Ruisseau Rebenti

It was 41 degrees today - enough said! The hottest day of our trip and a world away from the cold weather we experienced in the Lake District just a few weeks ago where it was also supposed to be summer.
We left Carcassonne as early as possible trying to avoid travelling too much during the hot part of the day. But of course this is France where no really wants to work so the canal locks do not open until 9am and close again at 12 noon, before reopening again at 1pm. So really the earliest we could leave was 9am as we were close to the first lock.
Most of the morning was a pleasant temperature and not too hot as we cruised west along the Canal du Midi. Very nice scenery and and very relaxing cruising along at 8kph.
By noon the temperature was definitely rising so while the lock keepers had their lunch break we stopped and enjoyed a good break in the air conditioning inside the boat.
The afternoon was a bit of different story. It was hot, and as we passed through a number of locks and had to spend time outside we felt the heat. Carolina provided a steady stream of drinks to everyone which was very appreciated.
We had planned to stop mid-afternoon and cocoon ourselves inside the air conditioned boat, but it did not work out that way because we could not find a suitable mooring along the canal. Lots of undergrowth and trees prevented any access to the banks of the canal so we could not tie up anywhere. This went on for about 2 hours before we finally found a really nice spot with shade from the hot sun and some breeze from the surrounding paddocks. Peter had to jump off onto the bank and fight his way through some of the undergrowth to tie up to some trees, but aside from this inconvenience it was a nice spot.
After a siesta in the air conditioning to cool down we had a really nice BBQ and salad dinner and some vino on the upper outside deck area as the sun set. A very nice evening chatting and enjoying the peaceful surroundings.Læs mere