It was another cool and overcast morning, so we walked into the village of Deupentale to get some bread from the boulangerie. But again, we had forgotten about the French custom. It was Monday, and everything, including the boulangerie, was closed, except the tabac/bar which was open at 0900h, and told us that everything else was closed.

So we wandered back to the barge, by which time the Russian cyclists had packed their tents and departed, and we then had toasted stale bread for breakfast (luckily we hadn’t given it to the ducks last night). After this, we made a 1030h start, heading for Montech, where we arrived around 1220h, just in time for the VNF lunch break while we waited to descend the 5 locks after lunch. One nice thing about the 5 locks is that Rita gets to have an extended ongoing chat in French with the eclusier, in five episodes, before we leave the locks after leaving the customary bottle of beer for the eclusier.

We arrived at St Porquier at 1600h, where Rita was greeted by one of the teenage boys on their motorcycles in the adjacent park, and asked if she wanted to go for a ride! She politely declined.

We had only seen two boats in the day, but soon after we arrived another two boats arrived and we had a full mooring, and later two more boats arrived and had to move on.

We were going to cycle to the nearby Belleperche Abbey today, but it was now hot and by the time we got tied up and other things sorted out it was nearly 1700h, so it wouldn’t have given us much time at the Abbey, so we delayed the trip till the morning, when it would be cooler and we could spend more time at the Abbey. Instead, Rita fished out a can of cassoulet that she had bought a few days ago, and we had dinner on board.

While she was preparing dinner, I looked out the window from the salon, and saw a ginger cat looking at me from the canal side of the barge. She soon moved along the side of the boat, and then I saw her walking through the wheelhouse, looking down to the galley, and walking outside to explore the garden alongside the mooring. Reminded me of another ginger cat at Rue Gambetta.