day 15 - draft
Wednesday, 20 April 2016
Moissac - rest day
00 km today - 406 km to date

When I arrived at La Petite Lumiere I had been walking for 14 days so I had booked in for two nights.  Partly to take the time to walk around the town but also to take some action about the 4th toe on the left foot.

So, I am last to breakfast and watch as our host, Anne, farewells her guests.  First away are the mother and daughter who return home today, after a fortnight walking.   I forget the order of the others as Anne takes care to chat about the things ahead.  I am fascinated at the relatively late hour that walkers seem to leave. They have 20 km to the next gite and will be walking in the heat of the day.  But that is their practice and I am sure it works for them.

As the town does not waken until about 10h, I read some more of the account of the jet ski trip around New Zealand while soaking my feet in water in my 10 litre wash basin. Then down into the town.

First is the Cluniac abbey.  Things seem pretty much as I would expect.  The monk's stalls are in the usual places and the mercy seat for each has the support decorated. What is missing is any form of enclosure to minimise drafts during the cold months, especially the screen that separates the monks from the townsfolk. I noticed the sanctuary was at the same level as the monks and the people.  This is similar to Westminster Abbey where there is one level from the west door through the nave, through the screen and the choir to the first step up to the sanctuary, but unlike most other abbey-cathedrals I have visited in England, where the choir is several steps higher than the nave and the sanctuary much higher again, as at Canterbury Cathedral.

Then wander through the town towards the canal bridge to the south east that Anne had suggested I visit.  This is not a bridge over a canal, rather it is a bridge for the Two Seas canal over the mighty river Tarn. And the bridge is magnificent.  It is about 300 metres long, has 4 metre wide footpaths on both sides and the canal itself must be about 20 metres wide, so two European canal boats can pass one another with ease. And these canal boats are humongous.  I see one approaching and, as there is a lock at the town end of the bridge decide to see how things are done.  As it comes closer I see the name on the front - Daisy.  As it draws close I see both a British flag and a woman on my side. When the woman is in hailing range I bid her “good morning,  Daisy” and guess from her reaction the boat is named after her.  When the boat is tied up during the descent down the lock I chat to the man: he retires next year and they plan to spend their years ahead on the European canals.

They move off towards Moissac and I start my return to the town also.  They pathways either side have a steady stream of people.  In the town I stop for a beer and return to the gite. Here I spend an idle afternoon trying to write up earlier days.

One guest, Jack, plus Anne and me for dinner.  Jack is French and has some English ,  so a bi-glot conversation between the three of us.

And so to bed