In the late morning, Rita went across to the Capitainerie to pay for last night’s mooring but, like yesterday, the office was unattended. The guy from Nicoll’s hire boats said that there was often no one from the Capitainerie there, and to just pay if and when we ever returned to port. We resolved to pay on the way back.

We cruised through the summit waters between the Ocean and Mediterranée ecluses, and then started downhill. Because of our latish start it was now nearly lunchtime (1230h), so we moored next to the NOT family pottery, but they were also closed for lunch! So, after an enforced lunch break (which is not a bad idea), we headed on to the next lock, which was the double-ecluse at Roc. This was our first eclusier-controlled lock for the day (all multiple locks are eclusier controlled), but initially nothing happened, so I dropped Rita at the bank and she went looking. She eventually found the eclusier, who was otherwise occupied checking out some dredging work on the other side of the lock. He advised her that we would have to wait a while, since the dredge barge wanted to come up through the lock to take the spoil away. So we tied up and enjoyed ourselves watching the dredging at work.

The skill of the pusher barge captain as he entered the lock was to be admired, even though he made me feel better by bashing the side of the lock as he entered. He certainly filled the lock, although I was surprised by how little spoil he was actually carrying.

He certainly made a grand sight as he powered his way out of the lock, allowing us to finally enter.

After another triple-lock at Laurens, we reached the single lock at La Domergue. Here Rita saw a lady doing some work in the front room of the eclusier’s cottage, and they struck up a conversation. After a few moments, Rita called to me to leave the barge in the lock and come have a look at the renovation that the lady was doing to the eclusiers cottage. It turned out that she and her husband had received permission from the VNF to renovate the cottage and then operate it as a B&B. She showed us through, and we were impressed with the progress. She said they had already started operating a B&B at the next lock as well. We got talking, and it turned out that she knew Sam the Man (from Tourmente) very well, and indeed had dinner with him last night when he came through the lock. She was also very interested in holding a barge concert at one of her locks, given how close they were to Castelnaudary. So, once again, business cards were exchanged! This is becoming quite a productive trip.

At the next lock, la Planque, we had a look at what their finished B&B would look like, and checked the lock surroundings as a concert venue. La Planque was also another low bridge site, so it gave us the opportunity to test the half-mast bimini, which passed with flying colours.

After all the discussion of barge concerts, we started to wonder whether we could build a stage on the front of Kanumbra and use it for the 2018 Tour. Interesting thoughts - will have to check our insurance.

In the early evening, we negotiated the winding canal into Castelnaudary, and moored at the first space we saw in the main port on the Capitainerie side. Soon, a young girl from the Capitainerie came and showed us how to connect to the power, but told us that we could only stay there for one night, because the space was normally reserved by another boat, but they were away for the night. She advised that in future, we should give them one or two nights warning of our intentions. Since we were only going to stay for one night, we were just happy that we had found a space so easily.

Soon after we arrived, I noticed something in the water, and at first thought it was a duck. But as it got closer I realised it was a ragondin/coypu as it swam straight past our boat.

Many people on barges have dogs, which they take for a walk each day. We don’t have a dog, but instead we take our rubbish bags for a walk each night, as we search for recycling and bottle bins. So, as the sun was setting, we set off on a walk around the Grand Bassin. The view of the Castelnaudary skyline was impressive over the bassin.

As we returned, we saw what we thought was a classic French scene, with an old couple sitting out the front of their house with their cats, chatting with a neighbour, so I surreptitiously took a photo. But as we looked closer at them, we realised that they were also looking at something else.

So we followed their eyes, and saw that they were in fact looking at a coypu having a feast on a salad mixture that presumably they had placed on the side of the bassin (and from the size of the coypu, it looked like they fed him every night). Quite an unexpected sight.