On the road again ....

We set off on the great journey about 9.30 this morning, after settling up with the office and doing some last minute shopping at the supermarket. We had arrived in St Jean on Saturday evening, to find Saskia in good shape – all clean and tidy. On Sunday we had a lot of sorting out to do, stowing vast amounts of stores etc. Fortunately when we arrived it was cloudy and quite cool, so carrying everything down to the boat from the car was not too bad.

On Sunday evening the two-day festival of Blessing the Boats came to an end with a big parade of boats down the river and through the town. There were a couple of dozen, mostly gaily decked out with flags, ranging from 38 metre barges to 11 metre Saskia.  We didn‘t have many flags, but joined in anyway, and got a cheer for the red ensign – entente cordiale?

Here are some photos of the festivities: water jousting seems to be a major feature.

Boats moored up for the festivities:

Here's an eccentric tug in the parade, and others boats parading more sedately:

Anyway, this morning’s run up the Saone was uneventful, but always good to find the engine running smoothly etc. We stopped for lunch in Auxonne, and also to catch up with a few e-mails. Now we are at Maxilly sur Saone, at the start of the Champagne-Burgundy canal, which will take us north for the next few days.At least to start with it’s pretty rustic, as indeed is the Saone, so not many photo ops.

Here's a picture of Saskia after the day’s run, for those who don’t know her

Here's the captain writing the blog:

Oh, and Diana successfully negotiated her first lock ladder of the trip. I expect there will be plenty more!