We were up at 0800h, and away by 0920h. As we prepared to exit the Gardouch lock, the Pontoon Hog was still moored at the waiting pontoon at 0935h.

On our way to Castelnaudary today, the first lock was at the low bridge at Pont Renneville (3.48m).

Technically we could have got through at that height, but only if we stayed in the centre of the bridge span. So, as a precaution, we decided to lower the bimini, not only for this bridge but for many others to follow on the Midi.

When Rita went up to the lock to prepare for our arrival, she encountered an unusual situation, where a Locaboat with a young Australian family with kids was hung-up on the edge of the lock. When she arrived, they were all on board and couldn’t understand why their boat was developing a significant sideways tilt (since they couldn’t see the cause of the problem, which was the lower rubber fender strip overlapping the edge of the quai, as a result of the water in the lock being so high). Quick thinking by Rita saw her press the red button to stop the locking process, and then call the VNF for assistance. They arrived fairly quickly, reversed the process to put water back into the lock, which lifted the boat off the quai, then pushed the boat further out into the lock as they started to lower the water again.

A couple of weeks later we saw video of the same problem with the same type of boat at the same lock (thanks, Jo Bridges), but no one pressed the red button. As a result, the boat continue to fall and the tilt became extreme, until the boat eventually fell off the edge of the lock, and then rocked back dangerously, especially for those people standing up top on the deck looking over the edge to see what the problem was (which they wouldn’t have been able to see). Luckily, no one was thrown into the water, which would have been disasterous as the boat moved back towards the quai. Locaboat should advise all newbies hiring this type of boat to be aware of this problem at this lock (or any downhill lock with a high water level).

We just missed Lock 15 at Encassan at lunchtime again, so we stopped for lunch ourselves, which was a bit longer than expected as the eclusier left at 1155h and didn’t return till 1315h.

After lunch, we passed Port Lauragais and approached the Ecluse Ocean which is the last of the uphill locks. This stretch of the Midi is one of our favourite locations on the Midi, with its overhanging trees and secluded atmosphere.

It’s all downhill from here, as we passed the summit at Naurouze and started heading down to the Med. We had thought about stopping at Poterie NOT, but since we were running a little late we decided not to stop.

We made good time through the remaining locks, and arrived at Castelnaudary at 1800, just as the first spits of rain arrived. We got a mooring outside the Capitainerie, and got a good picture of us just beating the storm into port (thanks Odile, on both counts).

Given that we were in Castelnaudary, and it looked like raining, we decided to have dinner again at Maison de Cassoulet (see here for our experiences last year). The cassoulet was just as good, but this year there was no rain while we were out; but the thunderstorm arrived late at night.