Phew! Can we exhale yet? We have been holding our breath so long hoping everything went OK with the Fêtes, that it seems strange being able to relax a little. But after the storm last night, we had a much cooler night so we were able to get some good sleep.

Before too many boats left Moissac, I walked around giving out USB drives to those I remember seeing with a camera in their hand over the weekend, so that we could assemble a central repository of photos of the Fêtes. This is in addition to the excellent Facebook Page started by Serge Ribes which has adready started to collect the “best of the best” photos and videos (www.facebook.com/groups/249220975702349).

On Monday morning there were already a few early leavers, who had booked passage up the double-locks and back to the canal, to proceed east or west. Others were getting ready to leave, such as these wheelhouse dismantlers on Pomme de Mer, with Nick and Sally giving the new owners some tips on how to reduce the air draft, in order to get under some of those low bridges on the Midi, by replacing the wooden wheelhouse roof with the canvas version.

Some were not leaving port, including Dexter II who had become a regular visitor between Kanumbra and Hilda May, hoping for a feed of his new favourite food, Lettuce.

Those barging people leaving port had to make a trip to the Studio Gallery to retrieve their Arts Expo photos since, while the Expo would continue for another week, this was their last chance to collect them and take them back on their boats.

For most of the day, we just relaxed and spent the time hanging out with friends; it was strange not having something urgent to do. Joe and Karen had gone west to return to the beaches of the Atlantic, before heading back to Zurich. During the day, I had a chat with Steve Bridges about getting replacement Helmsman’s Certificates or ICC (the RYA-issued International Certificate). He suggested that rather than getting replacements, he would be willing to help us apply for new ICCs, given our evidence of having passed the CEVNI exam and his observations of our practical barge-handling abilities over the past several years.

That evening, Rhianna used her chef’s experience to make dinner for us, which was most appreciated. It then began to rain again, but not as heavy as last night. The side-benefit of this was that we were treated to the most intense double-rainbow I have ever seen.

Given the view of it landing on the other side of the Tarn, I could see where the image of the “burning bush” might have come from.

Another side-benefit of the rain and the rainbow, was that as we walked up the quai trying to get better views of the rainbows, we bumped into Nick and Sally Gambier and they invited us up for last drinks on Pomme de Mer with several friends. This photo of us with them and the Rothery’s captured a lot of the bonhomme that had been around the port for the past week.

But my favourite picture of the evening was these two Pots of Gold sitting at the end of a rainbow. We shall remember them for a long time. They are a great couple with an interesting life story. If you get a chance to read Nick’s book “Sitra” (available on Kindle) about their adventures about building a ferro-coment boat in Zimbabwe and then sailing it around the African coast, you will see what I mean.

To top off the day, we got a great sunset view along the Tarn. Not the usual golds, yellows and pinks, but some interesting cloud formations nonetheless.