We awoke to a much cooler morning, but that was not a bother as our main task for the day was to ride to Terrie and Phil Chatfield’s house that they are renovating in Coussan, near Mermande. We had visited them last year when they were just starting the renovation, so we were keen to see how they were progressing, especially since Phil was doing most of the work himself (being an ex-builder).

Things were definitely starting to take shape, especially on the ground floor. They have retained the old un-rendered wall in what will be the kitchen, and this clearly shows the old technique of alternate layers of stones and flat tiles which is so common in this region. The signature feature of the twisted pillar in the living room will be something that clearly identifies this house as being theirs.

After a very thorough tour and discussion of renovation progress, including lessons learned in each of our own renovation projects, they invited us to lunch at Glycenes Restaurant, which is just across the road from their house. While this restaurant is far from the beaten track, there was still a good lunchtime crowd, which testifies to the good word-of-mouth publicity that they must gather in the district. The funniest thing about lunch was that while they had tried to corral their two cats in the house while we were at lunch, the absence of secure windows in the house meant that we kept being interrupted by the cats as they wandered across the road and into the restaurant, until they were securely locked in the caravan for the duration.

After lunch, we walked down to the River Garonne with Terrie and looked across to the sandy beaches on the other side of the river. This was too tempting for Rita, so all three of us were soon on our bikes and riding across to Mermande, where we soon found the beach and Rita stripped off and went for a swim. We then wandered into town and had a relaxed drink before cycling back to Coussan (where Phil had been busy working on the house all afternoon).

In the early evening, we bid farewell to the Chatfields and rode back to Forques. By this time, the sun was starting to set and creating some interesting contrasts of light and shade on the avenue of trees bordering the canal behind our mooring.

Looking 180 degrees to the west, we could see a beautiful sunset developing behind the bridge over the canal.

As we walked back to our barge from the bridge, we noticed that a crowd of locals dressed for dinner were gathering in the cafe on the edge of the canal.

Rita and I played some more petanque in a gravelled parking area on the side of the canal until darkness arrived, after which we retired to the barge to read, while listening to the sounds of music and chatter drifting up the canal from the cafe.