We followed our usual morning routine and got underway just after 10 a.m. As there were now more hire boats around we lost Henk in the first lock, whilst we had to wait with a hire boat for the next lock down. Before the second lock of the day we at last spotted some vines - up to now it had been mostly arable, with corn and wheat grown. Not too far from the lock we spotted Henk waiting for us under the shade of some trees......it was getting very warm by then! We locked down with just him then went on to our next (double) lock where we waited for lunchtime to pass. All went smoothly until our last lock - with two boats in front of us, we waited over an hour to pass through!! The eclusier was waiting for a passenger boat to come up and since they take priority, so we had to wait too! There was a hire boat already in the lock waiting to lock up but eventually the lock keeper gave up on waiting and let them up. Squeezing four in a lock was not ideal but we made it and arrived in Carcassonne around 4.45 p.m. We went in stern to next to Arthur. We settled in, Skip went over to pay at the Capitainerie and Crew took a glass of wine over to a shady bench where Henk and Arthur were having a beer. As Skip wasn't feeling too good (he has an occasional ailment that crops up now and again) he decided to have a lie down.
There is a National Festival of Music in France on this day as it's the summer solstice and of course, Carcassonne was no exception. David had booked a table for us all at a nearby steak restaurant and invited us for drinks on board Rosina at 7.15. Arthur declined to come with us for dinner but came for drinks - he had eaten steak two nights in a row! The steak was cut in front of us and cooked on an open fire......we all had a delicious entrecôte (Black Angus beef) except Skip, who was still feeling under the weather so had a goats' cheese salad. He decided to go back to the boat to try and sleep off his illness. Crew and Henk hit the town in search of some good music. The music near the port was rock and heavy metal so we were looking for something a little more 'dance friendly'. We went up to the main square, which was rammed with people and just changing bands. Miraculously, we found two comfortable chairs and Henk went off to find us some wine. We didn't really find the music much to our taste so we ambled back towards the port and stopped for a nightcap at a bistro. Arthur was painting the town red, visiting some of his old haunts.
On checking on Skip, he was pretty fevered so Crew decided to leave him to sleep it off and boarded Cornelis k. for a last nightcap. Arthur then returned so we all chatted for a while.......the music (which was scheduled to stop around 2 a.m.) suddenly went quiet - relief!
24 km. 6 locks. 61/2 hours
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