It was already a sunny morning as I rose early to follow the AFL game between the Hawks and the Kangaroos. Although last week's loss to Richmond had effectively, but not mathematically, eliminated the Hawks from the Finals, they played well and led all day to run out winners 116-89, despite a 5-goal burst from the Roos in the 3rd quarter which tightened the game considerably. As I followed the game on my iPhone, I also got some more websiting done on the laptop.

One of the nice things about living in Moissac are the Saturday and Sunday Markets, which always give fresh fruit and vegetables, and also good fish. So today we had baked flathead and prawns for lunch on the boat. While there wasn’t an over-abundance of flesh on the flathead, it was very tasty.

After lunch, I got stuck into building the gangplank from the plastic plank pieces that I had sawn yesterday. Two planks (extended from 2200mm to 2650mm) fitted nicely between the side-rails of the ladder. I then screwed the straps that I cut from the planks to provide footgrips across the ladder. Finally, nylon zip-ties attached the planks to each of the rungs of the ladder. Overall the gangplank is a bit heavy, but since we won’t be using it that often, this should not present a problem. It should certainly be strong enough for one person at a time, and the recycled plastic planks will be much more durable that the timber sheeting we used last time.

While I was building the gangplank, Rita was playing with her French musicians at a shop opening near the Abbey. After she came home, she decided to go for one last swim near the Cacor Aqueduct, since we would be leaving Moissac in the next few days and the weather was forecast to turn cooler. So we jumped on our bikes and headed up the Tarn. Rita swam out to the bridge pylon and used one of the mooring rings (that are on each end of every pylon) to haul herself up to the ledge just under the waterline. She reported that the river water was “silky smooth”.

We are blessed with bridges in Moissac, all of which give great views for anyone with a camera.

The view of the parapets in the late afternoon sun caught my attention...

… as did the view of the steel railway bridge under the arch of the Aqueduct.

After Rita had completed her swims, we cycled back to the barge and had a light dinner on board and then enjoyed the soft sunset to the west of the port.