Please be assured, our “home waters” of the Canal de Garonne remains as placid as ever; we are not at all affected by floods on the canal, even though the Rivers Garonne and Tarn are running fast, a rich brown colour with numerous floating trees going down with the flood.  In the last two weeks we have had a higher incidence of our guests joining me in the wheelhouse – this might be to do with occasional rain or it might be to do with the conviviality of the surroundings!  We are very much business as usual.

We have started to take bookings for 2014.  As usual, up to the date that I put out a revised price list I will honour our 2013 prices for next year.

This part of France is not known for its white wines.  That is not to say that quality white wine is not produced in this area – just that in general the production of white wine is a relatively new addition to the area.  The region of Cahors, so well known for its production of deep red wines from the Malbec grape, also produces some stunning whites, for example the Cuvée Cedre Blanc from Chateau du Cedre, which is 100% Viognier.  Many of the white wines that we carry on our luxury hotel barge, the Saint Louis, are in fact produced from just one variety of grape, such as the Chardonnay from Chateau Saint Louis in Fronton, and the Presteige Blanc Sec from Montels and the Tarani from Fronton, both of which are 100% Sauvignon.  However, the practice of producing wine from a blend of grape varieties is still commonplace in South West France, for example as is the case with the Jurancon Sec from Domaine Nigri (Gros Mansang, Camaralet and Lauzet) and the popular UBI (Colombard and Ugni Blanc).

I feel that one of the biggest recent revolutions in wine making in France is to be found with some of the excellent rosé wines that are now produced in South West France.   Around the world,  people tend to think of rosés as being not entirely mainstream, and the majority of guests we have on the barge admit that it is twenty or thirty years since they tasted a rosé.  We carry a number of rosés on the boat, and they are witnesses to the fact that many of the wine producers in this area are dynamic and extremely quality-focussed.  Increasingly, panels of expert judges agree with this view.  For example, we carry Inés from Fronton, which twice won gold at the International Congrés at Cannes, and Naudin from San Sardos which won gold at Paris in 2012.  My own favourite however is Foret Royale from Chateau Bellevue la Foret in Fronton, which won Gold at the SW Concours in Toulouse in 2010.

There are two alcoholic drinks produced in South West France which are not wines, but they are produced by the onward processing of wine.  The first is Armagnac.  This is a sort of brandy, but is a very different product from its highly commercial cousin called Cognac.  Armagnac is artisan produced by over 180 small-scale producers in the area around Nérac.  In spite of the producers teaming up into various marketing bodies, they are unable to exercise strong impact on the overseas trade – they are just too diverse and too small-scale.  For this reason only a small proportion of Armagnac is exported.

Whereas Armagnac is little-known around the world, Floc de Gascogne is almost unheard of.  Floc is also produced from the grape, indeed it is produced from Armagnac and unfermented grape juice.  Virtually all producers of Armagnac also produce Floc de Gascogne;  virtually none of it is exported, and in fact most of it is consumed within the area in which it is produced.  I see Floc as being one of the pearls of this region, one of the discoveries to be made by coming into the area and travelling slowly, rooting out the local customs and products.

We could not leave the subject of wine production in South West France without some discussion on sparkling wine, known as Champagne throughout the world.  The region of Champagne has taken steps to ensure that only sparkling wine from producers based within its borders can be called “Champagne”.  The story of the origin of sparkling wine is a story that is full of mystique and intrigue.  One claim is that a Benedictine monk living in the Champagne region of France, Dom Pierre Périgon, was responsible for the discovery and development of sparkling wine around the year 1682.  That may not be entirely accurate.  For a long time Gaillac had a tradition of producing sparkling wine, and it is believed that the methods of production were observed by a group of monks who were on a pilgrimage through Gaillac, and who took their secrets back to their monastery – in Champagne!    It would seem that were it not for some historical steps that occurred entirely by chance, weddings around the world would today be celebrated by opening a bottle of Gaillac from South West France, rather than a bottle of Champagne!  In any case, the Dom Pierre Périgon story is discredited by a paper published twenty years earlier in 1662 by Englishman Christopher Merret, from Winchcombe in Gloucestershire.  In this paper Merret describes and explains the phenomenon of sparkling wine production, which was being carried out in England by the bottling and secondary fermentation of white wine imported from France in casks.  It is significant that in the early days of the industry the producers were reliant on bottles manufactured in England since the French bottle industry could not make bottles that were strong enough to reliably withstand the pressures involved.  The logical result of the “industrial espionage” not actually happening back in the seventeenth century, would have been that the wine of South West France would have developed a global cachet and a fame,  instead of how it is today in which it is a part of France where wine producers are not really known about by wine buffs overseas.  Personally, I prefer it as it is – it is so exciting introducing to guests on the boat some of the hidden secrets of this area!

