The countryside is rolling hills, Charolais cattle and crops. Lots of villages along here each with a church. Every now and then the French airforce came to say Bonjour in a low level fly by that was so loud and low it made me duck my head, thinking we were being invaded. Alan thought they might be Mirages doing some kind of navigation exercise perhaps. Very loud but impressive. Later on four of them raced overhead very low. Off to the Officers Mess no doubt.
So things were going well. Right up to when our bow thruster stopped working just before we started a staircase of locks. 14 in 5 kms. Nothing we could do but continue on without it. Lots of boats don’t have a bow or stern thruster so it’s not essential. In fact real men don’t need bow thrusters apparently so there you go. They are just really handy! At 3.30pm we stopped for the day at Pouillenay. There are a few bollards, a water robinet and two picnic tables under some trees. The temperature went over 30° on the deck. We walked the 600m into the village but the shop was closed.Funnily enough we were tied up next to a Nichols hire boat with a couple from Wanaka (South Island, New Zealand) onboard. Small world!
So a mixed day. The locks were good but losing the bowthruster wasn’t ideal. I guess that’s boats for you. Never a dull moment. (Bound to be expensive). Speaking of which, the next day things got complicated. Did you hear the one about the Dutchman, the Italian and the Kiwi? Stay tuned…
Montbard to Pouillenay 18kms, 19 locks, 6.5 hours.
Just love following you two on your floating journey. Knowing Captain Hodges, I would say he could handle being with out a bowthruster. Nice touch, your floating garden. We have Kiwi guests with us at the moment from Tauranga. Seems you Kiwi’s are ever where. Adventuresome folks.
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Thanks Lee. I know you two are adventurers also!
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Love the garden and solar light! Chris’s favourite toys. Keeps showing me them at night through the windows … 😀
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