The good ship 48

Today was all about a train ride north to Castelnaudry to meet up with our boat for the next week. We were also supposed to meet up with our crewmates, Jane and Peter, but they missed their plane and so won’t get in until after midnight.

Getting the boat – somewhat boringly named 48 – involved getting a licence, signing lots of paper, and receiving an absolute ton of information on how to navigate the canals and operate the boat.

I have to admit I had been relying on Peter, who’s an experienced sailor, to take a lot of this in and shrug while muttering “yeah just like normal”. Instead I’m nodding while trying to memorise the ordern in which various little lights should come on. (That said this was an enormously better briefing than our last canal boat which involved a two-minute briefing and me promptly ramming someone else). I have now driven round in a circle and reverse parked the boat without hitting anything.

Once briefed, we made a trip to the local supermarket and a cheese shop. Our fridge now has wine and cheese (and fresh milk) and we have many litres of drinkable water.

We are not going anywhere tonight in the 48. There is a gale-force wind which makes navigation tricky. Also there are four locks to navigate within five minutes of starting out and the lovely Frenchman briefing us offered to help us through them in the morning. And, of course, we can’t be wandering down canals without Jane and Peter. So we’ll set sail tomorrow.