We were up early, getting ready for our departure, but first we had arranged for Rita to also catch up with Kaz and Iain at their house. She was also impressed by their renovation work, and we arranged to catch up again after we returned to Moissac. In the meantime, we had received an SMS from Lacen saying that he had been to the house this morning to test some colours, and that he could meet with us at the house before we left. So we rode up to the house to meet him. He had tested some colours for the main facade (shades of yellow) and for the brickwork surrounding the windows (shades of brown). We opted for the lighter yellow for the facade (at left below) and the middle of the browns (at right below). The final choice was a compromise between what we wanted and what we thought the Patrimonie (Heritage) department would accept as part of their OPAH subsidy conditions. Lacen was confident that they would accept both colours.

Following a brief chat with Raph about the facade work, we rode home. As we went through the town centre, Rita decided it would be a good idea if I got a haircut before we left Moissac. It was getting a bit long (but you be the judge) and the weather was getting warmer, so it seemed like a reasonable idea. With so many hairdressers in Moissac (there are five between the port and town centre, and a different five between the house and town centre, and who knows how many elsewhere) we thought that getting in would be easy. But at each place we enquired, we were told that they were full and that we would need to make an appointment for later in the week. So, I guess that I don’t get it cut for a while, and just put it in a ponytail when it gets hot!

(as a rewrite this page in 2020, I still haven't had it cut!!)

As we were making final preparations to leave, Rita placed one of the mooring ropes on the table on the rear deck while she arranged others on the rear bollards. Unfortunately, the table was not the most stable, and it tilted on an angle and the rope slid sideways off the table and into the canal! I got to the back of the boat just in time to see bubbles rising from the coiled rope as it settled on the bottom of the canal. But Rita is an old master at his sort of thing, so in a couple of minutes she was into her swim suit and goggles and into the canal to retrieve the expensive rope. She thought she had done it on first attempt, but it turned out to be a stick rather than the rope that she grabbed (it’s hard to see anything in the canal). But with the help of a grappling hook and a rope tied to her other hand, she had hold of the rope and got it up out of the water to me and onto land in a few minutes. Now was the job of getting herself out of the water, which is not easy on a smooth sided high dock. But with the help of our rope ladder (which we noticed needed urgent repair work) and then our aluminium ladder, she finally scrambled out, then went inside for an immediate shower.

And then finally we were away, backing down the canal to near the lock down to the Tarn, and then doing a three-point turn to head into the lock out of Moissac. The cruise south was uneventful, but hot, and we finally pulled over at St Porquier (south of Castelsarrasin).

Surprisingly, we got a mooring on the town pontoon for the first ever time. The first beer went down very well with me, and after dinner Rita got in some practice on the flute with some medieval numbers she is learning with Valerie.