The air had the feeling of a hot day approaching, the sun melting off the last of the morning mist from the wooded hills surrounding Agen. I had breakfast and said goodbyes before heading to the Agen aqueduct. Stretching 1/2 kilometre over the river Garonne, I had a great view of the valley below.

I was going to look around Agen but didn’t want to deal with the faff of finding somewhere safe for my boat. This is a bit tricker on the canal compared with the sea. In fact, it wasn’t until around 6 pm that I found somewhere to stop for food. By this point I was feeling rather fatigued, having only had a small breakfast and some porridge to eat.

I went into the boulangerie in Malause and couldn’t only come out with bread! A pile of pain au raisins caught my eye. The pain au raisin is a classic for a reason. Baked crisp on the outside, raisins on the surface are caramelised and sticky. It only becomes better as you eat and climaxes at its gooey centre. This variety was encrusted with rare sugar crystals that made my mouth tingle. Usually seems to be great value too.

I’m enjoying the ease at which I can get off the canal and explore the land. I loved just being on the sea and didn’t feel the need to explore every inch of the coast, but the canal is more like a road, and the interesting part is what’s happening on land around me. The surrounding farmland is hilly and beautiful, it feels like taking a step back in time, before intensive farming and mega-farms ruined things.

It is striking how quiet the towns and the countryside are in this part of France compared with back home in the UK. Looking it up, the UK and France have roughly the same populations, but France is 2.3 times larger. I love how tranquil it is here. People aren’t rushing about and the pace of life feels slower. It is so relaxing.

The sensations felt far better after my feed and I paddled on into my favourite part of the day, when shadows become long and the sun golden. Road, rail, river and canal all ran alongside and I walked onto a bridge to watch the sun set.

It was dark by the time I set up my tent. A pole snapped, ripping the tent, but I couldn’t get angry, because there were no mosquitoes about and it wasn’t raining. I found my gas was empty, I must’ve left it open a crack, so dinner was a sad tin of cold lentils.

I’m now pretty much bang in the middle of France, so it should be another week until I get to the Med, but I think it may be longer.