Sunday 10th June - Menetreol to Belville-sur-Loire

Skip wanted to leave at 8 a.m. as our weather forecast suggested light rain around ten o’clock - as it was we left at 8.45 under grey skies.  Half an hour after setting off though, thunder was to be heard, followed by increasingly heavy rain until a deluge was in progress.  We arrived at our first lock to find a young lady eclusier ‘ manning’ the lock.  She was just closing the top gate with us settled in the lock when another boat turned up, so she re-opened it and let them in.  It was a hire boat with a French crew and unfortunately, not the best experienced as they rammed into our stern with some force......will need to have an inspection later!
By the time we arrived at our second lock, the rain was easing off luckily and, although the lock was not prepared we locked through easily.  However, at our final lock, a large commercial barge was in the lock and there seemed to be a problem.......we hovered around for almost half an hour before a VNF man arrived to get things moving.  By the time we got into the lock, the rain started again, soaking us for the second time!  So an easy three lock, 22 km day turned into a very wet, frustrating nightmare!!
We arrived at Belleville just after midday and cruised past a possible berth with a power point to see if there was a better place but decided to turn around and go back.  Unfortunately our French friends arrived and took the place we had in mind so we had to tie up just behind them.  After we got settled they asked if we would take a drink with them - presumably to make up for the bump earlier!  We readily accepted and they set out their table and several chairs, along with a barbecue.  We learned that they had only hired the boat for the weekend - six adults and four children.....quite a squash on that boat I’d say.  They were very friendly and we stayed drinking and chatting for about half an hour, then retired to Aphrodite for lunch.
After lunch, Skip went for a recce and reported back that we were moored in the wrong place - we had both missed that fact on the charts!  That’s the problem with rain soaked brains!! The proper mooring was through another lock and was also fairly full so we decided to stay put and maybe move tomorrow as we thought we deserved a rest day.
Crew cooked fillet steak for dinner which we ate on the back deck as the weather was very warm and humid after all the rain.
TV and bed.

22 km. 3 locks. 3 3/4 hours