Proficient

We had the luck of the locks with us today and we blasted through 9 locks in record time. Almost all of them were in our favour when we got to them so we could chug straight in without waiting for locks to empty or for other boats to come through. We have refined our wall leaping and rope tying but that doesn't mean we didn't make hilarious mistakes ... like lasso-ing a family member instead of the bollard ... and then the same family member lasso-ing herself !!!! 😂😂😂😂

The best part about the favourable lock conditions was it meant less time outside the cabin of the The Tub in the unfavourable weather conditions. It was very cold and very wet for most of the morning. Ms OfficeBody has been wearing sandals whenever possible in the last two weeks to give Grumpy Toe a long rest but with the cold weather she has been forced to endure the horror of wearing socks with her sandals !!! Luckily there are only 3 people in this country who witnessed this footwear atrocity and they are sworn to delete all photos.

We pootled into Auxerre in the rain and were thankful that we'd explored the town last week when we returned the hire car. The port was 4 and 5 boats deep in some parts, all moored side by side and tied to each other. We are now quite good at controlling The Tub but parallel parking is a big ask. We kept pootling and just enjoyed the views through the drizzling rain.

After Auxerre we left the River Yonne and entered the Canal du Nivernais ... then we dropped back into the Yonne ... and then back into the Nivernais again ... and back 'n' forth for the rest of the day. The rain stopped, the sky cleared a little, the socks came off and we enjoyed lovely scenery as we made our way to Champs-sur-Yonne for our overnight mooring.Read more