Wednesday 10 August - over the Garonne Aqueduct, headed for Buzet (almost)
With the lock gate fixed a bit earlier than expected (thanks, VNF), we left Agen on Wednesday morning and headed off towards Buzet-sur-Baise. From the map below, it is quite clear why the canal is sometimes acalled the Canal Lateral de Garonne, since it really does just run parallel to the river, between the Motorway and the river. As it happened, we didn't quite get as far as Buzet, but that's what barging targets are for - to not be met, and not care too much about! We ended up mooring bankside, just to the east of the crossing of the Baise River.
The first thing we had to do on leaving Agen was to cross the aquaduct over the Garonne River. It was at this time that I fully realised how difficult it is to keep the barge in the middle of the canal and on a straight line. The whole system is basically unstable from a physics perspective! If you move off the centreline, you get sucked into whatever is now the closest wall of the canal. If you then steer off that wall, you then build up momentum which takes you towards the other wall, which you then get sucked into, and so on and so on. You end up cruising across the aqueduct like a drunken sailor! The only way I could keep a reasonably straight line is by using the bowthruster to keep the bow in the centre of the canal and then using the rudder to steer the stern away from the wall. But that bowthruster is so damned noisy, it gives the game away!
Finally, we got across the aqueduct and started our way through the set of four locks. All the same as the rest of the locks on the Garonne Canal, except there were no twisters between the locks. Once you get through the first one, the rest are prepared for you. There's no stopping or changing your mind.
After we got through the four locks at Agen, there was quite a long stretch of heavily vegegated canal without any locks, so Rita got to relax and enjoy the scenery.
We finally stopped for lunch near the little village of Au Canal in mid-afternoon. The intention was to continue into Buzet-sur-Baise that afternoon, but the bankside stop was so pleasant (despite the snake we saw swimming along the canal) that we decided to stay for the night, and instead rode our bikes ahead to explore Buzet that afternoon.
As with most towns, the first things we checked out were the church (not that we’re religious) and the cafes (not that we drink coffee - much). The church in Buzet was nice enough, but nothing really special. The cafe we visited had nice coffee and beer, and seemed to be the place where all the locals gathered later in the day. But apart from that, Buzet was not as impressive as we had thought it might be. Because it is at the junction of the canal and the Garonne and Baise Rivers, we thought it might be a particularly interesting town, but really it was just one main street. But it did have other attractions (see later).
