Grey clouds, a few sunny spells and showers, much cooler. We went back to Agen Sud in the car to do some shopping at Carrefour as Mike needed some new oil filters for the car (5€ each there, cheaper than elsewhere). The store was busy and the petrol station had queues as they had reduced the diesel price to 1,25.9€ per litre with a 3€ reduction on shopping if you bought over 30 litres; Mike had taken the jerry cans for petrol and a large can for boat diesel so he filled the latter and added some extra to the car’s tank. We had to queue again to buy petrol as you can’t use the pump again until the last amount had been paid at the cashier’s kiosk. They had no yoghurt at Carrrefour so we called at a new Hyper Casino in Le Passage and I bought a pack, plus a boule and a book of Sudoku games. Home for a late lunch. Mike went to change the oil and filter on the ZX while I got the camera and found maps to go and look at the locks on the Lot. Once he’d changed the oil we set off across the Garonne into Aiguillon, then north through the town to Nicole where there was a canal off the Garonne which leads on to the Lot. We found it, parked the car and walked through a tunnel under the railway to get to Nicole lock.
The water level was much too far down for navigation, only about 20 cms over the cill. Mike took a few photos and we went to look at the third lock on the river, which is at Clairac (there are only four in use yet, the other is at Castelmoron, as the river has yet to be restored beyond Villeneuve-sur-Lot). We diverted up the hill to the viewpoint at la Croix du Perch de Berre, where a 15m high cross was erected in 1897 on Easter Monday. Took a few photos and went on to Clairac, crossed the river and went to look at the lock. The wide weir had no water running over it but the hydro-electric plant on the far side was running and was using a fair drop of water. Back home for a salad for dinner while we watched the news. Team GB won four gold medals at the Bejing Olympics, the most for a hundred years.