Saturday 18th June - Castelnaudary

We decided to walk into town to do some shopping and have a look at the vintage cars on display in the square.  The one in the picture is a Jaguar from 1946 and lovingly restored by its' owner.  The Grand Bassin, just the other side of the bridge in front of us is the biggest port on the canal, which is now home to a Le Boat hire base.  The town is what I call shabby/chic with plenty of small shops to satisfy most people.  The picture above is of the pretty covered market......with a small market set out in front.  We stopped at a little canal side bar/restaurant for a lunchtime aperitif, albeit a little early!  Henk joined us for a bite of lunch, wine and chat.  Skip managed a small siesta but Crew didn't manage it - we were all going to the concert which started at 10 p.m. so Arthur booked us a table in a small restaurant, Au Petit Gazouillis, for 8 o'clock.  Fingers crossed for the weather as it's not too warm with occasional showers of rain.  We all gathered on Arthurs' boat for drinks at 6.30 then on to the restaurant.  Arthur was not wrong when he said the restaurant was small - it was like someone's sitting room and was absolutely full......I counted 36 covers.  Arthur had been there before and had Cassoulet (we are now in Cassoulet country!) and said it was the best one he'd had so he ordered it again.  Henk, a Cassoulet virgin, also braved it!  Janet and John had cod and Crew and David, duck, all washed down with some good wine.  We paid the bill and made our way to the square for the concert and fireworks.  Unfortunately, due to the weather they were either cancelled or postponed.  Although the rain had held off it wasn't a balmy evening by any means.  We decided on a digestif in a bar on the square, although David and Janet made their way back to their boat.  Then, foolishly we continued on Aphrodite till after 2 a.m.!!!