After topping up on shorepower with another jeton, we made a 1015h start from Villeton. As we headed west, Rita noticed a problem with the toilet in that the macerator seemed to be regurgitating after every flush. So when we stopped at the next lock, I went downstairs to confirm the problem. it seemed that maybe the black water tank was full, so on the next long stretch we turned the macerator pump on to empty the tank, and that seemed to resolve the problem. The black water tank seems to give more problems to non-bargers, and some bargers, in terms of what it might be doing to the quality of water in the canals. However given the scarcity of (working) evacuation pumps in ports along French canals, there isn’t much option but to allow the sewage to biologically degrade in the blackwater tank, and then empty it on long runs between locks (rather than when stationary in port). At least, the numerous fish in the canals don’t seem to be adversely affected by the practice.

When we got to the port at Le Mas d’Agenais, a little day-hire boat was in the lock and the occupants were looking at the control box on the quai. Thinking that maybe they didn’t know how to operate the locks, I put Rita ashore and she walked up to the lock to explain. But it turned out that the problem was that the lock gate wouldn’t close properly, and they were speaking into the microphone at the control box. They said that a VNF van would arrive shortly. But before the van arrived, the lock started working and they completed their transit. We then entered the lock and had a trouble-free passage.

We arrived at Fourques at 1330h, and were quickly ambushed by the ambiance of the mooring, and I was soon lazing on the rear deck listening to Rita making music on her guitar and looking at the trees, until zzzzzz…..

Luckily, I awoke in time for us to get on our bikes and head over to Terrie and Phil's house at Coussan for dinner. They had just arrived home from Bordeaux airport having picked up their daughter Steph and son-in-law Adam and their one-year-old grandson, plus two of their friends and child. We had a lovely afternoon catching up, with some people swimming and others just chatting, followed by a BBQ dinner on their recently paved patio. As it turned out, Adam is a specialist in batteries so we had some interesting conversations about what we were planning to do with solar panels and batteries back in Taggerty. And one of their other friends was a transport planner working for Transport for London (for whom I had done some consulting many years ago). He had studied transport planning at Imperial College and was taught by John Polak who was an old friend of ours, and he also knew Peter Jones from University College London. So we had a good time swapping stories, especially when we learned he was working in the field of travel demand management, which Rita and I had worked in for many years. Small world!! Two people we have met in France in two years who had worked in that area!

The conversations went on for far too long, and so when we eventually dragged ourselves away, we rode home in the dark without the benefit of a full moon. But we made it safely.