Our interest in the subject comes from the fact that we operate a luxury hotel barge in south west France, called the Saint Louis.  We carry nearly forty different wines, most of them award winning, all of them from the area in which we cruise.

The owner of Chateau Saint Louis - addressing guests from Hotel Barge Saint Louis!

Starting with red wines, one of our favourites from Gaillac is Cuvée du Roc, from Domaine Lamothe.  This wine is made from three grape varieties (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Braucol) and it won silver medal in Gaillac in 2011 (gold in 2008)  Many of our guests who travel to us by car pay a visit to this winery on their way home, to stock up with what had become one of their favourites on board with us.  Indeed, it is no coincidence that one of our daughters served this wine at her wedding a few years ago!

One of our nearest producers is just outside Montauban.  A delightful Belgian couple bought Le Mas des Anges just nine years ago, and they have obtained gold and silver medals at the national Chambre Artisanale ever since.  Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Tannat.

Due east from where we live and keep the boat is the wine sub-region of Fronton, and one of the leaders of the Fronton appellation is the owner of Chateau Saint Louis – the fact that the Chateau carries the same name as our barge is pure chance!  We carry his wine called L’Esprit, which is produced from Negrette and Cabernet Franc, and which won gold in the Independent Wine Producers concours in 2009.  Other superb producers in Fronton include Chateau Bellevue la Foret, producing the wine Optimum which won gold in Toulouse in 2011, and Chateau de Plaisance with their award-winning Tot Co Que Cal, made from Negrette and Syrah.  Like many producers, this Chateau produces organic wine, and they also maintain the highest quality by reducing their yield to 20 hl/ha.

At this point I am going to interject a couple of notes.  The first is that it will already be clear that wines carry a wide range of wonderful names.  For example Saint Louis – named after King Louis 9^th, and Le Mas des Anges,  which means “the estate house of the angels”.  For French scholars, Tot Co Que Cal could be confusing or even meaningless, until you know that it means “everything that you could wish for” in the language of Occitane, which was the language of this region before the French language arrived.  Some of our neighbours still speak Occitane – but not to us!

The second note involves the grape varieties.  On a recent visit to the United States we were struck by the fact that wine is sold by grape variety, and that blending is seldom carried out.  In South West France, the opposite is the case.  It is almost invariably the case that two or more grapes are used, and this is normally insisted upon by the AOC controlling bodies.  Wine is not sold by grape, it is sold by name / producer name / sub-region, and very often the grape varieties are not even mentioned on the bottle. 

To continue our journey of discovery, we come to the sub-region of Saint Sardos.  One of our favourites here is Cadis, produced from Syrah, Tannat and Cabernet Franc.  This wine has a history of winning medals in the national concours at Paris, including a silver medal in 2007.

Travelling down the valley towards Bordeaux, you come to the town and the sub-region of Buzet.  Buzet used to be part of the wine area of Bordeaux, until it declared its independence some 29 years ago.  The main producer in Buzet is the “cave  cooperative”, which handles grapes from some 1,300 hectares and about 120 producers.  Chateau Padere and Lys are two of our favourites from this cave.

No discussion of the red wines of South West France would be complete without mention of Cahors.  The city of Cahors sits astride the River Lot, and it is the Lot Valley that is the home of the Malbec grape.  This is the one exception to the “blend of two or more grapes” rule, in that 100% Malbec is to be found quite frequently.  Our favourite from Cahors is La Commandery, made from 97% Malbec and 3% Tannat.  This wine won gold medal in the 2011 World Concours of Brussels.

So much for the red wines.  In the next post, I will look at some white wines and some of the very up-and-coming rosés.  I will also provide you with some surprises in relation to sparkling wine or “Champagne”.

