Early rise for breakfast to get away for the trip back to Cahors. Spent breakfast reading cereal boxes in French! Tried starting the engine, but the battery appeared to be flat. This was surprising, since we hadn’t left anything on overnight. We called Babou Marine in Cahors and they promised to send a mechanic in 30 minutes. Within 30 minutes, the Babou mechanic who gave us our initial instructions arrived, but couldn’t find the problem. It appeared not to be the battery, since the lights and the water pump still worked OK. Eventually after checking the battery cable connections (which I had already checked earlier), he found a loose connection on the engine itself (which had previously been taped). He made a note to fix it properly when we brought the boat back to base. So we finally got away and after 2 locks we were moored near the piscine in Cahors at 12.30pm, just in time for me to watch the second half of the Hawks-Swans game. After trailing by 10 points at ¾ time, the Hawks steamed home to win by 12 points and take the Minor Premiership – now for the finals starting next week!

After Rita had her swim, we left the mooring with the intention of returning the boat to the Port St Mary base, and then driving to Ste Cirq and then home to Moissac. But as we approached the final lock under the old Port Valente Bridge, the boat in front pulled over to moor near the La Terrasse restaurant, and so on the spur of the moment we decided to do the same and join him.

After some debate as to how much space we needed to leave at the front of the quai for the tourist barge, we tied up as far back as we could (in the end the tourist boat did not arrive that night). We then went for a walk to the old Pump House Museum on the other side of the river, then watched the sunset behind the Port Valente Bridge.

After returning to the boat, we then went for dinner at La Terrasse – a nice way to end our week on the Upper Lot.