Thursday 17th July 2008 Valence d’Agen C de Garonne

< Wooden scenery for pageant.
Hot and sunny morning, clouding over by mid-afternoon so cooler later. We had made an early lunch before going shopping. Zambezi arrived, winded, and moored on the quay (Michel’s péniche Henri had been moved off the quay ready for the pageant - he was now at the upstream end of the moorings, and on the bottom mostly) Shebah-Mike and Roy said Zambezi was owned by the council (department probably) and was taking kids on holiday on the canal. They said that Michel had had a big row with the French residents when he plugged Henri into the electricity supply next to them and kept cutting their power off. Mike discovered another problem with our car as we were setting off. The front left hand gaiter had a split in it and was leaking grease. Feu Vert did it again! Their grease monkeys must have caught it when they changed the shock absorbers. He cleaned up most of the mess then we went shopping in Agen Sud. The port was gradually being cut off from the “show” area, where they had erected a very large sloping bank of seating with white board panels all around it, the gate across the road through the port had a wheel on the end of it so it could be opened and closed. We went via the scenic route into Agen Sud. First to Carrefour for groceries. The place was quiet, considering they still had a 50% sale on, but most of the customers seemed to be fairly affluent looking Dutch tourists. 
Next stop Casto. Bought some tubing and a can of aerosol foam to fill the deflated fender. Then Citroën. Mike went in and bought two gaiters, two different models as he wasn’t sure which ours was - bring the other one back for a refund, the guy said. When he paid for them he noticed that one was 29€ while the other was 49€, he asked why the difference in price as they were almost identical and was told it was the price from the manufacturers. He ordered a new hand-brake cable. Back via the scenic route. Shebah-Mike said the electric had been off while we were out but they’d just got it back on; he said it was probably the air-conditioning on péniches Zambezi and Henri. I put the groceries away and Mike went up into town to get the two new drive belts from the auto spares shop which he had ordered the day before. They cost 17€ each! Ouch!

Wednesday 16th July 2008 Moissac to Valence d’Agen C.de Garonne

Hot and sunny; lovely cool and breezy start to the morning. Set off around nine to get to the first lock just after opening time. To our great surprise the hire boat we’d shared locks with the day before was moored only 500m  further down the cut! Only one crew member was on deck so Mike said Güten Tag! to the large elderly bearded bloke (who kept threading half a mile of rope round the vertical sliders from their stern the day before) – he said “Good Morning” in reply! We carried on down to lock 26, Espagnette, passing a pilgrim - shell on his knapsack, rosary in hand, striding down the towpath following the Grand Randonée which is also the route to St Jacques de Compostella in northern Spain. No one around at the lock house, and no sign of the hire boat, so I pressed the green button and we dropped down ropeless, comme normal. We overtook the pilgrim again on the 3.8 kms pound. His route crossed over the canal and continued up the hill to Boudou (a village with a superb vantage point to look out over the junction of the Tarn and Garonne). We ran down to Petit Bézy, lock 27, with glimpses of the Tarn through the trees to our left and dropped down the lock as before. The next pound was a long one, 6 kms, past Malause where Steve and Kit’s Dutch Barge Vrouwe Jeanette was still moored, plus two more replica Dutch barges and a British cruiser. An old Bermuda cruiser went past heading uphill. We went down lock 28, Braguel, leaving the bottom at 11.00 a.m. A short pound of 1.5 kms down to the next lock, Pommevic 29. A cruiser we’d just passed started untying. A Locaboat was coming up in the lock so we had to wait and it took them ages to get through the lock, over twenty minutes. A woman on board the hire boat was taking off her white gloves as they passed by. The cruiser made no signs of following us into the lock, so I pressed the green button and we carried on down. They followed down to the turn pole as we left the lock. 1.9 kms down to Valence lock 30. A private cruiser was coming up in the lock so we waited, stooging around above the lock. Mike spotted there was a young girl in the lock office alongside the lock house, she came out as I pressed the button and scowled as she went across the lock gates to the VNF yard on the other side. The scowl may have been because perhaps I did her job, pressing the button, or not having two ropes on (I dropped the centre rope round a bollard) or possibly the fact that there was a cruiser following us - she wasn’t to know that they had declined to lock with us. At least the VNF staff couldn’t insist that we locked together due to water shortages, water had been pouring over lock gates and weirs all the way down the canal as usual as it’s fed by the Garonne in Toulouse. We carried on into Valence and tied in the space where Rosy had been moore all winter. Mike missed the space first, the flow and flush from the lock carried him slightly too far and he had to run back a bit and turn in from down hill to get into the gap. Roy (the Canadian-Dutchman half of the Odd Couple) came over to help tie up, except he grabbed the bow rope and pulled on it which squashed and burst a nearly new side fender. It was midday so Mike hopped off and went to get some bread for lunch before the boulangerie closed while I put ropes on where I wanted - not where Roy had put them! When Mike returned he decided that mooring next to a rotting hulk was not such a good idea and we moved back to the space next to it, where we’d been moored all winter. Tied the bows tight and then slung our long green rope over the top of the hulk and a British guy on an ex-Connoisseur moored in the next bay gave us a hand to get the rope around the stern of the hulk and I tied it on the bar at the end of the next finger pontoon between his boat and the hulk. I made some sandwiches for lunch while Mike changed the plug on the end of the electricity cable and plugged in. We put the satellite dish up - it refused to work, I tried turning it but also got no signal; then Mike remembered he’d altered the elevation the night before, he altered it back and then it worked OK. He went up into town again to order two new alternator drive belts from the auto shop, (they would be there the following day). Work was going on apace by Valence council workers erecting the stage props on the far bank of the canal and the seating on our side. It was hot; we both had a siesta.

