St Jean des Losne to Lyon (or, Getting Close to the BIG SCARY RHONE……..)

Summer cruising on the Saone

It was an early start for our French neighbours as we were up and getting ready to leave at 9am, so the two chaps from the boat alongside came out and took their ropes which we reversed out and under from freeing us from the quay and allowing them to shuffle into our space without starting their engine and waking the ladies.

When we’ve done this route previously we cruised a few hours down to Seurre but had decided today we would go all the way down to Gergy.  When we’ve been to Gergy previously it’s been out of season and with it not being the most attractive mooring (in our opinion) we’ve had the pontoon to ourselves.  So I was confident that we’d get in, Mike was not so and sure enough, 44kms and 2 locks later we arrived to a nearly full pontoon with a gap that was just four foot short to accommodate us…..  However, the occupants of Dutch Barge Riana quickly appeared and invited us alongside, so we got moored up and immediately got the swimming gear out for a cool down.

Mike going au natural in preparation for showing off an all-over tan at the nudist beach on the Med.....

The first of many hotel barges

Off your marks!

SPLASH!!!!!

 We had a good chat with Caroline and Paul as they had just come up the Rhone, so we picked their brains on where they’d stopped and what the conditions were like and then joined them on board Riana for drinks before heading into the restaurant above the mooring for dinner.  It was the first time the seasonal restaurant had been open when we’ve stayed and they had a French Swing band playing that evening.  The campsite was occupied, the restaurant was busy and it felt like a completely different place. 

It was the night of the blood moon and having had clear skies all week we were gutted to see the clouds come in as it got dark.  We did catch the end of the eclipse later on though.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stop there but and it was with slightly woolly heads we pulled away the next morning under a light covering of cloud with promises of rain later.  The promises came true and by the time we reached Chalon-sur-Saone, it was absolutely chucking it down, but was still warm, so I had shorts and t-shirt on underneath my waterproof trousers and jacket!

So dull my photos are black and white!

Another monster taunting us from the sidelines......

Secretly enjoying the cool rain :)

There was a selection of goats and this little pony greeting us at our one lock of the day - very cute.

By the time we had travelled 47kms, through 1 lock and reached Tournus, the sun was back out and the sky clear again.  The quay was full (with free electric and water, no surprise) and we noted that one of barges was Aurigny, with Peter and Nicci on board, who we’d met in Sancerre, and alongside them was Whisper with Sue and Alan on board, who we also met in Sancerre.  With them already breasted up we slid up beside a large barge running boating and cycling holidays and asked the skipper, who was on deck, if we could breast up for the night.  He was more than happy to allow us and they turned out to be the most lovely neighbours for the night.

We had visited Tournus back in 2012 when we did a three week driving holiday through France in our darling Kitty Cate (Caterham 7) but had no recollection of the water front or quayside, so we quickly headed into town to find where we’d stayed and get our bearings from there.  We were also hoping to find the restaurant we had eaten in as we’d really enjoyed the meal and wanted to revisit it.  Once back up in the area we recognised we stopped for a drink and were sorry to see that the restaurant was closed down – plan B would need formulated……

Back at the boat we knocked on Aurigny and found Peter and his mate Pete not long back from a motorcycle ride and after greetings and introductions happily joined them for a beer and a catch up.  Sadly Nicci was back in the UK and not due to return for a couple of days, so we would miss her.

The Peters and Sue and Alan were all going out for crepes for dinner, the local No.1 place to eat so invited us to join them, on the premise that the restaurant could accommodate us, so we went back to the boat, scrubbed up and joined them.  The restaurant owners were just fab.  It was no problem to add us to the table and everytime the chef asked one of us where we were from, he seemed to have a friend from there!  Much amusement and catching up with Sue and Alan over the most amazing crepes, and then it was back to Aurigny for drinks.  Due to the heat (and possibly overindulging slightly the previous night), I was decidedly off the booze and after a glass of wine in the restaurant went on to water.    Despite this we still managed to sit out until midnight and I lost count of how many empty bottles were left discarded on the table…….

Being in your own company so much when you’re living and travelling on a boat, it’s nice when you meet up with people to socialise with and even more so when it’s people you’ve met before – it’s a small boating community in a huge country so when your paths cross it’s happy times.

Our mooring - yes, we are very small......... But even Aurigny looks tiny in this and she's huge!

Looking back to Tournus on our way out.

