managed with ease. We paddled for 3 hours down a river, with a guide sharing her knowledge of the area. We didn't manage to see beavers unfortunately - but we did see deer and ducks. It was so peaceful and we felt so far from civilisation. We stopped along the way for swims. This river freezes during winter, but the water is not too deep so it warms quickly and was a beautiful temperature for swimming.

But ... those mosquitos! We couldn't stand outside to eat our lunch as we were all getting bitten. Poor Sophie has about 6 bites on her face along; her legs and ankles are much worse. Olivia, Lachlan and I have many, many bites ... and Tony .... got one bite! Out of all the time in Oka and here in Tremblant, he received just one bite. And it itched. Poor him.

Bertha is due to be returned tomorrow, so unfortunately we couldn't explore Tremblant much more on foot or on our bikes, much to our disappointment. As I said, a quick trip and we would have loved more time, but our time in Quebec is about to end.

Camping at Oka

Friday - drive to Oka National Park

Months ago, my friend Marie-Julie invited us to camp with her family plus two other families on this weekend, at Oka National Park. At that stage we had no plans for late June, so we eagerly accepted. Despite making a long day of driving from Baie St Paul, it was well worth it!

After a relaxed and calm morning, we left Baie St Paul mid morning. The children were all tired after a bike ride and hike on successive days, as well as very late nights. With the sun setting about 9.30pm, it is hard to get them to bed! Once we got underway, they promptly fell asleep.  The drive took us back down south, basically to Montreal. We skirted around the outside of Montreal and arrived at Oka National Park - about 6 hours of travelling. 

Marie-Julie, Julie and myself ... and a mutual love of champagne

As soon as we arrived and met the other families, we knew we were in for a great weekend. Marie-Julie and her husband Vido, Julie and her American husband Bruce (which meant another of us who spoke only English, so all communication was in English), then Manon and her husband Yann. We had nine children in total and the other six are completely bilingual - even the 4 year old! It is a marvel to watch these children switch between English and French without even thinking - their brains just know that if they are addressed in French they respond on French; also they just learn to whom they speak French and to whom they speak English - they don’t even think about it.

The other three families actually had on-site tents, which meant they had mattresses and basic kitchen equipment supplied, but not many other comforts. There was a gas cooker supplied, but no running water, no sink or no bathroom. Bertha as parked in a separate part of the campground, so our bikes proved extremely useful and moving between our site and the other families. We based ourselves in front of M-J’s site and that was were we all shared meals for the weekend. We had an awesome three days and all the families were great fun. 

Oka is a national park and is situated on the Lake of Two Mountains, right at the southern tip of Montreal island. It is a beautiful location and the closest thing resembling a beach around Montreal, which makes it very popular with day-trippers out of Montreal. This weekend is also a long weekend for many people. Canada Day falls on Tuesday, 1 July, but it is a movable public holiday - businesses and individuals can discuss when they wish to take the day off: thus many people are taking it on Monday 20 June. The campground was packed and certainly the fullest of any park we’ve seen in the last week. The “beach” resembled Bondi in popularity: but in no other way! We all had a square metre of sand and happily eavesdropped on conversations around us! The kids loved the water … the adults were a little more suspicious. It has been extremely hot and it was very warm in the middle of the day on the beach.

The campground is within the national park and there are many walking and cycling tracks around the area. It is heavily wooded … the image of Canadian woods is exactly what it is like. Great paths to run along! Unfortunately I didn’t take my phone out with me so couldn’t take any photos. Raccoons are a public nuisance … think possums when you are out camping … same thing happens and we had to put everything away each night. Even while we were sitting around the fire, raccoons came up close to explore and try to find food. We heard stories about raccoons eating anything - munching through plastic containers, managing to open sealed packets of food and even destroying toothbrushes! 

The only disadvantage to this park was the mosquitos. Mosquitos have been a problem everywhere we’ve been, but Oka was extreme. As soon as I got out of Bertha to help Tony reverse in, I was attacked - hours before dusk. Eau de repellent (it does sound impressive … roll those r’s and say with a french accent - and don’t pronounce the t at the end of repellent) was the fragrance of the weekend. It was applied as soon as we stepped out of the showers in the morning and reapplied regularly throughout the day. 

The weekend involved great food, with everyone contributing. Life revolved around eating; drinking; sitting around and relaxing; great conversations about Quebec, USA and Australia, including solutions to the medical systems of all three countries/province; children causing havoc/fun with fires; a trip to the beach; more food; more drinking … fun times. Very late nights but well worth the trip back down to Montreal to meet these great families and share the weekend with them. We hope to see them in Australia in the near (or distant) future!

From Oka, we headed into Ontario province, towards Ottawa - only about 90 minutes from Oka. 

M-J would quite like Olivia and Sophie to go to uni in Montreal ... they can live with her!

Grand Jardins National Park

Thursday - Grand Jardins National Park

The rocky outcrop behind Olivia ... that was our destination!

The area of Charlevoix is known for its rivers and mountains. Isle aux Coudres, where we went yesterday, is very much the river - its an island surrounded by the St Laurence River. So today, we decided to explore the mountains. We headed inland, climbed elevation (more 18% gradients) and soon found the landscape changing to pine trees and forest land. 

The Canadian woods ... tall, green trees!

It was a very warm day so we decided a 2 hour walk would suffice. It a steep walk and we climbed 250 metres - but the walk actually only took 90 minutes. The barren, rocky hill behind Olivia in this photo is what we climbed! The up trip was much slower than the down trip! It was beautiful scenery - probably more typical of Canadian forests that most Canadian tourism sites promote. Very green; very tall birch and pine trees and very heavily forested. We are all in a little dilemma - we are keen to see a bear but we don’t want to see a bear … particular when we are walking! This was an area for bears so there was a little trepidation! We did manage to see other wildlife however - a porcupine, hiding in a bush with all its spikes upright, showing its fear; then a thin snake, about 40 cm long - its tongue was hissing madly.