I would be quite confident in guessing that few if any of the wines I have mentioned are available from your local supplier (unless of course you happen to live in south west France!)  For me, this is one of the glorious things about living and operating in this area.  If you take the time and trouble to slowly explore this “hidden corner of France”, you will come across wines that are of world standard, but which are little known outside the region.  The same applies to many other aspects of this region.  It is a tourist backwater and the better for it, waiting to be discovered by the discerning voyager.

12thC statuette of the Greek god Bacchus - "god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and of ecstasy"!

To start with, Bordeaux is not part of South West France, for historical and commercial reasons that I will touch on later.  The Bordeaux wine region is like a big semi-circle, surrounded on all sides except to the Atlantic west by the wine area of South West France!  The other apparent anomoly is that the land area to the east of Toulouse, heading towards the Mediterranean, is not part of the wine region of South West France.  As you head towards the Mediterranean from Toulouse  you come to the wine region of Languedoc, as distinct from South West France.  It is important to make this distinction.  I understand that the vast majority of wine retailers in the United States sell wine from Languedoc as being from South West France, and this is entirely incorrect.

Why does this matter?  You have only to drive through the two wine regions of South West France and Languedoc to see some of the differences.  Languedoc is the largest block area of grape monoculture in Europe, and you will see huge areas of vines under one single ownership.  This is industrial scale production,  and it contrasts sharply with the family farm artisan production of South West France.  While there are some grower cooperatives,  for example in Buzet and Fronton, the average vineyard in South West France has less than 10 hectares of vines.  It is for this reason that wines that are truly from  South West France are almost unknown internationally;  the individual producers are nowhere near to having the critical mass that makes the cost and complexity of export worthwhile.

We operate a luxury hotel barge called the Saint Louis, offering cruises in the Garonne Valley, broadly speaking between Toulouse and Bordeaux.  Many of our international guests have a deep and developed interest in wine, and we are able to offer them a selection of wines that for the most part they have never heard of.  Thus, it is a journey of discovery!  We carry nearly forty wines on the boat, and needless to say we specialise in wines from the area in which we cruise – South West France.   Almost all of our wines are bought direct from the producer, and the relationships that we have developed over the years are very important.

You can think of the wine area of South West France as being a bit like a patchwork quilt, since it is sub-divided into a number of smaller growing areas.  Hence, to the east you have Gaillac, Côtes de Montauban and Fronton.  To the north there is Cahors and Duras, along the valley there are such wine areas as Saint Sardos, Côtes de Brulhois and Buzet, while to the south there are a number of areas going up into the foothills of the Pyrenees, including Béarn and of course Jurançon.  All of these areas are represented in our cellar.

It is significant to point out that, with the exception of the vineyards in the foothills of the Pyrenees,  all the individual wine areas of South West France lie in the catchment area of the River Garonne and its tributaries.  Most of the wine areas date back to the beginnings of wine in France, to Roman times, and Gaillac for example is France’s second oldest wine-growing area.  Certainly, wine was produced in these areas long before vines were grown in Bordeaux.  In the days of ox carts, water transport had a major influence on trade, and the wines of South West France, heavy in flavour and rich in tannins, were floated down the river systems to the trading port of Bordeaux.  From here they were exported throughout western Europe,  frequently under the cover names of Claret or “wine of Bordeaux”.  During the 13^th and 14^th century this trade was very significant, but then Bordeaux started to develop its own wine production, and subsequently introduced protectionist legislation in a series of laws known collectively as “police des vins”, within which the new Bordeaux wines were given marketing preference, ultimately to the extent that the wines from “up country” could not be exported until all the Bordeaux wines had been sold.  As Bordeaux increased its area of vines, this legislation had increasing effect on the traditional producers, even resulting at one time in no up-country wine being allowed through Bordeaux.

Before the construction of the railways and the canal (and later the roads),  access to river transport was crucial to any business.  The police des vins resulted in a downturn of production in the area now known as South West France.  There is no point in producing a commodity if you cannot get it to your market!

In more recent times, however, thanks to road transport, the wheel has of course turned.  There are many producers in South West France who have recognised the market for a high quality artisan product; they have identified that small scale can be a commercial advantage as long as it is combined with excellence of quality.  It is interesting to note that this surge of excellence comes from not only French producers, but also producers in this region who are of foreign origin, and we buy from vineyards owned by Scots, Irish, English, Belgian and Iranian wine makers, as well as some of the more dynamic French producers.  It is noteworthy that over 60% of the wines that we carry are silver or gold award-winning wines.  These awards are frequently gained in national or international competition, competing against other wine regions in France and against other wine producing countries.

