Day 11: Rain. The inmates are restless. Must buy more baguette and move on to prevent mutiny.

We started the day in the rain, slowly meandering down the canal. Not many locks so far as we drove from inside. Outside Malause, dozens of fisherman were out with their poles. It was a gorgeous stretch of canal. Fishing consists of poles on excess of 15 feet with bobbers floating in the middle of the canal. The rods break down as you bring them in to change bait or get the fish. Some well-equipped fishermen have little saw horses behind them to rest the butt of the pole on. Others have these long tubes that have one end in the water so they can drop the fish down them from the side of the bank; a lot like those garbage chutes on the side of construction sites.

Just before Pommevic we came upon a lock out of order so it was time to break for lunch. Carmen fried up some hotdogs, sliced up some baguettes and voilà. Even more interesting, she had some…Mmmmmm, mystery meat!

The sun is out now so L and C are off for a bike ride while we wait. So far no one has fallen off. The boats waiting are starting to stack up.

Well after Leslie came back (with Carmen) the lock reopened. The next 3 locks were in tandem with a Spanish group who arrived at Valence d’Agen just ahead of us and took the last slip at the harbour. Since the is a grand historical festival taking place right in the harbour, we had to move on a couple of hundred yards down the canal to find a place. The banks here are pretty steep but we’ll survive. The Polish family pulled in behind us and the sight of the 20 something daughter in her bikini was offset by the sight of her father in his mini speedo. I think the girl watchers among us came out ahead. Luckily for Carm’s sensibilities, they had decided to move on by the time we were back from our walk.

A beer and a rest followed by a chat and a plan set the agenda for the next few days. Then we set off to explore. Mondays are a traditional closed day so not much was open. Even the church was off limits due to a funeral. Still it’s a pretty French town, an example of a bastide or King’s town. Tomorrow is the market day so we will probably head up again. We also want to bike to Auvillar, 6 kilometres away, so we’ll see.

Valence is famous for it’s washhouses, so Zak and I tried to convince the girls to do our laundry at the one we visited, but they kept muttering something about feminism and independence and some sort of not-so-veiled threats which we manfully ignored. Anyway, they were quite beautiful and a sign of how much things have changed in the last hundred years.

We picked up some batteries at a tabac and a couple more loaves of backup baguettes and some patisseries for dessert at the only open boulangerie. I blew the heel strap on my sandal but I think I can make do.

Back at the boat C started in on her famous French toast and we opened the last bottle of cava to tide us over. Dinner=good.

Tonight it is my choice Le Vin Noir (2004), a Cotes de Brulhois specialty which I enjoyed and Carmen’s Chateau de Grezels Prestige Cahors (2005) which in typical Carmen overachiever style was wonderful.

We spent the night on deck enjoying the fading light, the company and the essence of France. There is nothing like sitting under the stars and absorbing the moist night air with a good philosophical discussion made slightly ridiculous by red wine. The night ended with a lovely sense of calm.