Imagine you are a keen cyclist but the rest of your family are not though will occasionally indulge your hobby. You are planning your holidays so suggest a cycling holiday along the Canal du Midi, after all there are no hills to speak of. The family reluctantly agree, panniers are loaded with camping gear, very small children are loaded into little trailers behind the adults bike and off you go. From Toulouse the path is indeed flat, concrete and very easy, everyone is happy. After about 50km it degenerates to a gravel, very uneven, surface and all of a sudden it does not seem such a good idea after all. There is another 200km to go and it is not great on a big bike, being the little one in the trailer or a 5 year old on a small bike it is hell especially as the temperature has crept up to 30C.

There are at least twice as many cyclists doing this trip than boaters, and not many of them look very happy.

Tomorrow we will have a lock free day motoring down to a place called Capestang, the next day we will go onto Beziers, no idea after that – watch this space for the further adventures of Gill and Johns boating in the sunshine.