After last night’s big concert, a late rising was in store, before we eventually got up and wandered up to the Sunday Market to catch a coffee at the Compostella Cafe with Don and Laura. We were also due to meet up with Nico and a couple of Australians who had recently bought a house in Moissac near the swing-bridge (one we looked at during our house search), and who were looking to do some renovations. However, we didn’t catch sight of them until nearly midday when we were due to return to the barge. So we had a quick coffee and arranged to meet them again when the band tour had finished and we had a bit more time.

The reason we had to return to the barge was that this afternoon was the time for the up-river cruise on the Tarn as part of the Fetes de Plaisanciers. Thirteen boats, of all shapes and sizes, had signed up for the cruise and we managed to get about half the band onto various boats for the trip (the other half will go down-river tomorrow). Since Kanumbra was scheduled to be the lead boat, we were the first to pull away from the dock on the Tarn.

But we were soon followed by others and it made a grand sight as they started to move up-river away from Moissac, led by the three Piper barges (Kanumbra, Hilda May and Ettie).

The three Pipers passed under the Cacor Aqueduct in formation,

... and then the rest of the flotilla caught up as we all passed under the railway bridge.

We continued up-river as far as we could, and then did a turn in the shadows of the chateau on the hill at Ste Livrade,

... and then started heading back down-river.

We had Doug and Lynne Walter with us on this cruise, and it was really difficult to get them to smile (-:

Finally, unfortunately, we eventually got back to port and started to moor up again. This was the first flotilla cruise I had ever been on, and it made a grand sight with all the barges and cruisers spread over the river. We look forward to doing it all again tomorrow when we go down-river.

In the late afternoon the next Fetes event, the "Big Tosser”, took place in the Uvarium Park. This was a test of accuracy and distance in tossing a mooring rope around a bollard, and twelve boats nominated their “tosser” for the event. Interestingly, all entrants used the “hallelujah” method, or a close variation, with no one electing to use the “lasso” method.

Starting at a distance of 2m, which everybody managed, they started dropping like flies at 3m and 4m. Four entrants were left for the 5m throw, which no one managed, so all four tried again. On the second attempt, only one entrant was successful, and so Steve from “Somewhere” was declared the Big Tosser of Moissac. His wife seemed to agree with this judgement (-:

From the excitement of the Big Tosser, we then all headed around the corner for the fun of the Karaoke & Curry night at Le Sunbeam Cafe. Over 120 people attended, and had a great night with the Chicken and Veggie Curries, music by Terry and Sandra Lalley and then the sweet serenades of Karaoke.

Over the course of the evening, some showed that they can sing, others showed they can dance and some just showed they can drink!

Others showed that they definitely can’t sing and should stick with their day jobs.