Olaf, we have a problem...

We woke up, breakfasted and said our goodbyes to Uncle Wes and Auntie Ju who were heading off for the day to get the bus and train back to Agde to pick up the hire car.

Uncle Henry decided to have a quick look at the engine to check the oil situation. We sort of wished he hadn't...the sump was full of 5 litres of oil - the same oil Tony had poured into the "fixed" engine the previous day. Hmmm....

We phoned the boat company, told them we'd continue on our own schedule and try and make it to Homps, their next base, where we would want a new boat to be waiting for us. Part of me now wishes we'd just dumped their crappy boat and waited for them to bring us the new one. Anyway, we set off and refilled with oil every few hours - it would take us 8 to get to our destination.

Dad, Uncle Henry and I shared the driving and it was the first warm, sunny day we'd had so we were able to sit out the front, drink a beer or two and enjoy our journey. The sights and sounds on the canal are pretty amazing. There are wind farms everywhere, the Pyrenees in the distance and, 0f course, the ubiquitous plane trees. We even saw a pair of black swans that dad later found out have been introduced to that part of the Canal du Midi. You can see a picture of them here.

The majority of plane trees along the Canal du Midi are to be felled; many of them have already been cut down or are marked in green paint as the next ones for the chop. It's seen as a national tragedy for the country and when you're there, you can see why. The Canal is an area of outstanding natural beauty, and part of that beauty is the lines and lines of plane trees that make up and strengthen the banks of the Canal. To have to cut these down is devastating.

What to replace the plane trees with is still under consideration, but it will certainly take many years to return the Canal to the picturesque, tree-lined state it has been in for hundreds of years.

For lunch, we stopped at a wee place called Argeliers and phoned mum to explain where she should be able to meet us the next day, all being well. On the way back down to the boat, the mechanic who'd got stuck in the mud on Sunday appeared out of nowhere! He took one look at the motor and phoned ahead to say we'd need a new boat on arrival at Homps. To be honest, we'd be lucky to make it there.

We passed various other beautiful villages and made it under a few more tiny bridges until we got to just outside Homps. The closing of the locks made it impossible for us to reach our destination. We weren't far off though and Auntie Ju and Uncle Wes who'd reached the Homps earlier in the afternoon walked out to meet us. We moored, had a couple of glasses of well-deserved rosé and headed into town for dinner.

This was our last night together as my two Uncles and my Aunt would be leaving to go back home the next day. We enjoyed our tea, walked back to the boat in the dark, had a coffee and got an early night.