We're having a cracking time slowly making our way to Castelnaudary.
Started brewing the Woodford's "Admiral's Reserve" 9/03/2011. All malt extract. No sugar needed, but quite expensive per pint. Must find more water bottles to put it all in. Lucie will just have to drink more fizzy water. It's good for her!
Pictured here ravioli stuffed with spinach, more spinach topped with shavings of goats cheese, garnish of balsamic vinaigre
Plan to syphon off into second 25 litre bucket after initial brewing is complete. It Gets rid of most of the sediment.
On 15th, I give it all a big stir. It's on the roof covered with a rug and canvas. Have now bottled it and added 1/3 of t/spoon of cane sugar per litre. Approx. I may have brewed it all too cold but next time will be warmer.
Took the van back to Meilhan followed by Bob on his super motor bike, to take me back to Caumont. Much laughter at my expense. It certainly took less time to get back, to say the least.
Me on Rob's bike having delivered the Van back to Meilhan.
The Body and Soul Brewery with about 40 pints of Munton's Heavy brewing as at 22/04/011
Locally grown asparagus topped with crushed feta cheese
Departed Caumont at 3.35pm on 21st March Monday. Weather OK, if a little cool.
First night wild-moored at the lock before Damazan. Now Lovely weather. Moon. Dinner. Wine. Walked the dogs next morning and sawed some new logs which I found in abundance. Stopped in Damazan at our normal position and went to shop in the town.
Had coffee at the road side pub whilst Lucie went to the Boucherie opposite the Casino. We love this Boucherie as much as we love the one at Meilhan.
Chris and Bob are following us up the canal on "Sassi" with my hat which I left on board! Asked them to look out for my club hammer which I left on the bank side at Damazan. They find it the next day and then moor behind us at Seringnac-sur- Garonne where we enjoy free electricity and water. We stay for a few days.
We talked about the "elastic band" driven cars now available and thought we'd look them up on the web. They are very popular in France - no licence needed. Perhaps one day.......
Reached Buzet PM. Stopped for the night opposite the Capitainerie where we paid for WiFi services and take on water. Spoke to Herman the German in his wonderful Chalk. We stay in Buzet for a few days.
Click on map below to see our journey in full clarity....
We've met a lot of new and "old" friends whilst on the move - one of the great features of cruising that we had forgotten since being mainly in Meilhan. A French couple, Alan and Danielle Poujade on "Resa" with whom we have already had lunch at the "Chicken on a Bicycle" - (PK 94, ie on the chart 94 klm from Toulouse) - a delightful converted lock house - and dinner on board their boat, later, in Moissac. Lucie gets chatting to the nice lady who owns the business and books me to play the piano on the weekend of the 21st May. on our return. They have an annual "shin- dig" then apparently. I will be playing from the roof of Body and Soul as we steam in. Subject to the weather.
Return dinner on "B'n S" tomorrow. Alan and Nicky Robinson on "Finca" at Moissac - their Linsen Sturdy - always lovely to see them again. More dinners at each other's. Another interesting couple from Australia - Tony and Rita - have just taken over "Kimasut" - a Piper Boat familiar to us with the previous owners. They are just off to take their "Boat Driving course" but we manage to get them in for a long coffee break before they went - swapping emails and blog addresses "as you do". Then at Moissac whilst in a rush to go out to dinner on "Finca", we briefly meet a lovely couple Mark and Annie on their huge barge "Anna" - have a look at their blog on www.somewhereinfrance.co.uk
We very much hope to meet them properly next time. It is indeed just a long village.!
Anna on her way through the double lock to the Tarn from the port at Moissac.
We have just bumped in to another delightful couple, NewZealanders, Keith and Lynn Milne, (On yet another Linsen Sturdy "Paprica") at the lower lock before Montech. More aperitifs and name swapping.
An English lady, Mandy, and her daughter Maher, arrive on the quay at Moissac on our second day - she's selling her own home grown asparagus - amongst other fresh veg. (cherries soon). Her email address is [email protected] for orders. Very good quality and right to your door. We wished her luck in her enterprise. We'll be buying cherries from her on our return journey, if there are any left.
View of the canal junction Montech junction
I am writing this posting whilst moored up at Moissac for a few days. It's Tuesday the 12th. April 2011. We'll be off again on Thursday morning destined for Montech. The weather, on the whole, has been very kind to us with several heat-wave type days. We're both in shorts and these conditions are ideal for brewing beer. This I must now do again because, I am ashamed to say, the first brew - The Woodfords Admiral's Reserve - has already been consumed and never reached its true potential. It went down very well never-the-less.
The Hambleton Bard's Bitter is now resting in bottles but seems flat at the moment. Will take time. It's delightfully "hoppy"
I am using water bottles, screw top, non returnable and plastic, to bottle the beer in. This is a potentially risky idea because of the danger of explosions after priming. But I am being very careful not to prime them too much and I test them every day to release any excess pressure. So far there have been no problems and I am growing in confidence using them, as they do have some advantages, not least of which are cost, convenience and hygiene. To avoid any problems if bottles burst, I am keeping all of them in black plastic dustbin bags...and regularly releasing excess CO2.
I have now bottled 28 litres of the second brew - Hambleton Bard Bitter - which is beginning to show signs of good condition in the bottle. I overdosed the water quantity by mistake but its better to have more than less -I think you'd agree! This particular kit is entirely made from dry malt extract - something I have not come across before and is therefore intriguing. One still has to add cane sugar. I'll try, this time, to let it mature to its best condition which means at least another week's wait "in bottle". It will be appreciated, I'm sure, by Brother Robert who joins us at Toulouse on the 3rd of May.
The third brew, Munton's Heavy, is also new to me though the malt extract is in the more normal liquid malt, pre-hopped form. It is happily bubbling away on the roof of "Body and Soul" as I write this posting. It seems much darker in colour and has been actually more active in the brewing vessel. The weather is kinder for brewing beer.
Together with the delights of fresh spring asparagus - I recommend a look at the following site for any further encouragement which you may need to eat the stuff -
http://www.squidoo.com/asparagushealthbenefits
We (I am!) are now drinking very pleasant Hambleton Bard's Bitter. Others seem to like it very much and I do too although I think it is a little sweet. It is also weaker than prescribed because I mismeasured the amount of liquor needed to make 22.5 litres. It's good quaffing stuff though and have had many complements. I now realise that I added the 2 lbs of sugar required after adding the rest of the liquor - I should have added it with the boiling water to invert the sugar properly. Hey ho. That's why it is sweeter than I would like. I have another pack of the stuff. It has the advantage of being quite light for postage purposes.
Solving the water filtration problem....is my next blog subject coming soon. I am in touch with a guy called Martin at Silverline who is advising me...more later but his Company's site is:
Pictures to be added soon and much more.....click on each for larger version.
From left to right, Saint Rustice, Emranchement de Montauban at Montech, Dinner at Lacourt St. Pierre, The Royal Occasion at Toulouse Pound, The Kiss, Another one. A tit nesting in the exhaust pipe of a Peniche. The stern of the Peniche.
"Crapau dans le trou" (toad in the hole). Prepared by Peter (of Aurigny) for the Royal celebration Dinner on board Aurigny. .....using Toulouse Sausages....delicious and very British for the 29th of April.