Craig had warned us that he was an early riser, so we were up early (for us) at 0800h. He and I then went for a walk across the aqueduct to the four locks on the other side of the River Garonne, since I knew that Craig would like to look down at the river far below the bridge. Rita joined us a little while later as we watched the first boat for the day go through the locks, while Ginger went into town searching for croissants.

After a relaxed breakfast, we cast off and headed east. While the weather was a bit overcast, Craig and Ginger very quickly settled into the relaxed lifestyle of barging and after a couple of hours, we stopped for lunch near Lamagistere, with a nice view of Chateau Soubiran high up on the hill.

Being an experienced sailor, it wasn’t long before Craig was giving a hand with the ropes. We learned that one of their plans when they were first married back in the 70’s was to head to Europe after their stay in Australia, and go barging. But as often happens, the arrival of kids changes many plans. So we were really pleased that we could make their dream come true, if only for a week. Craig is still doing some part-time legal work, and during the day he received phone calls from a couple of colleagues. It was great that he was able to say “Sorry, I’m barging in the south of France. Can I get back to you next week?"

We continued on, and finally moored overnight at a favourite spot in Pommervic. Since we got there just before 1900h, we tied up on the waiting pontoon, and since we planned to leave early in the morning, we didn’t hinder anyone wanting to use the pontoon while they waited for the nearby lock. It didn’t take long before Craig, Ginger and us were relaxing on the rear deck with a few bottles of wine.

As the evening wore on, we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset over the millpond waters of the canal.