Quick update

We are still ashore.  A trip to the boat coincided with gales so no sailing; however, we had a car with us and had a memorable trip into the Pyrenees staying at a lovely village called Cucugnon (if I have spelt it correctly) close to 2 of the old Cathar forts.

To curb our sailing withdrawal symptoms we have now acquired a low maintenance sailing dinghy to use until we get back to sailing Mango.

Going through the tricky bits

No photos of going up a lock or through a really narrow bridge as we were always too busy. Below are photos of going into a downhill lock and the Libron sluice which is a similar width to the lock entrances.

Some pics from recent weeks

Lock on staircase near Bezier filling

Looking toward the Pyrenees after leaving Agde

Getting ready to leave Agde

Our first view of the Mediterranean

Motoring down the Herault passed Agde to get the mast raised

Typical view on the canals

Laid up for the winter, note the anchoring!

Out of the water

In a strong and increasing wind Mango was taken out of the water today.
The wind made it more tricky that it would have been as we had to
extricate ourselves from a tight berth in the process of which the bows
got blown off in the opposite direction to that which we needed to go so
we had to turn her round; but all went well and the yard did a very
professional job of getting us out of the water and on to the hard standing.
This is the 3rd southerly gale we have had since arriving in Gruissan
and like the others it looks as if it will last a couple of days. The
forecast said rain but fortunately it has not materialised as when it
rained a couple of days ago did so torrentially for 2 days. The
southerly gales seem to be related to high pressures in the Med and low
pressures crossing the atlantic rather than, as we are used to in the
UK, a low pressure system crossing us.
As a safeguard against her being moved by the gales Mango is tied down
to a huge concrete block plus some 5 and 10 ltr containers filled with
water. We have scrubbed off the hulls and found where the antifouling
got rubbed off whilst we were going through the canals. Other than the
antifouling the only damage from going through the canals is some
scrapes on the gunnels and bows so we are feeling quite pleased with
ourselves.
The air tempreature is still high so with the wind everything we wash is
drying off really quickly. When ever we feel fed up with the wind we
only have to think what it has often been like in the UK even in the
summer: windy wet and cold.
Our cruising is now on hold until next year.

In the Mediterranean

On the 20th we left the canal at last and got our mast put back up by a
very obliging yard, Port Nautic, in Grau d'Agde on the Herault. This is
only the second time we have put the mast up with the tabernacle and it
was a bit fraught as we could not get the pin in to the mast step until
we eased the shrouds and released the mast from the tabernacle, it is
all a learning curve.
The following day we woke up to next to no wind (it was blowing quite
hard the day before)and frost on deck, which is apparently quite normal
when there has been a cloudless night. We manoeuvred Mango out of the
craning area and took her down to the public quay where we fitted the
mainsail, tidied up and then left the Herault heading south.
Our destination was Gruissan and we had a lovely sail there in a gentle
westerly wind which made it a fetch. The sky was cloudless all day, the
visibility fantastic and the water warm, a great introduction to the
Mediterranean. The visibility was so good we could almost see our
destination and there were tremendous views of the mountains behind the
coast. We put out the fishing lines but had no luck despite (or because
of) seeing what looked like a small school of dolphins feeding.
We sailed in to Gruissan harbour at about 1615. Gruissan is one of the
resorts built on the coast but looks OK and looks to have a lot of
wooded hills around it. We are hoping to base Mango here, but it turns
out that we may be the wrong size to fit in the marina, too wide for a
monohull berth and too short for one of their multihull berths.
Hopefully we'll find out if there is space for us in a couple of days
The forecast is for very strong winds on Monday so we will be here until
they drop off.

Agde

We got to Agde at the weekend and have spent the last few days sorting out where we go next.  We had hoped to go in to Marseillan  in the etang de Thau as we could get there regardless of the weather, but they were full so we have requested a berth in Gruissan and arranged to get the mast put up tomorrow on the river Herault down stream from Agde.
The fly in the ointment is the weather, a front is sweeping over us tonight and there will be strong winds until Friday and it looks as if it may be unsettled after that.  Gruissan is only 18 nm from the river mouth but we really don't want our first sail after putting the mast up to be in dodgy weather!
We have liked the look of Agede, though we have not spent much time there yet as we have been cycling to Marseillan and down the Herault to investigate our options.  The old part of Agde feels very much the medieval town with narrow twisted streets and towering houses, very few of which are upright! We had a very pleasant meal on the river front.

On the way to Agde

Our next stop after Homps was La Somail. This whole stretch of canal
from Trebes has the best scenery we have seen plus it winds round
following the contours which makes it more interesting to navigate,
though trickier when one meets other boats which we are doing more
frequently now. The most spectacular view we had to date was south of
Homps: it was blue skies and clear air and we could see across the
valleys to where the foothills got bigger and the mountain ranges
started, real picture postcard stuff.
The biggest problem for us has been meeting the big barges, usually live
aboards but sometimes hotel barges, which seem more common on this
stretch of the canal. Although we have right of way (we are going
downstream) we usually opt to kill our speed and dive to the bank rather
than risk too close an encounter as these things weigh 60 tons or more.
Because of their size these barges also have to go slowly and occupy all
of a lock so if you get behind one you are badly slowed, this happened
to us as we left Homps and lost us nearly half a day we reckon.
Unfortunately I got a mild upset stomach whilst we were in Homps and so
we have decided to go via Agde rather than via Narbonne to the sea as
that way we do not have to do any locks for 54 km and avoid the worry of
the very low bridge at Narbonne and getting across the Aude. The
downside of going via Agde is that it means at least 1 extra day in the
canal before we get into the Med.
We had a walk around La Somail and it is as attractive as we remembered
it, though with an even bigger fleet of hire boats so it is best visited
mid week when they are all else where.
Tonight we are in Poilhes having stopped early for the day, another
small, old, attractive town on a hill side with basic shops and a
peaceful atmosphere rather spoilt by the very noisy female ducks who
have being a recurring feature of our stops since Castlenaudray.