There was still a northerly breeze keeping the temperatures down, so Rita made the most of it by continuing to study for her upcoming exams. In the afternoon, we made our way into town to visit the Mariner's Museum (Musée de la Batellerie), for which we had heard many good reviews. It is housed in a small 14th century house on the main street just down from the church, but manages to include a wide array of interesting features, including a large number of model boats showing the various types of barge that operated in these waters (plus a large Free Library, containing many English-language books, a rarity in France). While we were there talking to Claudine, the lady who operates the museum, some small stones dropped from the ceiling above; she looked up worryingly, and said that this was happening more frequently when visitors were walking on the floor above!

We spent a couple of hours in the museum, and read a photo-book describing the building of Port Royal in Auxonne. Although that port looks very old, and perhaps associated with the adjacent Military Barracks (where Napolean studied), is was infact built from scratch (including excavation of the entire port from riverside land) in the past 15 years. Very impressive, and in stark contrast to the H2O port at Saint Jean de Losne, which has been in existence since the 19th century, and revitalised with the arrival of the Gerard family (and thereafter H2O) in 1987. I was especially fascintated, and impressed, by the painting showing what was involved in constructing ports and locks several hundred years ago.

In the early evening, I followed the first night of the World Speedway Pairs Championship where Australia (with Jason Doyle and Max Fricke) were competing in the Final against Russia, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Great Britain. Surpisingly, at the end of the first half of the 2-day event, Australia were leading title-holders Russia by a point. Might be hard to hold onto the lead tomorrow, as most points were earned by Jason Doyle, and if he has an off day tomorrow, then that's it!

In a break between races, I heard a first "swoosh" noise over the top of the boat, and realised that the starlings were starting to come home to rest for the night in the trees on the islands in the marina. So I went outside to wait for the next, larger group to arrive, and within a few minutes they did.

Their coordination in flight is amazing (never saw one bump into another), and is illustrated even better in this close-up shot.

Our mooring at SJDL is directly opposite the LeBoat hire base, so we see a lot of the comings and goings and the rhythm of the work program over the course of the week. Tonight, many boats of different shapes and sizes are at rest, waiting to be taken out tomorrow by new excited hirers. They look quite serene.

Later that night, we had a thunderstorm, but nothing to compare with the one we had at Auxonne a couple of weeks ago (thank goodness!).

Tomorrow, they will look more aggressive as new, excited and inexperienced skippers take to the river with them!