Tuesday 15th July 2008 Lacourt-St-Pierre to Moissac Canal de Garonne.

 Sunny and hot again; nice cool breezy start to the day. We set off at 9.30 a.m. winded and ran back down the arm towards Montech. The campsite by the junction was almost empty, just a few campervans and tents. Turned right and ran into Montech lock 11, which was full with the gates open. We’d only been there a couple of minutes when a guy on a moped arrived with a big box under his arm - surveys - he gave us one to fill in and hand back to the VNF, or post back to Toulouse. He emptied the lock and, as was becoming normal on keeper operated locks here, we sat for five minutes with the gates “cracked” before he pressed the button to open them. On down the short pound to lock 12 Peyrets, filling in the questionnaire. The man on a moped worked the lock for us. A very young lady worked Pellaborle 13 and rode down to 14 Escudiès on her bike. The old chap came down on his moped to help as the gate wasn’t shutting properly and she kept opening and shutting it. He went on down to the bottom lock and back while we were dropping down Escudiès. Into the last lock, 15, Pommiès, and another young girl worked the lock for us. We left the bottom at 11.05 a.m. the five locks having taken just an hour. 2.7 kms to Escatalens 16, the first of three automated locks. Mike had noticed first thing that the alternator drive belt was falling to bits, several of the “teeth” had fallen off, so he had to change it. We moored above lock 16 while he did it, meanwhile I cleaned the ventilator fans and cooked some bacon for lunch. Péniche hotel boat Zambezi went past heading downhill and a little later a British (and Dutch) flagged cruiser also went downhill. We let them clear the lock then followed on down Escatalens at 12.50 p.m. The cruiser had moored just below the lock and a hire boat (a Nautic from Agde) was moored a further 200m down the canal, but pointing uphill. We carried on down to lock 17, St Martin, then 3.4 kms to lock 18, Prades. A Locaboat came up, we went down and into Castelsarrasin. A large cruiser was being hoisted by his bows by the crane at the boatyard. Zambezi was moored alongside several cruisers before the port, which was half empty. A large Connoisseur hire boat from Castelmoron on the Lot, flying an Austrian flag, appeared from nowhere and went into lock 19, Castelsarrasin, and we followed it. A young man pressed the buttons to work the lock. The lad cycled down to lock 20 St Jean-des-Vignes to work it for us. Lock 21 Verriès was full with gates open, the keeper returned on his bike as we arrived - an older guy in his 20s - he had to get the hire boat to move further down the lock chamber so we could get in (and miss the cill when he emptied the lock). They didn’t seem to be very keen on going further forward, but there was plenty of space in front of them and another bollard for their bow rope. A short pound to lock 22 Artel and the same keeper cycled down to work the lock for us. The bollards were better spaced again so we didn’t have to move the hire boat. 2.4 kms down into Moissac. We crossed the aqueduct over the Tarn and into lock 23 Cacor. Another very young lady worked the lock and kept opening and shutting the gates and trying to force the gates together before opening the bottom end paddles - Mike told her the water would fully close them! We have seen people in Britain crossing back and forth across the lock several times in order to try to get both gates fully closed. As the one gate shuts it opens the other a little so over to the other side to close the one that’s just opened and so on! The girl cycled down to lock 24 Gregonne and we followed the hire boat into the lock. The last of the manned locks was 25 Moissac. Another old chap was on the lock side with another box full of survey forms; thanks, but we had already got one from Montech! Another little girl worked the lock. A hire boat was waiting below to go up the lock so we had to wait until she’d locked him uphill before she cycled through the town to open the swing bridge for us. We waited in the shade under the main road bridge, the Austrians sat in the full sun between the baking hot high brick walls that enclose the canal through Moissac. We were surprised that they hadn’t tied up in the port de plaisance. The mooring I said I had seen alongside the road was just beyond a cement works next to the road. We stopped at 5.00 p.m. and the hire boat carried on. Perhaps they were carrying on to Valence, we thought. There were three blokes on the seats at the top of the bank by the road, but they looked harmless enough and there were no bottles of booze in sight. It was deep enough, we only had to knock a peg in for the bows as there was a bollard for the stern and then cut down some long strands of briar. The three men who had been sitting on the benches under the trees at the top of the bank went away around 6.30 p.m.

