We were glad that we had said we would leave at 10 o'clock, unlike Steve and Janette who had opted for 8.30 as it was cold and grey with spits of rain so early and by ten it was slightly improved. Our first lock was fine but the second, at 3.9 metres deep involved put our lines on bollards in the filthy wall then having to move them up as we rose in the lock - a tricky operation as it meant the lines getting wet and very dirty. Much prefer our locks to be no deeper than 3.5 metres!! There was a swing bridge just before the mooring at Vieville for which we had to summon a lock keeper to operate - he arrived within minutes, opening the bridge and allowing us through. Unfortunately there was no room for us on the long pontoon but Steve and Janette were moored on the end and invited us to raft up alongside them. All the other boats moored, apart from one French cruiser looked like permanent berths, including one very long barge......which is somewhat unfair on passing traffic. Skip dashed into the village to find bread in the little general store - he got the last baguette!
We didn't bother to connect to the power just for one night so we got settled and had some lunch. Janette invited us for 6 o'clock drinks so Crew spent part of the afternoon preparing a quick dinner again. We spent another pleasant couple of hours imbibing and chatting - sampling a delicious drink that they had brought with them from Blighty...... an apple brandy suffused with a little fruit juice. Very nice! Back on board Crew served up dinner which unfortunately had to be taken below as it was not as balmy as the previous two nights. DVD and bed.
9 km 3 locks 2 hours
No comments:
Post a Comment