Monday 17th June A very hot travel day

Idyllic start today with a healthy breakfast of fresh peaches, honey and yoghurt. 8.30am, and the day took a slight turn as incredibly two boats rounded the bend and lined up behind me for the 9am ecluse opening. Luckily the eclusier would only allow two boats in the lock so that was fine and the boat behind us was french owned Arger who we had shared time with on previous days. With a long travel day planned with 12 locks, we did not fancy being up at the gates each lock and spending half an hour getting through each one. It was during my discussions with the eclusier that Collette decided to launch a torrent of mockery in my direction. I have to admit it was well deserved and I am very grateful for her ripping me to bits for it as she is spot on and i will endeavour to stop it with immediate effect. I have got into the terrible habit of ending each sentance I speak in French with a gallic uh? quel temps, uh? je suis partir a neuf heure uh! To make matters worse I have also attained that annoying Australian habbit of raising the intonation for the uh sound. Basically I sound a bit of a dip so will try hard to lose the uh?

It was a long day of kms and locks and even though it was a beautiful cruise,  it just got hotter and hotter. Lunch was taken outside  a lock and then we moved on. Passing through a very interesting stretch of very old trees with amazing trunk and branch structures.

 

 Felt exhausted from the heat and any shade was a welcome relief

 

At cercy la tour we locked watched over by a huge very white staue of the Madonna

 

Finally reached Ecluse 34 our last of the day at 5.30pm. 37kms and 12 locks completed.  We helped Arger with their lines for the last time today as the heat still made it difficult to stand on the quay out of shade.

 

We moored alongside a Carrefour. I trolleyed 100 litres of fuel and topped the tanks whilst Collette shopped. After the intense heat of the day we suddenly had a flash storm. Despite that I bbq a rabbit for me and steak for the crew. Rabbit is definately a favourite for me. very tasty indeed.

Not sure if it was the humidity or the wine but I spent a sleepless night working out how to get to Disney. It was becoming a very difficult logistical nightmare but one I was determined to overcome somehow.