This morning we left Talairan and, since we seemed to be on a re-enactment binge, we decided to go to Homps, the place where we first expressed an interest in barges. As we arrived in the town and found a parking place, we heard music in a park and went to explore (as we always do!). We found a six-person group, who we later discovered were called La Fanfare Toto, rehearsing a performance that they were performing at a festival over the coming weeks. The performance involved a coffin and a mock funeral, and lots of visual gags, mixed in with some good music. All very interesting.

Eventually, we then went for a walk around Homps, which we had not explored much in the past except along the canal. The church was a impressive sandstone structure.

As we entered the canal area, the first boat we saw was Lyneve, which we had moored alongside in Moissac last year. We were greeted in a friendly manner by Rolo, and then by Steve and Lynda Morton. We went aboard and had a cool drink, and caught up on what each of us had been doing since last year. They are going up the Rhone next month, and when we mentioned that we were thinking of bringing another band over in 2018, they talked about a group called Convivencia that holds concerts on barges along the Midi, and suggested that we check them out. Sounds interesting.

As we sat on deck on Lyneve, I looked along the canal and saw Berendina, the barge that first grabbed my attention in 2010. It has apparently sold since then, but was moored no more than 50m from where we first saw her. It sure brought back memories, and reminded us of just how much our life has changed since then.

After saying goodbye to Steve and Lynda, and promising to catch up with them in Carcassonne on July 14, we walked eastwards along the canal to check out the first oval lock, to remind us of what we will soon be facing. We watched a boat going through, and felt confident that we could handle it OK. We then drove back to Moissac, and received a visit from Valerie that night, who gave us the SFR Webtrotter power cable that we had left in Port Vendres.