Cold night, sunny spells but mainly grey clouds. Only 16°C when we set off at 9.40 a.m. Before we left Mike cleaned part of the roof using the mop as it was running with condensation. We dropped down Auvignon’s shallow lock, it was automatic and back to the new press button system. No one around so we dropped down ropeless. I carried on cleaning the roof off as it was filthy from tree sap and leaves, etc. I sat out with a cuppa to steer while Mike went in the cabin to check that the new section of pipe in the loo had stopped the leak. It had. The autoroute was close by the canal, traffic making a din and the cyclists had woken up and were bombing up and down the towpath. There were no boats about for the first couple of hours which was nice after the madness of the rushing hordes of the previous evening. 
The first boat we met was a large Loca going so slowly we couldn’t decide if it was tied up or not. A VNF van went flying past us down the towpath as we approached the first of the two locks after the aqueduct over the Baïse. Two hire boats were coming up in 39 Baïse. I turned the pole and hopped off on the aqueduct to take photos of the Baïse. There were two boats on the river, a little day boat from Buzet and a hire boat. Mike took the boat into the lock and I walked down the path to turn the lever (back to the old system again!) waited until the paddles went up, turned the lever again then stepped back on the boat. There were more boats coming up in lock 40 Larderet, which was a very short distance below 39. A France Fluvial and Locaboat went past and we went into lock 39. I turned the lever and waited just a little too long –
all four paddles had gone up at once and the boat had gone down too far for me to step on the gunwale so I went down the nicely equipped stairs at the tail end of the lock and got back on board as the boat came out. A big blue Moissac hire boat was heading for lock 40, which still had a red light. Mike asked if they’d turned the pole, the American crew said yes, but when Mike said did you get a flashing orange light they said no (which meant they hadn’t turned it hard enough to make it click) he said we’d turn the pole again for them, which we did - that saved them reversing back to it. The light immediately changed from red to green. Back into the jungle. There was a steep 30 foot high bank on the left and so overgrown the towpath looked impassable; the Baïse was close to the right of the canal.
The cycle path must be at the top of the bank or beyond the trees. Ten minutes later we passed a large French cruiser called Fitzcaraldo from Martigues, we’d seen that one before but ages ago. We almost collected the rods of two fishermen who were well hidden in the herbage on the right bank. There was a road back of the trees, so the canal wasn’t as isolated as we’d thought. I took photos of the lock on to the Baïse as we came to Buzet. There was a hire boat coming into the empty lock to come up off the river. The moorings at Buzet were mostly full, no spaces our size anyway. The quay by the restaurant was also pretty well full - we could have squeezed on to the end in front of River Holme (a big British cruiser) with our bows overhanging the grassy bank, but didn’t feel so inclined.
The old wooden landing we tied to last time we were there was double moored on both sides by permanently moored private boats. A shortened houseboat péniche called Jeremy was moored (permanently by the look of the quant poles and electricity meter) a bit beyond the basins where a double line of plane trees started. No TV if we’d stayed there. It started to rain. Brolly up and I closed the doors. At 12.15 p.m. I made a cup of soup to warm us up as it was getting damp and decidedly chilly. At 1.00 p.m. we winded and tied on the quay at Damazan at the Nautic hire base (surprised there was enough space). A few minutes later a Loca almost crashed into our bows as it came in to fill the gap. The guy in charge returned from a liquid lunch (breathing fumes to knock you over) and said, very pleasantly, that we had to moor stern to the bank. We said we couldn’t do that as the stern was round and the boat was too long to do that without having something to tie to (there were no pontoons) so we said we’d moor on the far bank. Hotel boat Mirabelle was moored for lunch on the opposite bank, plugged into a special electricity supply in the wall. They guy at the port was very pleasant and asked if we needed water, nope not yet thanks. We tied to the tree roots opposite the private boats at the end of the quay. I cooked some hamburgers and onions for lunch. Mike decided the weather was too grim for a ride on the moped, he’d fetch the car the following day and went up into the town to find the boulangerie and take some photos, then came back for some money and went again to buy a loaf! Two British wide beamed narrowboats moored on the stumps behind us, which had notices saying that they were for the use of the hotel boat Mirabelle only (it had only just left) and any boats found moored there would be fined! French TV was non existent without resorting to putting our other satellite dish up. Later Mike set our gennie up so we could both use our PCs.
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