Tuesday 23rd August - Avignon to L'Ardoise

We slipped our moorings just after 10 o'clock and enjoyed a beautiful 8 km run under a perfect blue sky and not too much wind.  The Mistral had been blowing a fair bit for the last two days - good for drying washing but not so for cruising........we picked the timing just right.  We had not too long a wait for the Avignon lock and rose the 10m very sedately.  Five minutes or so out of the lock the Italian cruiser decided to up his speed and he raced between Aphrodite and Cornelis k. creating a huge wash and rocking us both off our feet!!  He then slowed completely and continued at the same speed as us........Italians eh!!  We arrived in Port L'Ardoise around one o'clock to find that the Capitainerie and indeed the bar/ restaurant was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays - not such good planning!  We had a spot of lunch and some wine, all complaining about the heat since hardly a breath of wind was to be had.  When Skip had had too much he decided to go for a swim - the water is quite clean now.  Crew had a lovely cooling dip, then Henk came over for a swim as well.  We just had steak, salad and bread.....none of us very hungry due to the heat, then fairly early to bed.

29 km 1 lock 3hours