Argy Bargy in Barge Town

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Saturday arrived with a heatwave which was most uncomfortable as there was no shelter in the marina, not a breath of wind and lots of humidity.

We had seen the sights of Auxonne, and decided to head for St Jean de Losnes, not very far away but a good base to get some boat jobs done.

Sailing past the town of Auxonne was pretty and we soon reached the first lock, this was a canalised section of the river and a bit bland. Another lock and we were back on the main section which was lovely, with large white cows (they all seem to be white here) wandering down to the river for water and to stand in the shade of the trees, very peaceful.

The canal du Rhone et Rhin also enters the Saone along here, though there were few boats on the water today and no movement on the canal behind the lock doors. Also the canalde Bougogne enters , and thus Sr Jean is a bit of a bargy town.

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St. Jean-de-Losne is a barge town and the waterways capital of Burgundy.

There is an old 18th century stepped quay along the river with many lovely looking restaurants alongside, they were closed when we wandered down for a late lunch Obvs!!!!

Our mooring for the next few nights was at the Gare d'Eau, a largish marina full of all types of boats, mostly river boats and some very smart dutch replica barges built by an English company 'Piper'.

As we entered the marina we passed over a line of bubbles traverssing the water, this is where there is a lot of research being done to try to reduce the weed population overgrowth in the canals ( previously mentioned) and aeration of the water seems to be one of the ethods that may have some success.

Marina facilities were good, it was a short walk to town and there were lots of good walks along rivers and canals for the spaniel to enjoy!

Mike wanted to do some boat maintenance- the diesel elbow needed replacing, an oil change and small engine service, and perhaps replace the calorifier....again! What fun :)

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it was very,very,very hot and humid. It was also the football world cup with England playing Slovakia.

Mike wandered into town to find a bar showing the match, I stayed behind to clean the boat, much easier without the boys, and I find watching England stressful!

Later I wandered down and Mike was bit frustrated as the match wasn't going well, we got up to leave as there were some youths who quite obviously did not support England and we didn't want any trouble! and then they scored a goal, and a good one at that! And then another one in extra time, we had won and were through, amazing!

Feeling happy, Mike decided on another beer, I had seen the sky and thought it wise to set off back to the marina..... the heavens opened a few minutes later with a spectacular summer storm, and a soggy football supporter!

It had been a productive few days here, though the calorifier part had not arrived, and we were ready to set off and continue our journey south.