Well that was the plan, but while nine boats were waiting for the first lock cycle a black Dutch Tjalk passed us all, briefly waited and when the light turned green he ignored everyone he passed and took the first lock.

We were told, that in professional cycles, where waiting means losing money, a upset crew would have slowly poured a can of very thin paint from a bridge onto the offending boat as a lasting penalty! I don't assume the Dutch skipper will read the page, but just in case I guess you were lucky to not having done this on the Rhine!

As a result we waited until the afternoon to be able to pass the staircase.

But everything has two sides. While waiting a group of bicyclists showed interest for the Avanti B. As it turns out they were Swiss. We gave them a brief tour and agreed to meet for an cocktail later in the day.

Villeneuve les Beziers - everybody seems to be into biking these days.