Sunday 4th July
We woke up to rain, ouch not really wanting this! Still hopefully it won’t last but the forecast wasn’t too kind about being overcast. After breakfast we donned our cagoules, and we were off. Fortunately the rain eased so we didn’t get too wet though the sky looked full of it all morning.
The canal was even less busy, probably due to most holidaymakers being “fair-weather” French folk!
We haven’t described “Daisy” and sometime in the future we will not remember the details of layout etc., and we will be annoyed; an age thing you know!!!!
We are 9.5-meters in length, designed to take 4-adults and that’s a joke. Yes there are two doubles but minimal space if both put down. In the centre on the port side is the self-contained head and directly opposite on the starboard side is a wet room with a very good shower. There are two modesty panels that pull out to give privacy when needed.
Being just the two of us we’ve made the forward bed up, and the stern bed during the day is the dining table as it is directly opposite the galley. We don’t know where the table goes when this double bed is in use! As I said, ideal for two.
Opposite our bed is the inside helm which wasn’t used until we realised we were spending all day in the heat of the sun which was made unbearable once we had lost our parasol. So we go down in the heat but still have to be up top to control the boat when going in and out of the locks. ChristIne is obliged to be on the chamber wall and I throw the lines to her. These are big deep locks and being on the fly ridge makes throwing the lines easier.
Daisy being a sort of “tub” with an electric propellor that we think is also the rudder, control is interesting, I hope this isn’t the future or if so, re-design everything to make the system more efficient
Having said all this, we are very comfortable and very glad we’ve done it.
The rain eased by lunchtime and by mid afternoon our cagoules were drying in the sun along with the bits of washing we had done.
Sunday night was spent in “Trebs” a very small un-interesting French town with plenty of empty mooring spaces; I wonder why!!! We moored directly behind an English couple who, in their “Steel Cruiser” had been circumnavigating the European Canals for the past few years, and they intend to keep doing so. They try and do 6-months a year, broken into a number of visits. They now have to work out the best plan for their circumstances bearing in mind the 90 day rule in 180 days now U.K. have left eu. Just as an aside they voted “out” even knowing it might screw up their holiday life!!!
On the opposite quay were a number of bars and restaurants all doing good business, nice to see.
Tonight we had the Sunday Family Zoom chat and then it was the Austrian Grand Prix highlights and the 1st Lions match on tour in South Africa to catch up with, followed by bed.