Monday 14th July 2008 Lacourt-St-Pierre Bastille Day

Sunny and hot. The three French cruisers went off down to Montauban, and there was us thinking the canals were all closed today! Glad they’d gone as I wanted to do some more washing and wouldn’t risk overloading the electricity circuits while they were there. Mike loaded the moped back in the car and took it to Valence. He came back twenty minutes later as he’d picked up a loaf in Moissac rather than take it to Valence and have to come back on the moped with it. I got on with the chores. The replacement sockets for his toolkit had arrived, sent by Paul’s friend Ron, to replace the ones broken when Mike helped Paul to repair his engine. Ron’d forgotten to add France to the end of the address so the parcel had been via Lisbon (Portugal) after someone had written Spain on the packet! Mike had a cup of coffee with Sheba-Mike and a chat. His mate Roy had gone off on his travels again in his campervan. Sheba-Mike had been transferring his Betamax tapes on to DVD; the colour was deteriorating, but that was a problem with the age of the tapes not the machine. Valence’s pageant was due to start at the beginning of August, it would be very noisy for an hour and a half every night for a week he said! The mooring space we’d vacated at Valence was still free as it was too narrow for anything wider than a narrowboat. I’d just finished eating my lunch and was reading my book when he returned on the moped. Later, around 11.00 p.m. we could hear distant Bastille Day celebration fireworks from the direction of Montauban, but we couldn’t see them.

Sunday 13th July 2008 Lacourt-St-Pierre

Grey, but dry, a few sunny spells. We had a Sunday morning lie in. Mike said there was a large crowd of people on the car park, later there were lots of cars parked there. Mike’s Dad rang and while we were talking several boats arrived and filled the moorings, plus a couple of hire boats moored beyond the bridge. Later the hire boats set off back to Montech, but the three French private cruisers remained on the quay. 