On my part, even though I was bright-eyed and bushy tailed it was with some reluctance that we left them at Tournus and continued on our way, but not before I’d handed in a bunch of fresh herbs from our garden to our neighbour, who I spent a lovely 20 minutes chatting with as she prepared apricot tarts for their guests' dessert that evening.  As we’d left for dinner the previous night, she had appeared at the kitchen door of the barge and handed in two portions of chocolate mousse tart for us – so kind!

With clear skies and a calm river, we headed off for Macon, with me spending some of the journey on the roof to catch the breeze.  It was a lovely section of river with pretty countryside and there was a holiday atmosphere on the boat.  Yes, yes, I know, we’re on a permanent holiday……….

As we past a mooring to our left about halfway down, we both commented that we recognised the boat and by the way the two people on board were waving realised we must know them.  A quick shifty through the binoculars revealed it was DB Derrineel, with Trevor and Alison on board, who we’d had a lovely night with last year on the Marne and enjoyed drinks and a curry together when they moored alongside us.  They have shares in the boat and we couldn’t believe that in that small window of them being on board our paths had crossed again, and as they pulled out and headed in our direction we hoped to get a chance to meet up properly.  Three and half hours later, we pulled into the new pontoon below the bridge at Macon surprised that it was half-empty – we’d been eyeballing spots all the way through town in case it was full, or we could head back upstream to the port where Derrineel had pulled into some time back.  The fact it has no water or electric could be the reason, or it does get a bit noisy at night and we had to move some folk playing bongos off the pontoon at 11.30pm.

Having had a look around the town and art market, we stopped for a kebab and drink thinking if we ate now, we could just have a light supper and not need to use the cooker and then headed back to the boat for a swim and to relax for the evening.

There is a fantastic and well-used cycle way along this stretch of the Saone (Fran and Sally!!!)

The sun has got his hat on, hip, hip, hip hooray!!!

A cool -55 degrees at Macon????

Much hilarity when we saw they'd snapped off the UK arm of this sign - we've not left yet!!!

I'm sure the brollies looked much prettier before they faded in the sun.

A giant river cruiser a bit close for comfort at the end of the pontoon :O

In the morning, we were getting ready to move when a loud blast of a horn caught our attention and we looked out to see Derrineel pulling in.  They were stopping briefly for some shopping, so we had a quick half hour catch up and then having established that we were going in the same direction and likely to catch up again properly parted ways for the time being.

Bye bye Macon - all starting to look distinctly 'South of France' :)

This is one of the big petrochemical barges that you are not allowed to share locks with......

Today’s target was Belleville, and having passed a few empty moorings and not many boats on the move were feeling okay about there being space, so you can imagine the sinking hearts when we approached and could see a cruiser, two speedboats and some dying, gray thing moored up…..  The dumped ‘Le Rat’, the gray thing, was moored in the middle of half of the pontoon, so we pulled alongside (she was short and round-sided so going alongside for the night wasn’t an option) and Mike jumped off to see if he could move her along to the end of the pontoon thus freeing up hopefully enough space for us.  However, her door was open and she was tied on to four different cleats with four ropes in varying states of decay and stringiness in all sorts of knots.  Mike shouted but, as expected, no one was on board and he just had a bad feeling that whoever had left the boat didn’t want her moved.  There was no one on the other boats to ask – probably all enjoying a lunch at the nearby restaurant, so we pulled off and headed for the next option at Montmerle-sur-Saone.  There was plenty space for us there and we pulled in trying to ignore the signs forbidding boats over 15 metres from mooring……  We’d heard it was strictly enforced and that a barge had been told to move at 5pm in the evening, so we didn’t settle in but waited on board for someone to come and collect the fees or chuck us off.  The chap didn’t arrive until gone 7.30pm by which time we’d stayed stuck to the boat, but had great fun cooling off in the water off the side of the boat.  I was sent out as the best chance at being allowed to stay.  He asked our length and I said, “15 metres”.  He looked at me, looked at the boat, then looked back at me, to which I smiled and said hopefully, “Peut-etre un peu plus….???”  I then tried to feign confusion that I thought it was boats of over 15 meters AND 20 tons that were banned but he knew I wasn’t that stupid, but he asked where I was from, and he has friends from Scotland and from everywhere all over the world. So I smiled and ‘Oooo….’d and ‘Ah…..’d and “…really??!!”d and stroked his ego appropriately until he decided he’d let us stay and not say anything back at the campsite, which is where the port is run from.  I thanked him for being so kind and we settled down for the night.  However, other boat owners, I wouldn’t recommend you try this if you’re over 15metres………..

