Too tight in Toulouse

Today was a very stressful day. The drive to Toulouse was good, but once in the city the blood pressure rose. We had an address in the GPS but we kept going in circles with no Europcar in site. Traffic everywhere, one way streets, gypsies trying to extract money at traffic lights. Finally Bill jumped out and found the office inside a building with no signage at all on the outside. We had to take the car up the equivalent of q spiral staircase and we were so glad to drop off those keys.

Next we found the Toulouse train station to be full of gypsies either begging or watching you very closely, we did not feel safe at all. Up and down stairs with our baggage, onto the graffiti encrusted train and off we went, heading for Castelnaudary where we are to pick up our canal boat. It went very well, the girls kept the taxi and went to buy groceries, we had a briefing about the operation of our canal boat, and off we went.

We asked where we could go to somewhere close by for the night as it was already late afternoon, and Leon told us we should not head stream as there was nothing there but nature.  Of course that is the way we went. You are allowed to pitch a stake anywhere along the bank and tie up for the night. Many people choose to tie up in towns or villages with services, but we chose a vineyard and farmland and enjoyed an evening of birdsong and the peace of the countryside.