Canal du Midi day four

We were up early today as we thought it was 7:30am when in actual fact it was 6:30am. The clouds had gone and it was another stunning day. This now meant we had and extra hour to go and have a look at some of the shops in the main street of Carcassonne before heading away. By 8:30am we where on the streets window shopping but most of the shops did not open until 9:30am. We spotted lots of shoe shops that had sales on of up to 70% off so decided to wait until they opened.
By 10:45am we had bought two pair each and now needed to get to the boat as we had one and a half days sailing to do or we would not have the boat back in time for the next day (Friday) at 2pm.
The first lock was at the harbor of Carcassonne so this would be our first attempt at managing a lock going down rather than up (it’s called locking down). This did not go quite as smoothly as we had hoped as you have a down current and this morning there was a bit of a breeze to contend with. Sheree had to work the back of the boat and as the water goes down you just feed the ropes out.
By the next lock we where looking much better and from then on we looked pretty professional. Later we helped another boat of older people who were having major troubles with the ropes as none of them could jump off the boat.
It was a fantastic trip down the canal for the rest of the day and really hot again.
When we reached the town of Trebes about 1pm we decided to stop off and by some groceries for tea rather than stopping over night and buying tea at a restaurant. This would mean we would get further down the canal by the end of the day. The lock keepers stop work at 7pm.
First we went to the tourist information centre were they had local produce. We bough a bottle of wine and beer and some olive paste. They showed us were the supermarket was about 15 min walk away. Here we bought local kababs, rice salad and tubole. On the way back we stopped at the local bakery and got some really nice looking sweet treats for desert. Then we were back in the boat and on our way down the canal.
By about 7pm we had found a nice spot to moor at, and it is here that we will have a few wines in the late afternoon sun and cook our tea before bed.