The next day the temperatures remained in their now constant 30+ degrees and we pootled on down the flowless Saone.  

There are still quite a lot of commercial quays shifting sand and gravel on the Saone

Things got quite shoogly being overtaken by this monster.

We had hoped for a little flow to help us along our way but our original wish for perfect conditions had been granted.  We reached the beautiful town of Trevoux 20kms and 0 locks later and pulled up on to the empty pontoon.  This pontoon was also run by the campsite nearby and is limited to boats no longer than 20 metres, however, you go up to the campsite to pay and no one comes to check you – so if you were so inclined, you could probably stay a night without owning up……  We did check in, however, and parted with the princely sum of 24 euros for the pleasure.  Our swim to cool off over the side informed us that at this point in the river there was a slight current and we found ourselves floating downstream more easily than the upstream push.  What was quite disconcerting was when a commercial barge passed on the other side, we were sucked the wrong way and pulled upstream, even though they were nowhere near us!

After paying our dues and ordering some bread and croissants for the morning we headed into town for a look, noting en route that there was a free concert on the waterfront that night hosted by the barge, “Fargo”.  Having enjoyed the music in the restaurant at Gergy we decided we’d go along in the evening.  The town is a pretty town, but probably looks more spectacular from the water than on land.  There are a few arty shops around and we were tempted to buy an old copper fire extinguisher from a second hand shop, imagining the faces of the Gerndarme Nautique when we showed them that if they board us again…!! 

Approaching Trevoux - a stunning approach to the town.

The Rhone from the top of the town.  And yes, we are in the shot - can you see us!?

Back down to our mooring and we happily saw that Trevor and Alison on Derrineel had caught us up and were in the water cooling off, so we quickly changed and joined them.  They had moored at Bellevue the previous night expecting to see us there, but the pontoon had been empty when they arrived – apart from ‘Le Rat’.  Sometimes our timings of reaching moorings is just out.

Needless to say, an invitation for drinks on Derrineel in the evening was accepted with huge enthusiasm and I have no idea how much we drank, but Alison was still off the wine three days later.  Say no more.

It was all so civilised at 6.30pm.......

August the first was baking again as we pushed off, feeling slightly queezy and less than crisp, heading for our last stop on the Saone, as on leaving Lyon, we would be joining the Big Scary Rhone – aaaarrrggghghhhhhh!!!!!  The river was very quiet and we passed barely any commercial or pleasure craft on our four hour trip downstream.

Coming into Lyon. 

We’d called ahead that morning to check there was space in the port, and after pulling onto the fuel boat for diesel just upstream of the port, we rang again as we left there to announce our arrival.  We needn’t have worried about space, the big port was nearly empty, with a few boats on the finger pontoons on the left and not a single barge on the big, long quay on the right.  It’s a really lovely port, quite new with all facilities and next to a large modern shopping centre and a quick walk from some waterfront restaurants.  We decided to stay two nights and as soon as we were checked in, we took the tram up to the shopping centre near the station to Darty to buy a portable air conditioning unit!!!  Trevor and Alison had bought one and having seen it in action at Trevoux, we decided we should get one for when we are in port (with shore power) and it is really hot, and then we can take it to the house when we move in later this year.  We took our little trolley with us that we normally use to cart our diesel back to the boat, and got surprisingly few strange looks as we wheeled it around the shopping centre and back on the tram to the boat.  There was only one scary moment when Mike reckoned we could use the escalator in the shopping centre and couldn’t quite get the tilt position required to move it at the bottom and there was almost a pile up as he manhandled the whole lot out of the way – we took the lift after that………

Nice fountain for cooling down in the centre of town.

The Rhone running through Lyon has a slightly prettier waterfront than the Saone. 

Looking very smart in his new shorts and shirt :)

Where we're headed - not Paris! 

Loved these electric signposts which not only changed information but swivel around to give you different directions.  Unfortunately my shutter speed doesn't do them justice!

And this is the trial self-driving electric bus!!  As it slows towards a stop you push the button and it stops to let you on :)

We have visited Lyon before in 2016 when we were travelling through France for a month and spent three days there so we didn’t feel the need to do the tourist thing but we had a look around and made use of the array of shops to get some new sandals for me and a couple of cool little summer dresses to wear while cruising in extreme heat and some shorts and a nice linen shirt for Mike. 

