We set off this morning in agreement that we would simply continue along the canal until we found somewhere that looked like a nice place to stop. We both thought that Agen would probably work out best. En route the scenery was lovely and the sun was baking hot today so drinking copious amounts of water was required, and regularly consumed.

We reached the outskirts of Agen where the canal turns sharp left – there is serious danger if one was to continue straight on. Strange thing is we saw no “No Entry” or “Stop you fool you are about to go over a Weir” signs.

There are then four reasonable deep locks in a row, we were entering the second one and just getting our lines sorted out when an English voice said “do you want me to press the green button?” (that starts the locking process) I replied no, no thanks – not until we have the boat sorted out. within seconds he was asking the same question and I was getting hacked off with him. Then Sara, being on the shore side was sorting out the stern line when 10 seconds later, matey boy said to her; “do you want me to press the green button?” The emphatic NOoooooo! from Sara that boomed around the lock left him in absolutely no doubt that we didn’t want the bloody green button pressed by him. It was quite funny, …….but there again perhaps you needed to be there!!

Immediately after these locks is the Agen Viaduct which goes over the Garonne River. It is a unique experience taking a boat high up in the air, and over another piece of water. The length of this aquaduct is 580 metres ……really neat.

We duly arrived in Agen but it was all a bit too busy for us so we decided to keep going, and decided that if we didn’t find anywhere nicer along the way, we would ultimately stop at Valance D’ Agen – a further 26km.

We eventually arrived at the last lock just before Valance D’Agen, only to find that the pole which hangs from a wire to activate the automatic locks was missing!! Unless we could activate the switch which is strung across the canal on a wire, we would be stuck this side of the lock until it was reported and repaired. Sara reckoned that if we got Sun Dog stopped right underneath the box attached to the wire, she could then reach it by standing on the wheelhouse roof. This was too much to ask and I decided that I should do this as I am a bit taller. This was duly done with me hoping, whilst about to touch this metal box, that I wasn’t going to turn into a bit of a live wire myself! I’m pleased to say I survived, and thankfully this did activate the lock, and in we went.

We set up as normal, however this turned out to be a really strong bitch of a lock and even though I was on the bow, I nearly lost the front end of the boat due to the pressure of water – this might be the difference/downside – between automated locks versus lockkeepers. Rhetorical question is – Who actually sets the flow rate and time cycle for these locks? In my humble opinion, there is no way that a lockkeeper would have let water in so fast.

A couple of kilometres further on, we pulled into the stop all hot and sticky after 8hrs in the baking sun. Watching anyone getting onto these pontoon to get the lines secured would be hilarious on Candid Camera, as the shakes that are induced are pretty much uncontrollable…………….I do hope no one had their video on me today as they could make money selling it to Jeremy Beadle ?

One thing we were really thankful for today was Sun Dog’s wheelhouse, as opposed to an open cockpit where one would have fried unless they had a bimini (canvas cover over the cockpit to act as a shade) as the only natural shade available is when going through an avenue of Plane Trees.

You can also see how much pressure the helm is under whilst transiting the canal, duly swathed to impress the locals in this years “must have” nautical gear….