Good to know we will reach our last lock today – the round lock.

However before the lock we had to go under the Barrage at the Libron Crossing, which is closed when the Libron River is in spate.

This was really the first day when the wind has blown strongly, and I guess it was around F4 gusting F5 at times, and I was again concerened as the holiday boat in front of us was occasionally getting blown sideways in an alarming fashion.

As it was approaching the lockkeepers lunch time we tied up quickly and nipped up to see the layout of the lock, and asked the lockkeeper what the procedure was for boats going through. He explained where we needed to tie up once the lock was re – opened so that bit was fine.

When back on board another 15mtr holiday boat came in to tie up in front of us, the wind was blowing straight down the canal (from the back of us) and we nipped out to help them and take their lines. The chap at the helm was doing fine, and I was going to take their stern line as this was the key line to them not losing the back end of the boat, and Sara was going to take their bow line.

I asked, gesticulated, faced Mecca and prayed for the stern line – but o’ no they were insistent of the bow line first – and then the inevitable happened as the stern was quickly blown out (it was gusting strongly) and was beyond being sorted out. Sara done the right thing and threw the line back onto their boat, whilst I again gesticulated for them to turn and come back facing into the wind. This they did do, and we managed to get them tied up quickly and safely, for which they were very grateful and explained that they had just taken the boat this morning, and no one onboard had ever been out on a boat before…………

I had my concerns about going into the round lock with these holiday boats, and was mightily relieved when the lights changed to green and we went in that both of the otherboats had decided to stay tied up, and we were on our own in the lock -phew!!

You can see from this French waterways photo why its called the round lock.

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You might think I am overdoing it about holiday boats, but it’s a serious concern when ones own investment is at risk, and it would be a sudden and dramatic end to our sabbatical if we were damaged/rammed by one of them……. Obviously there are some really proficient boat handlers on the canal, but from there the standard of can go downhill rapidly. End of ranting about holiday boats!!

Funnily enough as we were tied up the canal waiting on the designated time to exit to the Herault River a couple from Largs came over for a chat, and as it turns out he races regularly out of Largs Marina where Sun Dog is berthed….it really is a small world sometimes.

Our time came round and out of the lock we went, down the short link canal, quick turn right under the bridge, and down Herault River, breathing a sigh of relief that we were out of the canal system with the boat in one piece.

After a few miles we arrived at Allamand Marine who had been recommended to us by a lot of people, and as they have limited berthing we had phoned in advance to book for the mast being lifted.

In the following photo you can see the only floating pontoon they have, and they also have a couple of docks for boats to get lifted/lowered back into the water. Only one thing to watch out for (but you can do nothing about it) is wash, not only the big fishing boats, but almost all the boats going up and down the river create a fair old wash.

Winds are too strong for the mast to be lifted this afternoon, but there might be a chance tomorrow morning – fingers crossed.

What a really welcoming people the population of Grau de Agde proved to be as not only did they put on an evening display of “Boat Jousting” for us they also lit up the sky with a large firework display. Whilst this was very pleasing, we thought they should really have been focussed on on tomorrow, as after all, it will be Bastille Day.