Trevor and Alison caught up with us, though we only saw Trevor and the dogs on Wednesday as Alison was on the floor hugging the air conditioner…………  They also planned a couple of nights in Lyon before heading onto the Rhone for a few hours travel and then to come back, just to see if Derrineel could handle it, so over dinner on Thursday evening we arranged to go in convoy, safety in numbers and all that….., on Friday 3^rd August.  Rhone day!!

Auxonne to Chagny (Or, The Very Bad Day and Aileen Has A Tantrum!)

What's that coming under the bridge - is it a monster??

We had a TERRIBLE day on Thursday 12^th, really awful and I was ready to jack it all in.  Of course, it was all first world problems when you look back and put it all into perspective, but nevertheless, it’s a day I’d prefer not to do again.  But before I open my laptop and let my fingers rumble about The Bad Day, let me take you back a week or so and we were off on our hols to Carcassonne.

It was a very early start for us on Saturday 30^th as our train from Auxonne was at 7.50am and it was a 20 minute walk to the station, however, as it was getting light as we left we didn’t feel too bad.  Our trains all ran on time and at 13.28 we pulled into Carcassonne, the sunny south of France for a week’s holiday with the ski crowd.

 

I had brought my waterproof with the hope if I did, I wouldn't need it....

We were not amused at all by the weather forecast and having arranged to meet the owners of the gite we were renting at 4pm headed into the town centre for some lunch and a glass of wine.  After doing some food and wine shopping and a little later than 4pm, we took a taxi out to our accommodation for the next week.

The gite was amazing, in the village of Arzens on the outskirts of Carcassonne, it had been the paternal grandparents’ home of the woman and brother who now run it, and they had been winemakers so it was on a very grand scale.  Marie Christine was delightful and with her English-speaking mother, Mme Guilhelm, assisting, showed us where everything was that we would need for our week.

By 6.30pm, they left us to it, Mike started making the tea, the wine was cracked open and the rest of the gang arrived in dribs and drabs.

We drank a lot of wine that week in between chilling out by the pool on the warmer (hungover) days, visiting Carcassonne, touring the local area to take in Minerve and some of the local caves, Homps where we tasted wine by the canal, Castelnaudary, where we tasted wine by the canal again…. We also looked for Richard and Fiona’s boat Ilona (who we met on the Nivernais), but didn’t see her, so she must have still been out cruising, taking advantage of the warm autumn.  We ate and drank well and had great fun back at the gite in the evenings chatting, playing pool, and wine tasting.  We were also invited to Couffoulens, where Marie-Christine and her mother live in the family chateau, and invited us to taste their wine.  Although they have had vineyards for a long, long time, they used to sell the grapes for someone else to make the wine, but last year, Marie-Christine and her mother decided to start bottling it and selling it themselves.  The cave is being done up so they can do visits and tastings.  The chateau was absolutely amazing and we felt very privileged to be invited into their home and shown around.  We left shortly after a loud crack from an antique sofa proved that the French design of legs only at the ends doesn’t really support two large men and a medium-sized  woman that well……….

 

View of Minerve from a panaromic viewpoint

Looking up at Minerve from the river bed

The huge cave at Minerve carved by the waters

No trip to the South is complete without a lunch date at Domaine Gayda

Despite our appearance, they still let us in

Coffees on the terrace

Blending in with the locals at Fanjaux

Patchwork countryside

One of the best "stumbled upon" places for lunch ever!

My dessert, from my 15euro three course meal which included a large glass of wine!!!

Not sure if that's the devil or an angel on Ali's shoulder - or just a second head........

The Addams Family!

All too soon our week was over and we were back on the train to Auxonne.  As we alighted our final train I noticed Mike was limping slightly and he said his foot felt a bit tender……. 

 

Hello old girl - have you missed us??

Sunset at Auxonne

The next morning it was clear that this was the start of a flare-up of his tendon access inflammation condition as his foot had swollen considerably.  We rammed 800mg of ibuprofen into him, as per the consultant’s instruction when we’d last seen him and crossed our fingers we’d nip it in the bud.  Trying to rest it as much as possible I walked over to the capitainerie to pay our fees before we headed off to St Jean des Losne.

