We left at 8.15am with the mistral still blowing. However, as it was moving with rather than against us it actually helped us move a bit faster and didn't cause too many problems – unlike its sister scirrocco a few weeks earlier! We chatted, watched Tv, listened to music, continued to transfer music to my laptop and looked out at the windswept landscape as we raced down the Rhone. Our second lock of the day was Bollene at half one – the deepest in Europe. I took the ropes to lasso this one as it was a momentous moment for us … and I hit the target first time. As we entered the lock the depth gauge on our fishfinder read 104 feet. Once secured we took only 10 minutes to drop 82 feet. There were ... read more

The next day we went off exploring. We could see a vineyard all up a big hill opposite and the little guide book the guy in the marina office had given us said there was a woodland walk to a wine producers. We set off to do that. It was a lovely walk through woods, past streams and vineyards and amongst nature. It was almost all uphill so was a good way to blow out the cobwebs from the night before! We picked fresh mint we found growing along the way as fred had suggested we make mojitos later. When we finally arrived at the Chateau itself we found it closed. We couldn't taste wine after all. Gutted. Still the walk had been nice and we could see out over the town from the top of ... read more

Becky and Fred arrived on a sunny afternoon and came back to the boat. On the way we saw our Algerian friend and his wife again who chatted for at least half an hour and invited us to attend the opening of their restaurant in December 2011. He told us the mayor of London was coming over, as Lyon had established partnerships with London. “Who, Boris Johnson?” Mike asked “White hair?” Fred said. “Yes, yes,” the man replied “A nice man, but a bit crazy.” It may be an option if funds allow....It looks like the area is going to be affluent and popular; an international footballer whose name I can't remember has already bought a penthouse flat overlooking the marina. I wouldn't mind a bit of hob-nobbing with the rich and famous! Once back on ... read more

Getting to Lyon... we headed off the next day in the drizzle but without the scirocco. We managed 1 lock and a few hours of dreary, wet bobbing along before the rain got horrendous and we gave up. The marina at Macon was full, so we tied up alongside the free moorings in the town. I got soaked to the skin in the process. Our plan had been to explore the town and sniff out the wine festival that we'd been reliably informed by our dear Chris and Phil was happening. The gods of weather had other plans. As the rain hammered down heavily onto the roof we poured a couple glasses of wine, I cooked and we cosied down for the night with a DVD. The rain didn't let up all night. Macon was still ... read more

The mooring at Fragnes was lovely – electricity, showers, water and a really friendly and helpful young woman in the office. The wi-fi was really unreliable, but we set up camp for a few days so we could do some jobs and celebrate Mike's 30th. The following day was Mike's 30th and I woke early to make him breakfast in bed, champagne and present him with his card and present. I'd managed to lose him for a while the previous day whilst I bought him something and had made his card ages before on a sunny day on the river – it was a map of france with our route so far and some of the highlights of the trip. I was very pleased with it and so was Mike … I'd even drawn on the ... read more