We cannot produce an overview of the wines of South West France without the mention of two other beverages, both with their origin in fermented grapes.  Firstly, the area of Gascony is known for the production of Armagnac, a type of brandy which was known in the 14^th century and which is therefore significantly older in origin than Cognac.  Armagnac is artisan produced, and almost all producers of Armagnac also produce Floc de Gascogne.  There will be more about these liquid pearls of the region in a later post!

As an aside, it is interesting to note that the importance of the wine industry in this area is reflected in the many specialist suppliers here who serve the wine producers, and also in the presence of a highly successful barrel maker, who exports his products all over the world, including to Australia and the United States.

There is one fact that is quite surprising.  In spite of the population in this part of France having a fairly high-fat diet (particularly with the importance of duck and goose in the diet) the level of cardiovascular disease here is exceptionally low, even stated as being one of the lowest in the world.  Various authorities have attributed this to the highly tannic red wines, others to the health-giving properties of Armagnac.  Perhaps it is also due in part to the easy pace of life that is to be found here (combined, of course, with the occasional glass of something that is locally produced and good for the health!).

In Part 2 we will be looking at some of the wines themselves in more detail.

A pilgrim at Pommevic – complete with stave and scallop

For a distance of some fourteen kilometres between Moissac and Pommevic, one of the main pilgrimage routes to Santiago di Compostela passes along the tow path of the canal.  This is Christendom’s third most important place to visit, after Jerusalem and Rome, and it is certainly the most important Christian pilgrimage in the sense of a holy destination reached after a long-distance trek. 

In the early years of the 9^th century, according to tradition, a hermit monk called Pelayo was led by a star to the burial place of St James the Apostle, and his find was confirmed as being the remains of St. James by Todemito, bishop of the most westerly diocese in the Iberian peninsula.   This part of present-day Spain is the region that James chose to come and spread the Word after the death of Christ, and it was to this coast that his remains were brought in 44 A.D., after he was martyrised by Herod Agrippa.  There is no hard evidence that the remains found by Pelayo were indeed the remains of St James the Apostle, but the evidence was sufficient at the time for the Church and the State to give immediate acceptance of the claim.  Perhaps the absence of hard evidence does not matter – the fact remains that there was established at the place a shrine to St James the Apostle, and very soon a pilgrimage to the shrine developed. 

The pilgrimage to the shrine developed within the population of Iberia, and then in the year 947 the first foreign pilgrim arrived – he was the Bishop of Puy, who had travelled over the Pyrenees from France.  Between then and the fifteenth century the pilgrimage was busy, and indeed it was at its busiest in the twelfth century.   Imagine, if you can, the conditions that these pilgrims had to endure at that time, and the risks they took.  Long staves, for protection, were part of every pilgrim’s essential equipment, as was a scallop shell displayed on the body, for identification.  (The scallop shell is the emblem of St James, the “logo” of the pilgrimage, and  the French for scallop is “coquille St Jaques”  -  “St James’ shellfish”)  Many of today’s pilgrims keep the tradition going by carrying a stave and displaying a scallop shell. 

A pilgrim statuette in nearby Auvillar

I am often asked where the pilgrimage starts.  The simple answer is that there is no starting point – there are feeder routes across Europe, from Ireland in the west to Austria and Poland in the east.  Hence, the pilgrims represent a multi-cultural and a multi lingual society.  Although the pilgrimage is clearly of Christian origin, there are many people who are doing it as a classic long-distance walk with no religious connotation.  It is essentially Slow Travel! 

As part of the parallel between the pilgrimage and Slow Travel, it is interesting that one of the very first Traveller’s Guide Books was written as a guide to the pilgrimage – the Pilgrim’s Guide “Codex Calextinum was written in the 12^th century! 

It is interesting to discuss with today’s pilgrims their motives for what they are doing.  I very often hear from people that their motives, their rationale, indeed their whole way of thinking have changed along the way.  There is the classic statement “One’s pilgrimage does not end in Santiago – it begins there”.  Perhaps this is a bit like a luxury cruise on the Saint Louis, in which you have the time and the surroundings to be able to reflect on the world around you.