Mike took the tiller which meant he could rest the foot a bit rather than going up and down the boat and sorting ropes etc on the locks, continued with the high dose of ibuprofen for the day and noted it wasn’t getting any worse.  Coming into St Jean des Losne it felt like the end of the holiday as we were now on familiar waters we’d covered earlier in the year and would be until we turned down the arm off the Canal Lateral a la Loire to Roanne.  Still unable to face a glass of wine since the Carcassonne over-indulgence, we had a quiet night and headed early to bed.

Mike had slept fitfully and his foot was now getting quite sore, but the next morning we walked up to the chandlery to buy some bits and pieces, including the books we will need for our routes next year – exciting!!  I had to go on ahead as Mike was going slowly and the chandlery was closing in 20 minutes, but he got there and we got what we needed and slowly hobbled back to the boat.  We kind of messed up our timings with our long lie, as we wanted to buy red diesel for the heating at St Jean des Losne before we continued on, but the wharf was now closed and wasn’t opening til 2.30pm – we’d thought it opened at 2pm….  So we had lunch and I worked out that we’d still have plenty time to get down to Seurre and down the lock before it closed at 6pm.

We pulled up at the wharf at 2.25pm at which point we saw the sign saying that today it’d be opening at 3pm due to a meeting….. At 69p (77cents) a litre, we didn’t want to miss out as we needed about 180 litres, which would see us through the winter.  The last time we’d filled had been when we were here in May!  Another boat joined us to wait, but by 3.40pm they’d given up….. we hung on and decided that we would just wait and then if we didn’t have time to get down to Seurre we’d stay another night here.  The (very apologetic) lady arrived just after 3.50pm and we were done and on our way by 4pm.  It was then that I realised I’d miscalculated our distance by a few kms and suddenly it would be extremely tight to get through the lock before it closed.  We hammered on down the river at 9km an hour (rock and roll!!) and I then decided to double-check the lock times….. this one was manned until 7pm – phew.  We could’ve taken the foot off the floor at this point but it’s a really boring bit of river, a deviation off the Saone which is a long straight cutting reminiscent of the Middle Levels, except with plenty of depth.

 

Not only did we make the lock at Seurre in plenty of time, they held it for us to go down with this big beauty!  (Lillyanne's big sister Pip???)

Our bright companion continues on while we pull into the port of Seurre on the left.

We were shattered as we moored up and I headed off to the capitainerie to pay for our night’s stay.  At 17euros, we made the most of the facilities and plugged into the power and filled the water tank.  Mike then continued resting his foot while I made the tea and did my usual jobs of setting up the telly and computer to watch BBCiPlayer, made the bed up, got drinks when required (still scunnered off the wine) and fell into bed shattered for another sleepless night while Mike tossed and turned and moaned and groaned with his elephantesque (by now) foot.

Tuesday morning arrived under the cover of a thick mist, and word of a strike that may potentially affect the locks ie. they may be closed if the lockies were out on strike.  We waited for the mist to clear and a few hire boats to head up the lock at Seurre and then confident that we could see and the locks were open pulled off in a small flotilla of hire boats and headed southwards to Gergy.  It was an uneventful day with the only excitement being the fact we really needed a pump out as the light had been on for a couple of days.  We’re reluctant to pump-out in a port as it’s not very pleasant for the neighbours, but trying to find somewhere to pull into on the side of the river had been proving impossible.  At Gergy we were on our own on the remote pontoon, so we quickly got the gear out and started to pump out, the tank breathing a sigh of relief as we held our breath……  We were on our third bucket of rinse water when we realised a boat heading downstream was pulling over to the side to come in.  The smell hadn’t wholly dissipated and we could have done with another rinse, but we quickly finished, cleaned up and were just packing the kit away as they pulled in.  A lady then came down the gangplank, stepped over the hose, climbed on their boat and as we were putting the kit back in the locker, they pulled off again……grrrrrr….. could’ve had that extra rinse!!

Having exerted his foot somewhat with a bit of pumping, Mike retired to the settee with a bucket of water, ice-pack and pain killers while I did everything else – willingly – for the moment……..

 

It feels better when they operate a large lock for several of us, rather than just one incy ickle narrowboat...

