Monday 11th June - Belleville-sur-Loire

Not a good start to the day!!  As crew was enjoying a bit of a lie in below, a Le Boat cruiser went past us, far too fast - Crew thought she heard a clunk and indeed, a few minutes later we realised that we had lost our stern rope which was attached by our mooring pin.  It was pulled out of the ground and Aphrodites’ stern was out in the middle of the canal!  Our power cable was manfully keeping us attached at first but then the strain was too much and it pulled out and disappeared into the canal!  We thrusted the stern back and Skip jumped off to save the cable and secure our stern line - this time banging the pin in as far as it would go.  Crew had bought a high step for this trip to allow her to use the navigators’ seat and as there was a long jump down to terra firma, we were using it on shore.....alas that disappeared into Davy Jones locker the same way as the power cable!!  Amazingly, the power was still on when Skip pulled it out of the water.  We got ourselves straight again and discussed a plan for the day.
We decided to look for a supermarket as stocks were running low (no shopping for a week....Skip was having withdrawal symptoms!) and thought we would move the boat through the lock nearer the village.  We were looking at the boulangerie hours - disappointing...closed on Mondays!  But a man came and asked if we wanted bread - we said yes and he brought us a baguette, which was very nice of him!  As we passed the Information  Centre, we went in for a map and asked about a supermarket, then went on to book for dinner at the Logis.  A beer was then taken in the bar opposite, then as it was  by then after 1 p.m. as we passed the lock we asked the eclusier if we could pass through the lock.  We got settled in no time and had some lunch.  Then off to the nearby supermarket to stock up.  This rest day has been rather busy!!
The middle of the afternoon saw us cast adrift again!!  The bollard that our stern line was attached to was very low in the ground and Skip had passed it round twice in an attempt to prevent the rope from riding up but when a boat passed us, it escaped the bollard and, once more we were straddled across the canal!  We straightened up once again and avoided the problem by securing a central line above the stern one......which we should have done in the first place!!  Who said boating was a relaxing pursuit?
Crew busied herself with washing and ironing whilst Skip cleaned the hull (one side only of course) then we freshened up for dinner.  The Logis  had a large covered terrace so we opted to eat there as it was still a warm evening,  even though the other few diners were inside.  The meal was pleasant although we both decided that we didn’t like the razor clams which adorned our starter of a rather good bisque.  The rest was certainly passable and we made our way back to Aphrodite with full stomachs.
TV and bed as usual.