Agen to Meilhan+

Sep 11

After Angie's short trip to England (and not even a pack of cheddar to show for it given it was Easyjet sans suitcase) we pushed off to the West.  A bit overcast so the photos of the ecluses and aqueduct will have to wait for the return trip.

We got into the Serignac wharf and spent a couple of days idling, a nice village.

Serignac church - with twisted tower

Serignac - Angie still eyeing up winter boltholes

Sneering at Kes

Rather than hog the free elec/water we moved on towards Buzet, crossing the River Baise which is 'navigable' - perhaps next year - though rumour has it four barges are trapped by lack of water..

Baise aqueduct

River Baise

We green banked at Buzet - the Port seemed to have semi-closed for the Winter and it definitely felt a bit gloomy for a winter mooring. On tick over we continued on to L'Mas de Agenais where we squeezed onto a good mooring with a Kiwi/Aussie couple on 'Somewhere (a nice Delta barge) in time for the start of the Rugby World Cup. After a few pleasant evenings agreeing the deficiencies of Northern Hemisphere rugby (over a beer or three) we left during the rugby interval (only 3 days to survive).

Then it was Meilhan sur Garonne, full again so we greenbanked alongside 'Ailsa', another Sagar who we hadn't seen since Strasbourg. All the shops were on top of the hill so re-provisioning was carried out with much moaning (especially when on the first trip all the shops were shut).  Angie is wearing a NZ Rugby shirt and is being chatted up by all the local men (they just want the shirt :)

Meilhan port

After much too-ing and fro-ing (and advice from the local bargees) we decided not to continue to Castets at the end of the Canal (3 hours motoring) as the general consensus was it was both a grotty piece of canal and mooring was poor so we continued on for a few bridges to a turning point and did a 180 deg turn towards the East.  Perhaps the obvious onset of Autumn decided us. Next target is Carcassonne.