Wednesday dawned clear and bright, we’d had no rain since we came back from Carcassonne and once the days had warmed up, we were back in shorts for the afternoons.  Today we were glad to get off the river and onto the Canal du Centre and headed up the giant 10m lock to the port at Fragnes, with a stop en route at the huge L’Eclerc supermarket.  Mike had had a bad night on the settee with his foot, so walking around the supermarket was out of the question, and it seemed to still be getting bigger at times, though the swelling seemed to move around his foot between his toes and his ankle, or should that be ‘cankle’…..  So we stopped at the supermarket and I went and got the shopping, which was fairly easy as you can wheel the trolley to the top of the stairs to the mooring, though the stairs could do with a bit of tlc.  Getting some diesel however was abandoned for another time and we continued on the half hour cruise to Fragnes, where we moored behind the American tourists who Mike had shouted at for going past us too fast whilst I was at the supermarket, causing us to bang against the uneven metal piling and scratching off some of the blacking.  They didn’t understand his initial communication of, “Trop Vite!!  TROP VITE!!!” – however, “YOU’RE GOING TOO FUCKIN’ FAST!!!!” seemed to do the trick.

 

Bright autumn days continue as we leave Gergy

There was a working boat and a commercial loading up that we had to squeeze between to reach the lock from the Saone up onto the Canal du Centre

We couldn't fit in with the two hire boats ahead so had to wait for the lock.

Going up?!  This lock is so smooth it's like being in a giant lift!

Sunshine and blue skies await us at the top as we come onto the Canal du Centre

Mike doesn’t do resting very well, so even while his foot was bad and he was ‘resting’ it, after a few minutes he was up rubbing back paint, filling, undercoating as it is also the time of year for touching up the paintwork and varnishing the shutters.  Of course, once Mike has done the preparation, I do the more delicate paintwork as I have a steadier and more patient hand for staying in the lines.  So inbetween everything else, shopping, cooking, waiting on the patient, my usual jobs of tv and making up/taking down the bed, I was varnishing the shutters that Mike had stripped back and allowed to dry out the previous few days.  Then at Fragnes, I was sent out to collect a bag of kindling from the local park, which I did and snapped it all into the right size to fit in the drawer under the stove.  Shattered yet again, once I’d made the tea, cleared up and emptied the recycling along at the port, we headed to bed for me to get a good night’s sleep and Mike not to.

Unable to sleep during the night, Mike came to bed around 6am and fell into a sound sleep, so I left him until just after noon.  After I’d made breakfast, cleared the dishes, made the bed up and filled the tank with water, we headed off, and decided that with the foot not going down any and no pain killers or anti inflammatories having any effect, we should go to the pharmacy when we reached Chagny.  The day started off easily enough, with us remembering that we needed to enter and exit the locks on the Canal du Centre in the middle, otherwise the sensors in the middle of the lower gates wouldn’t register us entering the lock and the lock wouldn’t operate.  The locks were a mixture of reasonable 2.5 or so metres, with the odd 5m one chucked in.  At the first 5m we seemed to be stuck on a red light, so I got off and went to see what was happening.  The top gates were still open but there were no other boats in sight, so after about 5 minutes I pushed the comms button for assistance just after which a boat appeared coming round the corner to go down.  I went back to the boat and we waited for the green light to go.  My pushing of the button, however, had sent VNF over to see what the problem was, which was just as well really as the lock was horrible.  We tied onto the floating bollard at the front, and as we were using floating bollards, Mike decided to use the rope at the back as well and come up just on ropes, not using the engine to hold her into the side.  Big mistake.  Because of our length we were sat over the ground sluices and they showed absolutely no mercy.  Seconds in and water was spraying up the side of the boat and she shot out into the middle of the chamber, the tied-on front line snatched at its limit and she rolled to the side.  Meanwhile at the back, Mike was trying to hold onto his rope as he was pushed out at the same time as trying to use the engine to get us back under control.  It was awful and I’m so glad the lock keeper was there to stop it if necessary.  It wasn’t however, and we came under control and glided up the rest of the way fairly smoothly.  At the top, the lock keeper said he’d meet us at the next big lock as if he worked it, he could bring the water in more slowly.  He reiterated that we must make sure we go in and out in the middle of the chamber so the sensors see us, which we had been doing so I’m not sure what the problem was.  After the next two deep locks (STOP PRESS – ONE OF THESE WAS OUR 3000^TH LOCK!) it soon became clear that we are actually too low to trigger the sensor going in under the lower gates.  We had a few of these to endure and each time was just as scary as the first and I was starting to dread them and even put my life jacket on after the first one – I just didn’t trust them at all.  Meanwhile, Mike was beginning to struggle with his foot, so it was with huge relief that, having had someone flag us to slow down as we passed their moored boat at tick-over in a deep channel, causing no wash and not causing any boats to move a muscle, that we finally reached Chagny and moored in at the nice new empty port.  I went to answer a call of nature which meant when the capitaine pitched up, Mike had to speak to her, which didn’t please him, but I hissed, “I’m in the fuckin’ toilet, what do you expect me to do!!”  Turns out she spoke good English, and when we said we wouldn’t need water or electricity, she suggested we moor on the quay opposite which was free, whereas she’d still have to charge us if we stayed where we were – very kind.  So we moved the boat, then locked her up and headed to the nearest pharmacy, 0.4km away.  I walked on ahead as it shut at 7.30pm and it was now 6.25pm, but just over 2/3 of the way there, my phone lost signal and suddenly google maps told me I was 45 minutes away and had moved me to an entirely different part of the town……..  Not knowing the town at all, I wasn’t confident enough to continue on without guidance in case we went off on a wild goose chase and missed the pharmacy, so I turned around back towards the town centre, meeting Mike hobbling along and decided I’d had enough.  Enough of google maps, enough of no signal, enough of his sore foot, enough of the boat, enough of no tv, enough of painting, varnishing, pumping out our own toilet, having to squeeze past the only other occupant of our home cos it’s so small, having to make the bed up every night and morning.  Just ENOUGH!!!!!!  So much ENOUGH I did the best thing under the circumstances and burst into tears and threw my phone to the ground, not once, not twice, but three times.   But each time onto grass cos I didn’t reeeeaaaaalllly want it to break……..

