We awoke to what would be another hot day in Serignan. While Albon went down to the beach for the morning training session, the rest of us rose gradually to have breakfast on the verandah of the cabin, and then started cleaning the cabin for departure later that morning. Sarah, Albon and the kids would then spend a few days around Avignon, while Rita and I would drive back to Moissac.

On the drive back through the Corbierres region, the words of the current Australian Treasurer bemoaning the appearance of wind turbines as “utterly offensive” and “a blight on the landscape” kept coming to mind, as the contrast between the wind farms and the high tension power lines made me think about which was “a blight on the landscape”. You decide. Here in the land of intensive nuclear power generation, France has accepted wind power as just another source of energy, and for the farmers on whose land they stand, wind turbines are another valuable source of income to supplement their farming activities which don’t appear to be compromised by the presence of the turbines.

Sadly, we were hurrying back to Moissac in time for Huw’s funeral in nearby Montauban. We got to Moissac just as a group of cars was getting ready to depart in convoy, so we made a quick change of clothes and prepared to join the end of the convoy. However, as we were leaving the port area, a couple arrived who needed a lift, so we waited for them and hoped we could still find the crematorium in Montauban. After a few anxious moments, we got there with a few minutes to spare. The first people we saw with Don and Laura from Largo, who had driven up from Narbonne for the funeral. Indeed, we were surprised how many boating friends of Huw and Jane had found a way to get to Montauban for the day. This was my first funeral in French, and while I might have missed some of the subtleties in the spoken word, the general message and the ambience were the same in any language. It certainly made me realise the real nature of the boating “community” along the canals. After the short service, everyone returned to Moissac for drinks and nibbles provided by the Capitainerie, to celebrate and reminisce on the life of Huw.

After the party had shifted up the quai to near Sea Wolf Huw and Jane's boat), Kaz and Iain left the port to drive to England, since Kaz had learned that her father was in a bad way after a long battle with cancer. Everyone wished her the best as they left.

That evening, we had a very enjoyable evening on Kanumbra, having drinks with Larry and Annie, an American-French couple who we had first met at Fish’n’Chips night in the port in July last year, when Larry told me about their adventures with the Gironde Mascaret (tidal bore) on the Garonne River near Bordeaux. We talked about what we had each been doing since then, and then discussion turned to the upcoming band tour. Like many, they were fascinated with the back story to the band’s formation, and became the first buyers of a Recovery CD in France this year.