Thursday 4th August. We all had a bit of a sleep in this morning as we didn't have to be ready by 9 am to achieve pole position at the first lock. Jan and I had bought a few slices of bacon and some eggs to have as a meal one night, but we decided to have a cook up for breakfast. Not a particularly easy task, but Kevin managed admirably. While cooking we decided to move the boat a bit closer to the power and water services, so Kevin kept cooking while we retied ...

Tuesday. Paul and Kevin got the bikes down this morning and biked into the town where they managed to find a boulangerie where they bought 2 x baguettes and some scrolly things with custard and raisins in them for lunch. Off at 9 am to get to the first lock when it opens. Once there the lock was closed to allow another boat coming down, so we had to wait about 20 minutes. We did about 5 locks before lunch, having a cup of tea on the way. It is really time c...

Monday Got up at about 8.15 and had our usual fruit and cereal breakfast and then bade farewell to Charlie and Lari who had a much tighter schedule than us and had to get going. We all then walked up to the caves where we had a wine tasting at about 9.30 am. Bought a few bottles of their very nice wines and then walked through the village of Bailly. Not much to see except very quaint, very old houses – I suspect that a lot of them are now holiday homes. Ve...

Friday Got up really early and after breakfast finished packing and off to catch 3 trains (2 x Metro and 1 x long distance train) to Joingy to pick up our boat. We arrived well early and after a necessary coffee walked the 1 km with all of our baggage to the boat depot. Left our baggage there and after a bit of a hassle found a supermarket. Did a big shop and then thought 'how the heck are we going to get this back to the boat'Managed to get a taxi and eventuall...

Friday Got up really early and after breakfast finished packing and off to catch 3 trains (2 x Metro and 1 x long distance train) to Joingy to pick up our boat. We arrived well early and after a necessary coffee walked the 1 km with all of our baggage to the boat depot. Left our baggage there and after a bit of a hassle found a supermarket. Did a big shop and then thought ‘how the heck are we going to get this back to the boat’ Managed to get a taxi and ...