Back in town I reached another pharmacy with 10 minutes to spare before its 7pm closing time.  I had written an explanation of Mike’s condition on google translate, so after explaining he had a problem with an inflamed foot, let her read the background.  Having established he’d been on ibuprofen for three days, she said that she was unable to give anything stronger without a prescription and could Mike go and see a doctor?  Mike arrived at this point and when she saw his foot she said he really should see a doctor and offered to phone one for us.  We leapt on the chance to see the GP and a few minutes later, with the aid of a newly purchased walking stick, we walked the 50 yards to wait in a line of three to see the doc.

She spoke no English, but was very pleasant, and was visibly shocked by the size of Mike’s foot.  Again, I showed her the explanation, established that it’s not gout (or la goutte), and she had a good look, took his blood pressure, checked his pulse and then wrote out a prescription for him; steroids, strong pain killers, and another bright blue pill that said, ‘opium powder’ on the box (?).  “That’ll be 50 euros.” She said as she busied herself putting her kit away.  Now, when I saw the doc last year in Carcassonne, it was a standard 25 euros and you filled in a form that the GP signed, for claiming it back when you get home, under the reciprocal health arrangements we have as members of the EU (oh, happy days…..).  There was no form here, and despite the card machine on the desk, she insisted on cash only – well, it saved her a trip to the cashline and to be honest, we’d have paid 100 to get the prescription……  She then rang a pharmacy, due to close in 5 minutes, to ask if they’d wait for us, but having seen where it was, we asked if there was a local taxi company as it was a 20 minute walk away (the first one we’d tried to reach!) and we didn’t have a car.  When she learned this, she quickly picked up the phone again and phoned another one 50m down the road where there was still someone there, even though they were now closed.  They said they’d wait for us, so we thanked the GP for her help and waddled down to the pharmacy.  The pharmacist was lovely and spoke a bit of English, as he unlocked the doors and let us in to get our drugs.  Having established that Mike could drink with these drugs, we asked if there was a local taxi firm we could call as we couldn’t face the walk up to the port again.  Not only did they find a taxi company, but they called them for us and arranged for them to pick us up immediately from outside the pharmacy.  You know, you so often get help like this, or hear from other boaters of stories where they’ve been helped like this and you really have to hand it to the French – they don’t like to see someone in difficulty.

With a mouthful of pills swallowed, back at the boat we opened a bottle of wine and I got on with making the tea.  Within a few hours Mike’s foot seemed to ease off and whether it was the drugs, the relief or the wine, I don’t know, but when we went to bed (after chasing off a youngster trying to knick the life-ring off the roof), Mike hit the deck and slept soundly right through.

What a day.  So full of shit, but then so full of kind, helpful people that restore your faith in humanity.  

(Apologies for the lack of photos for the last couple of days of this entry but a) we've done this bit before and there was nothing new and b) I really wasn't in the mood!).