Saturday 6 August - in tandem with Amarok to Agen

After a bit of a sleep-in to recover from the previous evening, we decided to head off in convoy with Amarok/Accord for the next stopover. Dick and Carol were picking up some friends from the Agen train station in a few days, so it seemed to make sense to head for there. We would also be dropping Frank off at Agen on the following Monday to take the train back to Bern. Our route therefore was from Valence d'Agen via Golfech and eventually to Agen.
Given that one of the people that Dick and Carol were picking up from Agen was an ex-nuclear engineer, it was only fitting that as we left Valence d'Agen, the next town we passed through was Golfech, which contained the local nuclear power station. It all looked so peaceful in this idyllic rural setting. We were to get an even better picture on our return trip to Moissac in few weeks time.
Since we were going in convoy with Amarok/Accord, we thought it would be useful to get some practice (and save some time) by double-locking along the way. That is, put both boats in the one lock to save time waiting for a second cycle of the locking process and also to save water (by only having to fill and empty the lock once). This is a common practice during periods of water shortage in the canals, so we thought we should practice it under friendly conditions with someone we knew. It all worked well, and we proved that two Pipers could easily fit in one lock!
On the way into Agen, a strong storm blew up and the cross-winds were making it difficult to keep Kanumbra in a straight-line down the middle of the canal. Dick was obviously having the same problem ahead of us in Accord, so rather than attempt the final narrow bridge into the Agen harbour, we pulled over and tied up temporarily to the railings of the road that ran beside the canal until the storm blew over.
On reaching Agen, we found that the port was full of hire-boats, but since we needed neither electricity nor water, we decided to moor by the bank on the other side of the basin in a nice residential area. This turned out to be a very nice spot and much quieter than the port moorings which were much closer to a busy road (especially busy in the morning peak period).
As we sat on the rear deck that evening looking over the still waters of the basin to the city of Agen, my mind kept hearing the sounds of the Beatles singing "When I'm 64". Which was prabably because my brother Bernie would have been 64 today, if he hadn't died suddently two years ago.