We cruised through Belleville on our way to Briare – we cruised through it and back again with Lesley, Sarah and Andy when they came to stay; then we cruised back through again when we left, but not once have I mentioned it and it’s a shame to ‘waste’ the photos.

The official moorings are nice and close to a (very rare) decent sized supermarche; unfortunately they are too close to the road for me to let Daisy out with any kind of peace of mind, so we eschewed the free water and electric and put pins in a bit further up in a pretty spot by some ponds.

Unfortunately, whilst our back was turned putting in said pins, Baxter decided he was hot and would take a paddle. He came out looking immensely pleased with himself and stinking to high heaven!

The pond had many other occupants too

As you can surmise from the blown out cheeks, we were smack bang in the middle of the mating season and the noise level throughout the night and early morning was horrendous – sufficient to drown out G’s snoring!

Before we left, I cycled to the supermarche and somewhat overloaded my rucksack (note to self: must get panniers for the bike). Returning to the boat, I pulled into the centre of the road ready to turn left at the traffic lights when they turned green. As I slowed to a halt I became aware that my dismount was not going according to plan as the saddle got caught up the leg of my shorts and the weight of the rucksack on my back finished off the job as gravity took over and I hit the middle of the road face down. Normally on a week day afternoon in France there is hardly a soul to be seen but, much to my embarrassment, people materialised out of cars, houses and bars to enquire as to my well being. There was hardly a mark on me as I’d toppled off in slow motion but, due to the weight of the rucksack, I couldn’t get up and had to be helped to my feet by two young men who got out of their car. I was mortified and pushed the bike the rest of the way back to the boat.

I don’t know if I put these photos up of the power station either; if I did, I apologise but it has been a very hectic summer and my memory is not what it used to be. Besides, it’s my blog and I like them!!!