2016 Part two

We left England on Sunday, spending two nights in hotels on our way back to Aphrodite in Colombiers.  The unloading of the car was very arduous as the car park is quite a way from the boat.  Henk, our Dutch friend who was to travel with us (his plan is to overwinter in Holland) arrived in the port but was unable to find a suitable spot to moor.  The water level was very low and, apart from hire boats it makes mooring impossible, so Henk moored alongside the canal.  After a few trips to the car it was decided to go for a cold beer since the fridge was not yet cold.  We messaged Henk to tell him where we were in case he wanted to join us.  No question about it of course.....he was over in a flash! A few beers and a good catch up later, Arthur arrived - so more drinks!!   This wasn't going to get the loading up done!!  We also had a bite to eat as we had left without breakfast.  We arranged to meet up on Henks' boat (Cornelis k) at 7.30 for drinks then Skip, Henk and Crew went to eat in Au Lavoir restaurant.  The food there is far superior to any of the restaurants in the port - a good dinner was enjoyed by us all!
Wednesday was spent getting Aphrodite shipshape, then Crew invited Henk and Arthur over for drinks and dinner......lovely evening.
We still had issues with the window that was broken on our last trip.  The glass that was ordered was not the right size when it turned up so Neil, the engineer had a Plexiglas one fitted.  The real thing will have to wait until we get to St. Jean de Losne at the end of our trip.  The only problem was that it was not wise to re-fit the windscreen wiper as the 'glass' would probably not be strong enough for it.  Then again, the wipers sent from Boarnstream in Holland were not the right size either so Skip had to go to the motor shop to find the right size wipers.  Nothing but problems with boats!!  We promised Henk a lunch in one of our favourite restaurants in Poilhes and Arthur was to join us too. Hmm........lucky Crew - three men!!  We would have liked to have taken Aphrodite out but, as the water level was so low, we had our doubts about being able to get back into our mooring spot.  So we went in Henks' boat.  We had a delicious lunch and a lovely cruise back in the sunshine.  Neil arrived shortly after we got back as one of our two remaining windscreen wipers was not working - we needed two out of three at least!  The problem was fixed and a lazy afternoon and evening followed as we are on the move tomorrow!Au  revoir Colombiers