Our intention this morning was for Sara and I to set off before the boys were up and try and make a bit of headway before the heat built up. Once they were up and had their breakfast, we pulled in after a lock and unshipped the bikes and off they went as happy as sand bunnies cycling along the path and stopping at each respective lock to take the lines.

As we worked our way along the canal we again had to tie up as the lockkeepers (who have been at every lock since Toulouse) stop for their lunch from 1230 till 1330; so we parked up and done the same and had a picnic in the shade of some lovely Plane trees.

After lunch we set off again, and with the sun baking down on us we were all looking forward to reaching Le Segal, and hitting the showers, and then supermarket as listed in the book. When we arrived it looked lovely. However the lions share of the available alongside berthing is reserved for barges so there is not a lot of room. We duly tied up in a less than ideal spot, and whilst Sara and the boys set off to find the supermarket and showers, I lifted up the floorboards to access and clean the raw water strainer, which again was pretty packed with vegetation.

Within what seemed like minutes they were back to say that there were no supermarkets, no showers, nor shops of any kind. It looked like part of the town had been demolished and was a bit of a construction site – what a bummer! I think the only good thing that can be said for Le Segala is that it marked for us the last of the “up locks” and every lock from here on will be downhill which is a whole lot easier.

Looking back at the last uphill lock…….yippee

Things being the way they were, we had a crew meeting, the outcome of which was that we decided not to stay here tonight (why would we there is nothing here!!) but push on instead for Castelnaudry.

En route we passed Port Lauragais, and have to say that this complex looks spacious new and has loads of room. In fact we thought about stopping here, but the boys are keen to get to Castelnaudry to find a swimming pool to have a good old splash around……….something that would be a health hazard if done in the canal.

We were managing to get a good run through the locks and indeed in the space of one hour we worked our way through some eight locks, with the boys taking the lines and then casting them off we were rocking along and only had to wait at one lock for boats to exit. This was a long day (10hrs+) and the boys, we calculated, must have cycled in excess of 20 miles and worked the ropes for us in all the locks.

When we arrived in Castelnaudry we tied up at the public port, and Sara and the boys headed off to the supermarket as the ships stores were getting pretty low, and everyone was looking forward to a good wholesome meal. Once duly fed the boys were off again with their fishing rods, and as I type this I cannot say whether they have been successful or not……………..

Just along from the boat I noticed, what I believe are Coypu alongside the wall so I crept along and managed to get a couple of good shots.