Thursday 11 August - Buzet mooring, cycle to Damazan, Le Penna Restaurant
Next morning we left for Buzet. We first crossed a small aquaduct over the River Baise, then through a double-lock, then on to Buzet. The first we saw in Buzet was the main port, used by a hire-boat company as their base. It was all very modern and very busy and pretty full. There was also very little shade, so we kept on going since we had heard that there was another port on the other side of town.
Little did we know at the time that this port was to play such an infamous role in our trip in a week's time!
So we puddled through this port and eventually found the second port a little further on. This one looked a little more relaxed, with no hire boats. But the only spots available in the port itself were 90degree parking, so we went on a bit further and moored by the bank, tied up to some old plane trees. Normally, they say you shouldn't tie up to trees, but this seems to be to stop you putting ropes across the towpath. In this case, the trees were on the canal side of the towpath, and it seemed to be the accepted practice for all the other boats that were there.
As it was nearly lunchtime, we walked back to the port and found the cafe that we had seen on the way through. A very relaxed lunch ensued.
Since our intention was to next go up the River Baise (through a lock located near the main Buzet port), we decided to stay here for a while and do a little exploring by bicycle. So after lunch we jumped on our bikes and headed west to the next town of Damazan. Damazan turned out to be one of our favourite towns on the entire trip. Once again it was a bastide town, which had changed hands between the French and the English many times over the past 800 years. The port on the canal was quite small but very attractive, and was not over-used because it doesn't appear as a port on many of the canal guides. The town itself was perched on a hill above the canal, with an attractive park between town and canal.
Unlike Buzet, the layout of Damazan had real character. The centre of town, which dates back to the 14th century, featured a square, in the middle of which was the Mairie (the town hall) perched above an open area used for markets and other functions. As we were to discover later, this was a very useful community space.
On this first trip to Damazan, we found a nice restaurant (La Penna) where, even though we arrived early for dinner (6pm), they were happy to let us just sit and wait while having a drink. Across the road was a park, where lots of people were playing petanque. Even the young ones were getting in some practice.
After dinner, and a nice bottle of local sec blanc, we went for a walk through the town. On the same corner, we saw two things; firstly, the quintessential French scene, with an old man in a beret, carrying a bagette, and getting into his Citroen deux chevaux. How French can you get??
We also saw a sign in a window for a house for sale in Damazan, and it turned out it was directly behind us on the Mairie square.
We cycled back to the barge at Buzet, with some thoughts running around our heads.
When we got back to Kanumbra we found a post-it note struck to our door from Stuart and Christine Barry, who own another Piper (Hilda May) that we had seen that afternoon moored in Buzet. We had first met them in April when we were in Moissac before our Vertrouwen training course. They had been away from their barge for a few weeks and had just returned that afternoon. Literally while we were still reading the note, Stuart knocked on the door and we had a quick catch-up and promised to meet again in the morning.
