Having waited for the fog to clear we headed off with a stronger current at our back and no warm wind in the face.And just before lunch the cold rain came so we moved back inside.
Having seen what sort of distance we can comfortably cover we have a number of options for stopping tonight, and the decision will come down to the weather and energy levels - both ours and whether or not there is electricity on the pontoon!
We powered right by Macon - Sunday, no point in stopping for a wine shop! - and into lock #4 which was ready and waiting for us - with a cheerful keeper who, when he opened the exit gates to present us with a very thick fog, called down from his tower to say he hoped the weather made us feel at home!! We switched on the nav lights and nosed carefully out into the river.
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| It was sooo much worse than this photo suggests!! |
It was pretty hairy not being able to see two channel markers into the distance, and the guide books are in no way accurate enough to give you a real sense of what the river is doing so we were going pretty slowly, straining to see the next red post.
The fog lifted fairly quickly, and we reached our first stopping option, Belleville, to see that the pontoon was full of winterised boats, so we pushed on - not ready to start rafting up without permission!
20 minutes later we arrived at Montmerle's empty pontoon and moored up to find the electricity and water were shut off. By this time we decided to call it quits and A took Roxy off for a crazy run along the bank, followed by a good play with a pup and then a swim (phew!), while J rustled up some bangers and mash.
The milder weather meant we didn't need to run the gennie at all, and woke to 11.5°C inside the boat with no heating at all, so we definitely are feeling as though that barrier has been broken and we're heading to the warmer climes of home!
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