Saturday 12th July 2008 Lacourt-St-Pierre

Dismal day, cooler with grey clouds and lots of light showers. Mike went to move the car. As we were getting ready to move the moped off the roof the skipper off the Dutch Barge strolled over for a chat. His wife had had a nasty tumble on their boat a couple of days before and had the most amazing psychedelic blue, yellow and purple bruises down both legs and one arm, plus a big scab on one knee. They were due back home on Saturday. They winded and went off back towards Montech as we lifted the moped off the roof. Mike set off at 10.30 a.m. to get the car. He said he didn’t need a jacket so he just wore his fleece. It was still wet when he returned with the car at 2.00 p.m. (It started raining minutes after he left) After lunch we went to the Intermarché in Montech in the car to get a few groceries to tide us over the long weekend (Bank Holiday on Monday – Bastille Day) No one came for the mooring fees again - that’s two nights. 

Friday 11th July 2008 St Jory to Lacourt-St-Pierre Canal de Garonne

Hot and sunny morning, breezy, clouding over mid morning. Sultry, we had a thunderstorm later. We set off at about the same time as Grand Duchy. They told us they were going to Toulouse to leave their boat there for a month to go back to the UK, then they were coming back to explore the Baïse. Might see them later. The cruiser had set off earlier, winded and was heading downhill, same way as us. We carried on downhill to lock 6 l’Hers, with an aqueduct over the river of the same name just above the lock. No signs of life at the lock, we were back to keeper operated electric (we thought that maybe there was one keeper for the two locks and he’d gone off to the second lock with the cruiser) so Mike gave a couple of hoots as we slung a rope round a bollard on the quay above the lock. A young man with a baby in arms came out and pressed the button to fill the lock and a young lady came out to take over and work the lock for us, so there was a resident keeper on duty. The controls for the lock were at the base of a 2.5m high panel which caused the young lady to have to squat to hold down the levers.  800m to the next lock N° 8, Castelnau. A very chatty young student lad pressed the buttons. As we left the lock a British replica Dutch barge arrived below the lock so when the keeper started closing the gates we all yelled “il y a un montant!” (one to come up!) He reopened the gates and they carried on in. Bill sent a text to ask for Paul’s ‘phone number and we asked where he was – Rosy was just approaching Carcassonne. It was 3.2 kms to lock 9, Emballens, also operated by a keeper. As this one was operated by an older bloke I asked why the locks were keeper operated. He said that quite simply the VNF ran out of money and never finished the project. It was 10.30 a.m. as we set off on the long pound, 18.5 kms to Lavache. At eleven we passed through Grisolles. A replica Dutch barge and a cruiser (both British) were moored there, surrounded by fishermen. No signs of life, they must have gone early to find the well-recommended restaurant. The crew of Grand Duchy said there was water at Grisolles, but we looked and couldn’t see a tap. A purple heron flew off in front, landed and flew off again to land again a few dozens of metres in front. The lock at Lavache was automatic, (we’d forgotten), so we went down it five minutes before the end of lunch break time. A VNF man came out of the house and asked if we were continuing down Montech. We told him we were going to Lacourt-St-Pierre for a few days. The moorings at Montech were more or less full; we’re too long for their end-on moorings anyway - the one end was for the trip boat (we’d just seen that above Lavache) and the other end was occupied by another British steel boat. The crew of the latter spoke to us from their aft deck as we went past. Turned right on to the Montauban arm and ran down the 4 kms to Lacourt. The mooring was empty so we had our choice of which end to moor so we tied up at the upstream end as before, connected the electricity and started some washing. I said it would be a good idea to switch off the hot water supply as it seemed to be using hot water to rinse the clothes too. Mike did. Then the machine didn’t want to work. He pulled the machine out from under the work top to check the water controlling solenoids, then he spotted that he’d reversed the pipes, connected the hot pipe to the cold input. Italian for cold is freddo and hot is calda! Rats! He’d done that during the winter at Valence, which didn’t matter as all the water was cold then. Swapped the pipes over and the washing continued working OK. At 4.45 p.m. the British Dutch Barge arrived and occupied the remaining length of quay. Mike went out to lend a hand with ropes as it was shallow (we were on the bottom) but the crew said they were OK. A distant thunderstorm took the last fifteen minutes of Corrie off so we watched the re-run on ITV2 later at 1.00 a.m.