Sunday 16 June

We want to try to get well on today.  We get up relatively early and start off a 9:00am.  We want to get to Agen which is 25 miles and 11 locks away.  The day starts fine but comfortably cool.  The bits of the canal we start on are shaded by trees.  We seem to be making good progress.  The only disappointment is that we find much nicer stopping places just along from where we spend the night.  Can't seem to get that right.

The first few locks go well.  We are finding that the worst  hazard is the rental boats being driven by people who really don't know what they are doing.  As the day goes on the sun comes up and it really gets hot.  We are also seeing a lot more traffic than yesterday.  All of it is going the other way.  Most of the locks we get to have a boat coming in the opposite direction.  That makes the journey all the slower.

We don't stop for lunch and just have sandwiches under way.  I am a bit fed up with the system.  Having set all our fenders and lines up to go in starboard side to, suddenly after about 10 locks in the system we find the next few locks have the automatic mechanism on the port side of the lock.  I try to get around this by walking around to port after tying us up at starboard, but that doesn't work at the next lock because there is no path from one side to the other and I have to scramble over grass banks.  So we bite the bullet and move all our gear to port side.

After doing 7 locks we have a very long stretch of canal to go along to get to Agen where we have four locks to get through before we get to the city.  By now it is very sunny and exceptionally hot.  The trees are no longer shading the canal.  I am beginning to feel faint with the heat.  I start dousing myself with cold water and eventually have to put on a tank top.  We are also going along this long bit with the bimini up.  It is fine at shading the front of the cockpit, but not the back which is the helming position.  We are both struggling.  We have probably tried to do more than we ought to have.

Finally we get to the Agen locks.  For the first time there is another boat going the same way as us!  We try to follow them into the lock, but firstly they don't move far enough forward, but worst, the lock mechanism and ladder are on the starboard side of this lock and of course we have changed all our gear around.  So we just give up and go back to go through the lock on our own.  We tie up to a single bollard on the shore and wait it out.  One thing is very odd.  There are a load of children (well young teenagers) diving into the water just in front of the locks.  When the first one went in we thought someone on the boat in front had fallen in.

It takes ages for the first boat to go through and then finally we are ready to go through the four locks.  These locks turn out to be killers.  We are already tired and hot and now find ourselves with the deepest locks to manoeuvre.  They are each 4-5 meters deep.  We struggle with the first two, but manage.  However we note that the current coming out is rather strong and by the third lock we come to grief.  Richard  can't keep the boat straight because of the current going in and just as we enter we go bang (really nasty noise against the stone stairs at the entrance to the lock.  Ugh, what have we done.  We just soldier on.  Finally we get to the last lock.  We have both just about had it now and Richard is very upset about bashing our nice newly polished and repaired hull.  When we get to the last lock there are loads of people around quite a few right up on the lock.  But do they offer to help and take lines?  Not likely, they just watch me, this little old lady struggle up a long muddy and slippery ladder to get to the top to take the lines and set them up.  We just seem to be some sort of entertainment for everyone.  It is just as well that this time we did everything perfectly.  Also I can now see what damage we did to the boat.  It isn't half as bad as we feared.  We just have a nice long wide scratch in the gelcoat. Well that can be a repair in Agde, or for the winter.

After the last lock we enter one of the most interesting things we will see on this trip.  It is the longest aqueduct for boats.  We are crossing over the Garonne River high up.  Really weird.  Now we are anxious to get to a mooring.  It is almost 7:00pm.  Those last locks took over 2 hours and we are still not in the town.  The approach to the city has a 3km speed limit, making everything take even longer.  We were thinking of staying on the municipal port, but when we see it there is no way we would stay there.  So we carry on.  We finally come to the commercial port and much to our relief there are pontoon berths.  So we will stay here.  It is next to a main road, but it is on a little inlet with boats all around and overlooked by a hill full of very impressive houses.

Because we are tired and upset, we have to make two tries at mooring.  At first Richard can't get me close enough to get off. Then the only cleats are ring things, awkward to use.  While we are fussing around one rental boat of 4-5 people are just watching us and not helping.  I can't believe what is going on.  Later I note that they are English.  Richard says it is just because all these people haven't a clue what to do anyway.  But we moor up fine in the end.  We find there is a toilet and shower so we both have a good long cool shower which makes us feel much better.  Then I do a BBQ for dinner.  At least that means cooking on the foredeck with our Cobb and not in the cabin making it hot.

It is now after 11 and we should be in bed, but we are still too hot.  What a difference a few hundred miles makes!