 Meanwhile, back at Pommevic, the pilgrims can enjoy the fact that they only have 1,200 kilometres left to go!

Two pilgrims pass the barge at Pommevic

The week-long cruises that we run on our hotel barge the Saint Louis are in south west France, largely between Toulouse and Bordeaux.  We do not normally take the barge into either of those two cities, but rather we travel gently through the unspoiled countryside along the Canal de Garonne, in an area that used to be called both Gascony and Aquitaine.  Gascony is famous for a number of things, including Armagnac, Henri de Batz who became known as d’Artagnon of The Three Musketeers fame  -  and numerous mediaeval towns and villages.

Foremost among the mediaeval masterpieces in this area is Moissac Abbey.  The date and the detail of the founding of the abbey is a matter of some conjecture, with some authorities attributing it to Clovis I (481 – 511 AD) while others attribute it to Clovis II (635 – 657 AD).  Archaeology has shown that there were already settlements in the immediate area, and remains of a Gallo-Roman hypocaust have been uncovered.   After it was founded, however, the Abbey struggled to find its position of strength in the region, and it is believed that it had severe financial problems.  That all changed in 680 AD, however, when the Abbey was given an extraordinary donation by Nizezius and his wife Ermintrude, who made over to the monastery thirty thousand hectares of land in the Garonne valley.  This gift effectively included some eighteen villages, complete with all houses, mills, churches, serfs, settlers and freemen.

The history of the Abbey during the following few hundred years is uncertain, because documentary evidence has been lost, but certainly the area in which it stands had invasions from the Saracens, the Normans and the Magyars. 

Building and re-building on the site took place almost continually, particularly after 1048 when the order was absorbed by the immensely powerful Cluny order.  A new church was built in 1063, and the present cloisters were constructed in 1100 AD. 

At this time, the scriptorium was enlarged.  Moissac Abbey is known as the City of Roman Art, partly as a result of the very considerable works produced in the scriptorium.  The monks made their own parchments, inks and paints, and the scribes copied both religious and profane texts.  Many of the originals of these works are to be found in the French National Library.

After the Hundred Years War, Moissac Abbey went into decline, and in 1466 it was separated from Cluny.  The Abbey was later secularised, and after the Revolution the religious community disappeared and the buildings were sold off. 

The Cloisters are said to be the finest in the world;  there are seventy six columns that support the cloister roof, placed alternately as single and double columns.  The columns are surmounted by carved capitols, each depicting stories from the Bible or scenes from wild life. 

Inside the Cloisters

Within the courtyard formed by the cloisters there stands a magnificent cedar of Lebanon.  The story goes that a native from this part of France travelled out to the Holy Land, where he collected a number of plant species including some of the local trees.  He returned in 1812, and one of the trees was planted in the cloisters.  Hence, we can date this particular tree quite accurately!

There was one other step in the demise of the buildings which we see today in that in 1845 the Toulouse – Bordeaux railway line was laid, and the original plan was to run the railway bang through where the cloisters are.  Fortunately that plan was eventually changed and the refectory building was demolished for the railway instead,  but the line is still very close and every passing train serves as a reminder to anyone sampling the extraordinary ambiance in the Cloisters that we are now living in a very different era from that in which the Abbey was built.

This part of France enjoys a very gentle level of tourism, quite unlike the crowded places of Paris or Carcassonne.  Moissac Abbey has been presented to the public in a very sympathetic way, and it is the busiest tourist destination in the Département, but you are unlikely to find crowds here, even in the height of the season.  South west France does not do crowds!  However, you are likely to find pilgrims in Moissac.  The ancient pilgrimage route of Santiago di Compostella passes through the town, and the pilgrims invariably visit the Abbey before making their way along the canal towpath to Pommevic, then onwards towards the Spanish border.  Only 1,200 kilometres to go from here!

Every year, during our season, guests ask what we do during the winter months.  Sometimes the question is entirely open – more often it is loaded, as if to say “you guys must have a wonderful life, only having to work for half the year!”

