Trip 21 Kms. Departure 10.30. Locks 5 of 128
After poached eggs and baguette we nervously left the berth with Volker waiting to follow. I eased Doucette out into the main river and let her warm before pushing the throttles forward. Seemed better. Steve had said try her at 1600rpm. If no better we would have to get to toul and a mechanic I had sourced. At 1600 she seemed better. I checked the shaft movement. Also seemed a bit better, less wobble on the gland but still a bit. I would play safe and use the engine sparingly. The trip was uneventful, thank god. We passed vim and Ajax tied up at the very crowded st. Mihiel.
We carried onto Sampigny and found a lovely remote mooring with a sole dutchmen tied up. The ships first lady was sunbathing on this beautiful morning but immediately got up at our approach. Next minute the ships skipper appeared from behind the trees and broke into a trot. We are moving he gestured. Bloody hell, had they seen me helming before, I pondered? There was plenty of room but hey ho, good for us. He was away in minutes, stuff just thrown anywhere, it was a bizarre exit! They had seemed so at peace and yet our arrival had turned them into scuttling rabbits. They could only be Dutch.
We tied up and I helped Volker moor. 5 mins later he appeared with brandy and 2 glasses. Marvellous. We adjusted the brandy bottle level.
We spent the afternoon sunbathing in this lovely spot before getting the cob in action in the evening. Volker produced his speciality dish. Kotofol, potatoes, with garlic bacon onions and paprika. Simple but absolutely lovely. You slice the potatoes very thinly and fry with the other ingredients till thay start to blacken. Fab. We enjoyed this with pork green pepper and onion brochettes and steak. We sat out on the grass and took a pounding from the flitting midges hoping that the strong aroma of alcohol would act as a suitable repellant before retiring just after midnight. It had been a delightful evening shared with Volker and Ava. Very lovely people.
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