Today was our first day for many weeks when we had virtually nothing to do. So we took the opportunity for a sleep-in, and then caught up with some washing and shopping and updating of websites - how exciting!

As I walked around the port area, I noticed that work had commenced on a new bridge over the canal near the first upstream lock. I am not quite sure why VNF are building this bridge, since there is relatively little foot traffic in the area and it is already catered for by walking across the gates at either end of the lock. Apparently, it is because they think there will be a substantial increase in foot traffic to and from the new pontoons down on the River Tarn, but this seems like a very flimsy reason, especially given the backlog of maintenance that should be done on the actual canal, such as all the malfunctioning locks north of Toulouse that we discovered last year.

As I continued on my walk I found that our reason for coming back to Moissac, to go down to the Tarn while our VNF vignette was still valid so that Rita could catch up on her swimming, was made null and void by recent rains in the Tarn headwaters. These rains had washed down lots of mud and silt and turned the Tarn a muddy brown, as was clearly seen by comparing the water colours in the river and the adjoining lock. Oh well, I guess we’ll just continue as landlocked liveaboards for the rest of our stay in Moissac, and will not be able to use the rest of our VNF vignette.