It is half true.  We do feel that we have a wonderful life, but not because we can put our feet up for six months of the year!  In the first place, the winter months provide us with the time to do things that we cannot do during our cruising season.  This includes all the medical appointments – teeth and eyes to be checked, overall check-ups and screenings – France is very strong on preventative medicine.  We also catch up on the social life that we have to forego during the season, part of which is to do with the walking group in our little village – last week for example we went on a 2-day trek high in the Pyrénées.  We also spend our time on all the essentials to do with the marketing of our small business – trade shows to visit, agents in other countries to meet, and back home all the booking procedures and client enquiries to handle.  Most often, the people who would like to book a cruise on our hotel barge have all sorts of questions first, and it is the way in which we respond to these questions that develops a rapport with our future guests, so that when they arrive on the boat we know them as friends already, and they know what to expect by way of hair dryers, slippers, dressing-gowns, and all the little services that we provide.  All of this information is available on our web site, but the personal contact we have with our guests before their arrival greatly helps to get the week off to a good start.

In the mountains with the walking group

There is, however, another major category of work that takes our time and energy during the winter months, and that is all to do with the maintenance of the barge.  Over the years, each winter we have tackled major works on the boat, bringing it up to a higher and higher standard.  Neither of us like the “last minute panic” style of preparing for the season, and the high level of presentation we achieve is the result of weeks and weeks of work during the winter months.

We had one adventure with the boat last autumn, when we took her to the dry dock in Toulouse.  The journey there and back was fairly routine, but this is not part of the canal system that we normally cruise and so everything was a bit unfamiliar.

We are obliged to put the boat into a dry dock every five years in order to keep our “Permit de Navigation” up to date, and to do routine cleaning and painting of the hull.  This year our surveyor had all sorts of new inspections to do, because a new set of regulations has come into force since our last docking.  I am pleased to report that we passed with flying colours!

The dry dock itself is a remarkable piece of engineering, right in the middle of Toulouse.  The facility was built at the same time as the canal, around 1670, and the covered dock that we were in is a listed building.  Originally, there were four open-air dry dock chambers and one covered one, and it is easy to imagine the bustle that was part of the scene in the days of all the working barges on the canal – it is an important part of the industrial heritage of the country.  Nowadays, only the covered dock and two open-air ones are ever used.

Open air dry dock - Hotel Barge Saint Louis behind

One of the magnificent elements of the dry dock is that no external energy is used for the docking process.  A valve is opened to fill the dock from the basin, which in turn is connected directly to the Canal; water for this comes from reservoirs in the Black Mountains and flows by gravity down the Canal du Midi.  The boat enters the dock and is moored.  Then a floating plug that forms a door to the dock is moved into position, and a big valve on the side of the dock is opened.  The water is emptied from the dry dock and the boat settles on its supports.  One fascinating element of this engineering masterpiece is that the water flowing from the dry dock is channelled down about five kilometres of brick-built vaulted tunnel, to flow into the River Garonne.

The magnificent covered dry dock - complete with magnificent barge!

Fortunately, we both like to be busy!  There never seems to be enough time to do all the things we try to do.  The winter months are busy, varied, and full of promise for the season to come.

Genuine excerpts from the visitors’ book on board the hotel barge the Saint Louis, written during our 2011 season:-

You have broadened our horizons while exciting our palates. 

Paris is fabulous but it can’t beat barging on the Saint Louis! 

Our first barge trip could not have been better. 

This was, quite simply, the best holiday we have had in 40 years  …..  food and wine of the highest quality   …   we are enormously sad to leave. 

We have marvelled at Alasdair’s expert handling of the boat and Barbara’s inspired cuisine.

“Magnifique”.  Everything  -   food, drinks, service, vehicles, tours  –  beyond expectations.

 The only way to go – on the Garonne!  A delicious experience in all respects.  You have created an island of tranquillity on your boat – at least for your guests.  A starting place towards world peace?  At the very least, the perfect vacation. 

Every trip we take is fun and enjoyable but there always seems to be a time when we say “Except for..”   That is, until this one!  Without exception the best ever. 

Hemos pasado unas fantasticas vacaciones – muchas gracias por todo. 

Wow – food, service, boat – fantastic.  Loved it. 

The food, wine and conversation could not have been better  -  wonderful. 

We have loved every minute of every day.  Our meals have been absolutely delicious and our daily tours so interesting and enjoyable. 

It was a dream from start to finish  -  words will not suffice.  Thank you – for the bestest holiday of all time. 

