Sailing from the Camargue to the Canal du Midi gave Ray Kershaw and friends new insights into the land of pink flamingos, white horses and a black pearl.
It’s our first night on the water. The evening is so perfect, we think they must have tailor-made it especially for us. Moored by rush-fringed vineyards, our floating home-from-home looks like a boating-brochure picture. Swollen-headed with success, its landlubber crew feels buoyant too. We managed to stop it, leap boldly ashore, hammer in stakes and vanquish a bunch of obstreperous ropes. Who was worried anyway? Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of... No! Better still! Crack open the champagne!
We are two couples of old friends – grey nomads in Aussie; roaming wrinklies in proper English – who have had half the world between us for several decades. Now we are all in the same boat. A good wheeze to rekindle old esprit de corps or a Titanic-sized disaster looming downstream? The plan had assumed the romance of an odyssey. The Canal du Rhône à Sète and the Canal du Midi: a silvery high road hemming Roman Provence’s luminous rim; ever changing horizons, unspoiled nature and wildlife, vineyards and history: no other satnav but the call of the south.
We had embarked from Saint-Gilles, buying enough at its gigantic market to feed a navy for a week. As well as pâtés and hams, and a sizable selection of France’s 700 varieties of cheese, Mont Ventoux black truffles completed our haul. Gourmet shipboard dining is not only a bargain, but which restaurant could beat our sundeck table in the velvet dusk? Tonight, the cabaret is an aerial ballet of bats. We pour more champagne. Tomorrow’s the day! For Aussies Per and Dianne, Provence is a blank canvas; Alice and I have never seen it from a boat. All we need to do now is to learn to steer straight.
Denne historien er fra January 2017-utgaven av France.
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Denne historien er fra January 2017-utgaven av France.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Paindemic In Paris
For American actor and writer Alexander Burnett, a shortage of bread at his local boulangerie was one of the biggest challenges of lockdown in his adopted home city
VEULES-LES-ROSES
Between the white cliffs of the Côte d’Albâtre and the bucolic landscapes of the Pays de Caux, discover a village that combines coast and country,
Taking the BISCUIT
France is known for its exquisite pâtisserie and extravagant gâteaux but the not-so-humble biscuit deserves recognition too
PICTURE PERFECT PISTE
After a decade away from the slopes Janet Brice finds her ski legs in val d'arly, a hidden gem in the shadow of Mount Blanc
Let there BE LIGHT
Lyon’s annual Fête des Lumières brightens up the darkest of December nights in spectacular fashion, finds David Atkinson on a winter visit to the Rhône capital
Shop ‘til YOU DROP
In the first of our new Insight guides, Helen Parkinson delights in the French shopping experience
Floating YOUR BOAT
Spending a day on the River Seine in Paris, Heidi Fuller-love samples some of the city’s top entertainment that can be enjoyed afloat
Creamy Dijon Chicken With Bacon And Spinach
Enjoy this hearty dish from Bisous & Brioche, a cookbook shot on location in Burgundy
A Moveable Feast
Philip Sweeney embarks on a voyage gourmand along the Vallée de la Gastronomie travelling from Dijon to Marseille
BOND RETOUR 7
To celebrate the return of everyone’s favourite globe-trotting British intelligence officer in No Time to Die, Helen Parkinson rounds up five of James Bond’s top cross-Channel escapades
