Thunderstorm and heavy rain in the morning. We left just before nine. Most of the boats on the mooring were British except for one large German cruiser and a Swiss Dutch Barge (that had spent some time at Valence) plus a few hireboats. I made a cuppa as we headed for Agde. More dead boats moored below Agde. A group of layabouts on old boats were already drinking beer at the top of the bank. Two hireboats out of the Nautic base went up the round lock. We could see the lock light was green so we motored down to the lock; however, when we arrived the gates were shut and the lock was filling. A hireboat was tucked up right by the lock, behind the trip boat Le Capitain which was loading with passengers and running his engine with his prop turning.
We reversed and chatted while we waited to a guy who was a resident living on an old British wooden boat. Thunder rumbled and it started to rain. Several more hireboats came out of the basin to join the queue and we could see the hotel boat (who was due at the boatyard on the Herault) was catching up. The gates opened, we went in first and manoeuvred into the corner on the left hand side just as it started to pour down with rain. A large Nautic powered into the corner behind us; it was crewed by eight burley Czech blokes who were also drinking beer for breakfast - they offered Mike a full stein, which he refused (all in German). Another small Nautic came in and stooged around not knowing what to do or where to go until the keeper shouted to them to put ropes on and went to their assistance. We went out first and the two hireboats followed. Amazingly they didn’t fire off past us as we went down the canal to the Herault or on the river or on the canal leading to Bagnas lock. We noted that there were quite a few boats moored on the Herault on the left bank upstream of the lock cut from Agde. The rain stopped as we went through the flood lock with a guingette (snack bar) on the lockside. We passed a LeBoat which had just left Bagnas heading uphill. The hireboats followed us into the chamber. A group of American cyclists (who told us they’d been on a Welsh canal holiday by narrowboat) came to chat while we dropped down in the chamber. The two hireboats were away first but didn’t set off at great speed they just slowly faded into the distance. Once on the étang we paused and Mike set up the Markon drive to generate some electricity and I did some washing.
At 3.15 p.m. we moored in Frontigan behind a LeBoat full of Germans. The stone quay was empty both sides. Mike went to check the bridge opening times. Our newest guide book was wrong again – from 1st April to 30th November there were two openings of the bridge daily at 8.30 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. A guy arrived on an old yacht. He came past with rubbish for the bins behind us and remarked that he’d seen us crossing the étang and thought our motor went well. He said he was stopping overnight to get provisions but used to moor permanently in the basin until the council gave everyone a month’s notice to leave. He said vandalism and theft was getting to be a problem and he was going to leave anyway. We decided to push on when the bridge opened at four. It was a free for all when the bridge lifted, hireboats everywhere, about a dozen from Lattes went past heading for the étang. We moved on to Les Aresquiers. No boats were moored there. We found out why as we tried various places along the edge and every time the boat was on the bottom scraping on concrete or rocks. Gave up and moved on to Maguelonne. It was getting hotter and the wind had picked up which meant we had to take our sunshade down. Moored between the boats, three feet from the base of a sloping concrete wall, with the aid of a bloke off a British cruiser who put our centre rope round a bollard for me. Our new plank only just reached the top of the concrete wall so Mike went up it gingerly to put ropes out fore and aft, plus a long spring to the centre bollard. Decided to stay put next day and move the car from Vias to St Gilles.
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