Awesome barge pilot, fabulous wines, breakfasts, lunches and dinners, and best of all genuine hospitality and laughter.  True magic! 

The cruise couldn’t have been better!  The food, the wines, the crew, the weather – all fabulous. 

A week on the Saint Louis was absolutely the best way to enjoy south west France  …  overall an outstanding experience.

Every year, in early August, Valence d’Agen is known for an entirely different reason.  The port is transformed into a theatrical set with a traditional village created on either side of the canal.  Tiered seating for an audience of 2,500 spectators is constructed.  Lighting and sound is installed.  Ancient carts are made ready, and ancient cars are polished.  Costumes are prepared, actors are rehearsed. Valence is ready to enchant once again. 

With our guests, we have just visited the 18^th production of Au Fil de l’Eau – une Histoire.  Each year this extraordinary spectacle is presented on eight nights in the first two weeks of August.  It could be called a son et lumière, but this would be a cruel understatement.   Au Fil de l’Eau is a story, a history, a tragedy, a comedy.  There are scenes that are poignant.  There are scenes that are gripping.  And particularly there are scenes of outstanding beauty, where the whole audience gives off a whispered “wow”.  

It is possible to simply buy tickets for the show, and to arrive shortly before nightfall to enjoy the spectacle.  Much better, though, is to take part in the pre-spectacle long-table traditional meal, and to become a real part of this extraordinary evening.  During the meal, you will be served by people dressed in costume whom you will later recognise as actors during the spectacle, and you will be entertained by accordions and barrel-organs, and by a group of workers called “the forced workers of the threshing machine” who are keen to share their jokes and their wine with you.  Outside, you will find a wide range of entertainments and exhibits.  A magnificent cart-horse is coupled up to a working cart, while the action stops so that a couple of children can have their photographs taken beside the huge animal.  A team of volunteers are working sheaves of wheat through a threshing machine.  A basket-maker is busy working his craft.  A variety of vintage cars are to be found, some of them 100 years old, being shown off by their proud (and very knowledgeable) owners.  And there is a group of Occitane dancers, entertaining the public to traditional dances from this part of France.  All this fair-ground atmosphere serves to entertain, to help pass the evening until nightfall, and to “warm up” the audience to the period of the spectacle they are about to witness. 

The action takes place on three “stages”.  There is the far side of the canal, where the main part of the village is set up.  There is the near side of the canal where scenes take place that allow the actors to take their show into the audience.  And there is the canal itself, where five separate boats are used to present different themes and actions, including the iconic scene at the beginning and the end of the spectacle, where the narrator and his three young charges glide in their punt through a laser-lit tunnel into the past or the future.

 The story-line of the show is not complex.  It is the simple story of the lives of three lads who were born locally in the late 1800’s, with the various events that highlighted their lives including the first and second world wars.  This simple theme allows all sorts of scenes to be woven into the spectacle.  For example, there is the gossip of the village women doing their washing at the canal’s edge, and there is the engagement and marriage of one of the three friends.  One favourite scene is the bustling market, where comedy comes to the fore with one actor bringing a live piglet into the audience, while another who has stolen a live chicken manages to escape into the crowd and to fool the police into arresting an innocent member of the audience. 

The opening scene is stunning.  After the initial journey of the narrator and the three boys in their punt in the tunnel of time, everything goes dark for some seconds, and when the dawn music is introduced and the overall lighting is gently increased the audience see three hundred and fifty actors arranged in groups throughout the set.  The actors are frozen, like statues.  Some ten seconds later, the music changes and all the actors come to life. 

 One of the great things about Au Fil de l’Eau is that it is such a community achievement.  All the actors are volunteers.  Even though we live an hour’s drive from Valence d’Agen, we had a great sense of belonging.  For example, in the winter months Barbara dances with the group who were doing the Occitane dancing, I knew the staff on the stand of the Donzac Conservatoire, we met in the audience a farmer who lives just a hundred yards from our house, and one of our French guests recognised that the man carrying the pig was the President of the regional tourist organisation.  As an art form, as a cultural experience, and as a way of providing real insight into the life of the past in this part of France, we will always be delighted to bring our guests on the barge to this spectacle.  In a way it is the inside knowledge of such an event that is important.  Cruises with us on the hotel barge Saint Louis become even richer when our guests discover this astonishing show.