In the morning we took Jan & Mareyne up to the Saturday Market, and the obligatory coffee/beer at la Compostelle, then returned to the house for lunch on the verandah. We then took them on the barge for a trip up the River Tarn.

Coming from the land of barging, and being a keen sailor himself, Jan was very interested in the barge and was keen to have a go at captaining her. He showed natural skills in quickly getting a feel for the handling.

When we returned to the quai, we asked if we could double-up on Lyneve (owned and hand-built by Steve and Lynne), since there was no space left along the quai.

As the afternoon wore on, the setting sun behind clouds  gave another fabulous view along the Tarn.

Late in the day, we realised that over the coming week we were going to have lot of people at the house, and that, given the warm weather, meals would most likely be taken outdoors. So it was a quick run out to Weldoms to get some trestles and boards to make some temporary dining tables, as we had done when the steelband stayed at the house in 2014. The surprising space inside the Scenic was well demonstrated on this occasion.

While we were having dinner at the house with Jan & Mareyve, we noticed Meggsy sitting on top of the arcade looking longingly up into the bay tree. Without warning, he leapt into the tree, fell to the ground, and then scampered off with a bird in mouth. Just a small reminder that even the friendliest of cats is still a “wild” animal with a natural hunting instinct.

At 2200h, Sarah and Albon arrived with their two boys, having driven up from Beziers after the conclusion of the annual Karate camp at Serignan Plage. Since they had had a long drive with no rest, we re-set the tables and had another dinner, while we caught up with all their latest news of life on a dairy farm in France.

Around midnight we returned to the barge to sleep for the night. However, since Kanumbra was doubled with Lyneve, it was necessary for us to walk across their deck to get to Kanumbra. This woke Rollo, their dog, who started barking at us. In turn, this woke Steve from a deep sleep, and as we reached our wheelhouse door, Steve appeared at his door shouting at us at maximum volume. The startled look on our faces proceeded to wake him more completely, to the point where he realised who we were, and remembered that he had allowed us to double on Lyneve. There were then a few embarrassed looks all round as things quietened down. But it did highlight to us the security advantages of having an alert, noisy dog on board a barge!!