It became windy overnight, but it didn’t seem to disturb anyone’s sleep and we were up early for an 0830h start, trying to make up for some lost ground yesterday, as we headed to Homps.

We passed the Spaniards who were still moored in Marseillette, and hoped that we would now get away from them. But as we stopped for a lock a while later, they caught up with us again. They seemed slightly more in control today. While we were waiting at that lock we met a Newcastle/French family and had a good chat with several of them - however, the eclusier didn’t think they would fit in the lock with us and the Spaniards, so we lost contact with them.

The sculptures at lock 50 were a good example of the variety of things you see at locks.

We stopped for a canalside lunch near Puicheric, where we also bought some produce from a canalside farmer, who introduced himself, and his wares, to us while we ate lunch.

While we were there, the Spaniards arrived again and moored in front of us. They then headed into the village to get some lunch, and after lunch we also went for a walk into town.

As luck would have it, the cafe we stopped at for coffee was also the cafe where the Spaniards were having lunch. They greeted us like long-lost friends!

As we walked back to the barge, I was taken by this fresco on the side of one of the buildings, especially the "reflections in the glass" of the buildings on the other side of the road.

After we resumed cruising for the afternoon, we had a close call at Epanchoir d’Argentdouble near La Redorte with a fast Le Boat hire-boat on the inside of a sharp bend forcing us to the outside of the corner, just missing an aqueduct wall on the outside of the bend. I was waiting for the sound of the collision, but it never came.

You see some strange boats on the canal, but this was the first ferro cement boat that I had seen.

We made it to Homps for the evening, and moored on the entrance to the town. It was still windy, but the girls went to do a little shopping, and later called to say they had stopped for a drink at a local cafe and made bookings for dinner. So Ian and I wandered down and I was surprised to see Berendina still in the same place near the blue bridge as when I saw her for first time 8 years ago on that fateful day in 2010. It was like seeing an old girlfriend in the street.

We had a delightful dinner at La Peniche, and I was impressed with the modern art I created on my serviette with red wine, chocolate sauce and raspberry coulis.

When we got back to the barge, Sarah taught us all how to play a Swiss card-game Meier. It took us a while to pick it up, but along the way we had a great laugh.