The overnight mooring at the summit was dark and quiet, especially after we had been mooring in town centres for a while. We woke relaxed and refreshed.

Given the proximity of nearby towns, we decided to go for a bike ride and do a bit of exploration. So we rode up to the summit, and then to the canal town of Port du Segala, then on to Labastide d’Anjou.

It was only after we got there and stopped for a cool drink that we realised we had been here before in 2011, when we rode here from Vertouwen to have dinner at the famous “Cassoulet Imperial”, reputedly the best maker of cassoulet in the region. By the size of the crowd here for lunch on a Saturday, it seems that reputation remains undiminished!

One of the nice things about riding around rural France is that you bump into little bits of French history, like this classic Citroen parked in the Imperial Cassoulet carpark. I remember these cars from Australia in the 50s and 60s, and the way their suspension was pumped up after the engine was started.

We then rode down through the sunflower fields to the canal again at Ecluse Mediterranee, the first downwards lock as you head east, in the hope of visiting the well-known Not Family Pottery. But they were closed for lunch, so we rode back to the barge along the canal towpath.

When we got to the barge, we found that we had again been de-staked, this time by the tourist boat Surcouf, which was moored just upstream, with their guests having lunch. So for added security, and because we were again running short on power, we decided to move on to moor again at Port Lauragais. However, when we got there, we were greeted by a full port, with lots of Nichols hire-boats filling the port area we had moored in last week. We had forgotten that today was Saturday, the changeover day for many hire-boats. So we cruised around to the other side of the port, and tied up to wait on the dock reserved for the tourist boat Surcouf, while Rita went in search of the Capitainerie. She was there today, because of the port busyness, and said that we could stay there as long as we needed, since Surcouf apparently rarely uses the reserved space any more. So we ended up staying overnight on that mooring, which seemed only fair given that it was Surcouf that had de-staked us and forced us into port.

One advantage of being on this side of the port was that it gave much better reception for the free wifi system operated by the Vinci Motorway operator, so I took advantage of this to follow the AFL game between the Hawks and Fremantle, with the Hawks having their first big win of the season, when they beat Freo 100-48. Later in the afternoon, I went for a walk to the other side of the port, and was assailed by a comment of "Hey, I smell an Australian!". Turned out to be a couple of NZers on a hire-boat who had seen the Aussie flag on the back of Kanumbra. They immediately offered me a drink and then we chatted for an hour of so, until I got an SMS from Rita wondering where the hell I had got to! So I then headed back to the boat for a relaxed dinner on board.

In the evening, I followed the Speedway Grand Prix meeting for the British GP in Cardiff. For the second GP meeting in a row, Jason Doyle was riding with a broken right foot with metal plates inserted. He started poorly and had a bad fall in his second heat, but luckily he kept his right foot out of the way and avoided further damage. He then stormed home with three wins in the heats, then 2nd in the semi-Final and 2nd in the Final, to take the lead in the GP Championship for 2017. He sure has some guts.