We were up early for a 0850h start, as we had some ground to cover today, and have found the locks less crowded in the mornings. As we negotiated the first few locks, alone and very quickly, we realised why barging is good for the body. Apart from the fresh air and sunshine, and the walking to locks for Rita, we both get a lot of isometric exercise as we hold the ropes in the locks. It might not seem like much, but when you concentrate on it, there is a lot of sustained tension in the muscles of the arms, legs and torso. Makes up for all the bread, cheese, wine and beer that is consumed at other times of the day!

Within a couple of hours, we were back at our favourite lock at la Peyruque. I snapped a photo of the eclusiers cottage and it showed a very good resemblance to the image on the ceramic plaques.

While we were locking at la Peyruque, Rita made good friends with the dog from the ceramic shop, and a couple of locks further on (St Sernin) I took a photo of the ecluse panel that you see at every lock, in honour of our NZer friends whose hire-boat was named St Sernin.

After three days of non-stop wind, we were happy to be approaching Castelnaudary, where we planned to stay for a couple of days (with shore power). As we tied up below the four locks to wait our turn to enter, I noticed these “local residents” on the road at the side of the canal.

As we rose through the four locks, doubled with an English group we had joined earlier in the day, I noticed that the eclusier was saving water by double-double-locking by having two boats in each of two locks going up. As we headed across the Grand Bassin, the wind continued to blow, and by the time we got to the other side, the water was quite choppy. Not exactly “big seas”, but enough to make you concentrate fully as you’re trying to poke a big barge through a relatively small hole under the bridge (which is why I went back later to get this picture).

We arrived at 1545h, which was much earlier than I had expected, so we must have had a good run. But it was fun trying to moor the barge as the following wind kept trying the move the stern away from the quai as the bow was being tied up. But even the girl from the Capitainerie smiled as she understood the battle we were having.

Later in the afternoon Rita went down to the train station to check timetables to Montauban, and buy some train tickets for tomorrow when she is going to near Gaillac to rehearse with her group for next week’s concert in Moissac.

That night, we decided to go out for dinner, and so started walking up the main street where all the restaurants are located. As we got to the first one, the heavens opened with a thunderstorm that had been threatening for the past hour or so, so we decided that this was as good a place as any for dinner. Luckily, it was the one that we had gone to in 2011 with Jerry, so we knew that the food was good. But when we went inside (around 1900h) the head waiter said that the staff were still eating dinner and that they would not open till 1930h. However, since he could see and hear the rain outside, and all their outside tables were now rain-soaked, he relented and let us sit inside at a window table until 1930h. Before then, many other parties also arrived and asked to come inside, so by the time the restaurant officially opened, it was half full. I must admit that I thought it was a good advertisement for the food that all the staff were eating the restaurant food for dinner, and seemed to be enjoying themselves greatly. In the end, it was worth the wait for us, because the cassoulet (and the creme broulee) were excellent.

After we finished dinner, we thought we should go for a walk to work off some of the calories. So we went up the hill, away from the port, winding our way through the old city streets until we reached the windmill which we has seen mentioned on maps. The view from here was a total surprise, as I didn’t really know that Castelnaudary had a hill, and I certainly didn’t expect the land to fall away so quickly into another valley. A great way to end the day.