With the household rather in disarray over the last weeks Mrs J is feeling a little behind with all her stuff. So without further ado, here’s the story of the river cruise, in a nutshell!

• First it was hot.
• Then it rained.

• Then the boat sprang a leak. (Or the rain leaked into the boat. In any case, wet stuff in boat.)
• Sun came out, everyone forgot about the rain!

• Locks. Lot’s of. Crew put to work. (Hot tip; if you don’t like locks, this kind of trip isn’t for you.)
• Food. Lot’s of. Some interesting local stuff including terrines and escargot, of course.

• Wine was consumed.
• Wine was purchased, then delivered, then exchanged. (It took a while.)

• Mr J got lobsterized. (Mrs J was sensibly wearing sunscreen, even on rainy days. She was very proud and smug to have avoided getting burned this time.)
• Toilet clogged, and was declogged. (No picture of this was taken. You’re welcome.)

The idea of the river cruise came up at Christmas and has been on the plan for months. The starting point was Joigny from which the penichette (expertly captained by Mr J) took the party of six down the river Yonne and into the Canal de Nivernais and back again.

Mrs J enjoyed it and thinks the whole crew did as well.

All in all a positive first experience. A good base for planning maybe a longer trip some time in the future.