In stark contrast to the past couple of days, the week started with a beautiful morning of sunshine. We had noticed yesterday that a bunch of canoes were tied up on the other side of the river and this morning we found out why they were there, as they were fetched by a young canoeist and tied up just behind Kanumbra ready for a day of canoe hire.

After Rita’s ride to Barbaste yesterday, she suggested we do the same thing together today, which then turned into a ride to Nerac.

Along the way to Barbaste, we encountered several lavoir (wash-houses) where the women of the village would have congregated to do the washing and have a chat.

We also passed a farm where ornate weather vanes are made, and found a love interest for Oscar (our goat back home).

As we rode into Barbaste, we were greeted by a sight of the castle for which Barbaste is most well known.

We then took some back roads towards Nerac, passing through the village of Sorbat. It was a long uphill climb followed by a long downhill coast into Nerac, but the scenery made it very worthwhile. Lots of sunflowers in evidence.

We stopped for lunch in Nerac (at the canalside restaurant that we thought Mike the Chef from Marysville should have bought a few years ago), but did not do much sightseeing as we knew we would be barging to Nerac tomorrow. However we did go to the shop at the canal to ask about moorings, only to be told that they don’t handle the moorings (it sure looked like a Capitainerie!), but that we should approach the Mairie directly. So Rita rang them, to be told that there was no booking of moorings, as it was first come, first served. However, the friendly guy advised us to arrive early because tomorrow was Night Market, and spaces tended to go by mid-afternoon.

On the ride back to Lavardac, along the same route, we saw a snake on the road that had been run over by a car. From the distinctive head markings, we knew it was the same as we had seen in the lock last week. A little bit of Googling showed it to be a juvenile Western Whip Snake. They grow to be largish, harmless snakes (1.5 to 2 metres), so this little fella never got the chance to grow.

We continued our ride home through the corn and sunflower fields, past some very nice stone farmhouses.

When we got home to Lavardac, the western sun highlighted the bridge over the Baise beautifully.

It was a balmy evening, so we decided to go for a riverside walk back towards Vianne, on a track that we had seen some walkers using a couple of days ago across from our mooring in Vianne. It was a pleasant walk mostly under overhanging trees. We didn’t get all the way to Vianne because of failing light, but got as far as the old railway bridge over the Baise. Along the way we discovered a stretch of golden beach sand (no idea where that came from, but it looked natural).