Still raining, although there was a temporary respite in mid-morning, leaving us trying to decide whether to leave now or wait for the afternoon. After breakfast, it looked to be clearing, so we decided to made a run for it. Just before we left, the pompiers arrived at the port and set up their equipment for a training session, teaching the younger guys how to handle the fire hoses. As they did not look to be in great control of the hoses, we decided to depart before Kanumbra got an unexpected washing.

Got stuck in Lock 8 again, when the back gate would not close after we had tied up. VNF arrived and fixed it, so we went on with Rita and Theresa walking between the closely spaced locks, picking cherries from the over-hanging trees as they walked. After they both re-boarded, I gave the wheel to Theresa to let her get a feel for steering the barge - it all seemed to be pretty easy after a while. However at Lock 3, after taking the wheel back from Theresa, I noticed that the lock contained a large amount of floating weed (probably because this lock had not been opened for a while). As we entered the lock and passed through the weed, I found that I had virtually no reverse thrust and had great trouble stopping the boat at the front slider. Nearly went to the front gate, with Rita telling me frantically to slow down. Same thing happened at Lock 2, but this time I went in much, much slower. Handed the zapper back at Lock 1, then stopped at Lacourt St Pierre for a quick late lunch.

However, with gathering storm clouds we decided to push on to Montech for the night. Tied up in front of Barran facing the Montech 5-lock system, ready for the next day. After Rita and Thersea went into Montech for a bit of shopping, the rains arrived big time. So we settled down for an evening meal on-board, and then retired fairly early (10pm). During the night, it rained most of the time.