Saturday 7 July - on to Agen, moored near Vertrouwen, Em and Rhi off to Italy

Up at 7am to fix the impeller while the engine room was cool. Googled for some info first, but didn't really find any more than what was in the printed manual. Removed the cover plate (lucky I bought the spanners before I left Moissac) but all looked structurally OK. Looked very dry as if no water had gone through for a while. Maybe a blockage in the inlet pipe or valve. Will get Iain to check when we return to Moissac. Headed for Agen at 10.30am. Pretty straightforward trip, arriving at 2.40pm. Sunny and getting hot. Tied up on north bank of basin, three boats down from Vertrouwen.

After lunch, we went up to check whether Jerry was on board Vertrouwen. Spoke with John, who said that Jerry had left in late May and would return on 15 August to run some more courses. Rita and I had an idea that maybe they could refer their students to Noble Marine to get their ICC, and we decided to raise the matter with Jerry. Rain storm came over Agen around 7pm, so we stayed on board for dinner and planned to have a short walk around Agen on our way to the train station later that night. Rain didn't let up till 10.45pm so the girls saw nothing of Agen, but at least they didn't get soaked getting to the train. Saw them off at 11.10pm, as they headed off to Italy for the next week or so.