France

Canal Boat - Agen to Valence-sur-Baise

We have now travelled to Agen and have boarded the "Damazan". We are crossing an aquaduct - see the river flowing underneath

Alec at the helm

Hannah on one of the hire bikes

Toby on another of the bikes - about to set off for supplies - pity we don't have a photo from when they got back - hot, sweaty & dishevelled after a 10km ride to catch up with the boat

Rachel at the helm, Liz and Alec supervising :-)

Crossing another aquaduct

Plain trees line the Canal Lateral

More views down the canal with Rachel again at the helm (from the photos you'd think it was a frequent occurance - don't be deceived I think the only two times it happened are both captured in photos)

Views down the canal

Rachel cycling down the tow path (photo taken by Tom while he was riding)

Inside the boat

Captain Tom

Hannah being a tourist in Damazan

Toby also being a tourist in Damazan

Damazan town square

We descended from the Canal Lateral to the River Baise - the first night we stopped at Vianne

Vianne's town wall

Vianne's wall and church

Front of the church

Tom outside the town wall

The only interesting thing about Lavardac!

A chateau we passed on the River

Locking down

One of the many beautiful ex-eclusier's houses

In a lock

The town of Nerac

Nerac by night

Some of many ducks we saw (both on land and on the dinner table)

Le Chateau de Henri IV

Rachel feeding ducklings

Banana split :-)

Amazing ice cream sundaes in Nerac - no one was game to try the savoury-flavoured sorbets through

Nerac

Doing a u-turn on the river!

Locking up

TC strikes a pose

No room to move - one of the narrow sections - Tom driving with Alec and Hannah looking on

A goose at an eclusier's house

Toby with his neatly coiled hose (shortly after it had leaked water down his jeans)

The Brennan's (minus Nicko who was sailing somewhere off the coast of France)

More locking up

Some of the river wildlife

Hannah retrieving her cap

Large church in Condom

Locking up at the manually-operated, double lock outside Condom

Rachel scaling the ladder to operate the lock

Dragonfly love

A random chateau in Valence-sur-Baise

la table d'orientation in Valence-sur-Baise. Apparently the Pyrenees can be seen in the distance.

The last night on the boat