In the morning, I finished the boat preparations for the winter by swapping the good ropes for the older mooring ropes (which are much better for winter mooring), and tieing down the front and back of the bimini (to prevent it being blown off again this winter - we hope). I then went round and turned off all the non-essential electrics. We had already arranged for Iain Noble (the previous port capitain) to winterise the barge when he returns to Moissac from Dominica next month.

I then finished my packing and prepared to leave Moissac for 2016 (Rita will stay on for a few more days with Jackie, until she then goes to be with her Mum in Berne for a few more weeks).

The first leg of the journey was to go the 200 metres from La Maison to the Moissac railway station, Normally I would have walked this distance, but with a heavy suitcase I avoided the trek up over the footbridge across the lines by being driven up to the back of the station to get easier access to the platform, since I was going to head east to Montauban rather than west to Agen on the local TER train, before transferring to a TGV to Bordeaux.

The TER train was on time, so I got off at Montauban and then boarded the TGV to Bordeaux at 1327hr.

This train was also running on time, which was just as well since I only had a 10 minute window for transferring to Train3, another TGV to Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport in Paris. We got to Bordeaux on time and I saw a TGV waiting on the nominated platform. I double-checked my ticket on the next TGV to make sure of the carriage and seat number, to ensure I didn’t make the same mistake as on a previous trip when I got into the wrong carriage and then couldn’t understand why someone else was in “my" seat. I walked up, and then down, and then up the platform again but couldn’t find my carriage. I noticed lots of other people seemed to be doing the same, which only made everything more confusing. But I found a man in uniform and, in my best Frenglish, asked how I might find my carriage. He had obviously been asked this question by many others, and pointed out that there were two TGVs waiting on the same platform - one going to CDG and the other going to a different station in Paris. So I raced to the other end of the platform and with a minute to spare jumped on to my carriage. As I slumped into my seat, the train started moving. Phew!

Now I had no more transfers, so I was in the clear. Or so I thought. At Angouleme station, the train stopped, but then didn’t start again. After about 30 minutes, passengers were starting to look around, and then an announcement was made. But it was in French (of course) and I didn’t really understand what it was about. The only word I made our clearly was “pompiers” - firefighters. So now my imagination started playing games, given all the "terrorists threats” happening in France recently! Some people collected their bags from the overhead racks and got off the train, but most people just sat there and continued chatting, reading etc, which was somewhat comforting. After another 30 minutes another announcement was made, and more passengers started shuffling about. The guy in the seat ahead disappeared, but re-appeared 10 minutes later with some food. I caught his eye and asked if he spoke English, which luckily he did. He explained that a train had broken down on the line ahead, and it was now being towed off the main line by the pompiers. But we could be delayed for another hour or so. Luckily I was staying overnight in a hotel near CDG and was not due to fly out till the morning, so I was not too worried about the delay. After a total of three hours delay, our train started moving again and made it through to CDG with no further drama. But I felt sorry for those who were meant to be flying out of France tonight.

So, at around 2300hr, I checked in to the citizenM hotel, the same one that I stayed at last year. It was now too late to consider dinner, so I turned in immediately to get a good night’s sleep before the flights tomorrow.