Day 60: August 11th 2017 Rafted on a dolphin!

Last night we agreed the Danes would set off ahead of us as we didn't think that 2 boats in a lock was a good idea on the way down as the rearmost bollard was pretty much in line with the sill of the lock which could damage Laurin if we hit it on the way down. They left around 8 while we enjoyed bacon and eggs before leaving around 9. We had agreed where we were likely to stop but were a bit concerned as stopping points seemed few and far between and the one we had identified was only for one boat!

Locks were every km or so, which meant getting any jobs or school done was tricky. Add to the mix that we had invited the Danes for dinner and it made for a very busy day. Esme did really well managing to get a section of maths completed and AJ did some lovely reading to me. We also had a bit of a tidy up of the boat.

In contrast to many of the locks we travelled through on this journey, we had some spectators at a number of the locks today. Some ramblers, a Dutch couple cycling from Amsterdam to Barcelona, and a family or 2.


I got a little excited at one lock which appeared to have a bar next to it but sadly it was closed. Not sure where we could have tied up nearby other than sitting in the lock and hoping nobody else came but it would have been nice....

 Other than that we admired the countryside. There is an abundance of dragonflies and pond skaters as well as herons and other wildlife. Today I was also amazed by the fields of sunflowers which I can only imagine are to be harvested for the seeds.

On arriving at our agreed stopping point we were somewhat discouraged to find another boat there... not Danish! As we knew of no other stopping place that we could reach before the locks shut we were a little concerned as we started to operate the next lock as well as franticly looking for Ola's phone number. Happily Ola got back to us saying that they had found a dolphin a couple of locks further on and we could probably raft alongside them. Dolphins are kind of little jetties that stick out for commercial barges to lie alongside with bollards on the shore to tie lines to.

Unfortunately at this point the lock decided not to work and we had to go through the rigmarole of using the telecom to get a VNF guy to help. At the next lock we so Ola and Esgar coming towards us so let AJ off to meet his friend. It was amazing seeing them run to meet each other and play on the shore so we let AJ run on to the Dolphin with his friend, racing Laurin.

When we were finally alongside Polux in a somewhat precarious position well out into the canal I got started on making a curry while the kids played and Patrick stayed on deck to look out for other boats coming. This stretch has been remarkably quiet and so we didn't really expect any more traffic, but if something commercial came along we may have had to move as we were taking up a great deal of the width of the river. Finally with all the food prepared I decided to take a shower and then true to form, right as I was completely naked and wet Patrick shouted to say a boat was coming! I got rinsed and dried in a hurry but thankfully the boat could squeeze by.

The Danes came over for dinner and looked like they were enjoying my curry (well 3 of the 4 came back for seconds so I'll take that as a good sign) and we had a pleasant evening. We discussed the next few days, agreeing to stop in Auxone for a couple of nights before heading quite quickly for Lyon, although we need to stop in St Jean de Losne for the Chandlery.

Early start tomorrow as we need to be up at 7 to watch out for any commercial boats that might need us to move so that they can squeeze by!