Given yesterday’s adventures with the Spaniards, we gave ourselves permission to have a late rising today at 0820h, but we were all ready for a 1000h departure as we continued east towards La Robine.

But because of hire-boat traffic, we only got one lock done before lunch, before we stopped at lock 54 for lunch, where we admired the various items of sculpture at Ognons.

Rita complained that she had been framed for this shot.

After lunch, we were expecting another lock just around the corner, but it was a phantom lock in the shape of some flood control gates. After we went through lock 55 at Pechlaurier, there were 11 boats waiting in the other direction; it was going to take a while to clear them. Since we now had a clear piece of canal, Ian took a turn at steering, and quickly got the hang of it.

But he was quick to give the wheel back to me when he saw more hireboat havoc on the canal ahead.

When we got to lock 56, we had to wait for Hotel Barge Enchante to clear the lock.

Ian and Flis took the opportunity to say hello to one of the guests on board.

I’m not sure what all the waiting boats at lock 55 would have thought when Enchante arrived and claimed priority access to the lock! As we left lock 56 at Argens, we realised that we were entering the longest stretch of the Canal du Midi without locks - 54 kms of clear water.

When we reached La Someil, all the moorings were full, as they were again at Port la Robine. It seemed that most of the boats were on full-time stationments, leaving little room for visiting boats. So we continued on past La Robine and wild moored once again, near the pine trees.

Once again, we had a bankside dinner, and then went indoors to play more card games in the form of Spoons and Gemsch. We had troubles with the rules of Gemsch, but nonetheless had a lot of fun.