Having arrived in Auxonne, and finished our cruising for the year, there is less to report on each day. So instead of a page for each of these days, I will just provide a summary of happenings, for each day in different periods.

Saturday 27 October

We arrived in Auxonne at the right time, because overnight we had some heavy rain, so we decided to sleep in. It rained until noon. So we occupied ourselves with some reading and blogging.

While I was typing, I tried out a little predictive text sentence construction, and this is what I got: “Now that we have arrived in Auxonne we can … get a ride to our hotel and then go walk and walk around with a beer or two!!” All pretty accurate except for the hotel!

Since we were going to Switzerland soon, we decided to get some winter tyres for the car, since they are compulsory in Switzerland in winter.  Rita talked with Albon and he said that he would arrange for it to be done in Poligny before he brought the car over to us in Auxonne.

We certainly got to Auxonne just in time. Apart from the rain, the temperatures have also plummeted. Today, it is 10 degrees inside and 5 degrees outside. So we were pleased to see that the Central Heating system on the barge works OK. It hasn’t been turned on for most of the time we have been in Moissac, nor on the trip North. But today I thought it wise to consult the manual and get it working. Initially, the control panel looked a bit of a mystery to me. But then with the help of the manual, it started to make sense (the following section is mainly for my benefit in future years when I once again forget how to control the central heating!).

The first thing to do is to set the correct local time, so that the Automatic on/off cycling works properly each day. The first thing to do is move the slider at the bottom left up to “Set Time”, then use the TIME+ and TIME- buttons to move the time on the display forward and backwards by one minute. Once the correct time is displayed, don’t forget to push the YES button to accept the new time. Then move the slider back down to “Run”.

The Central Heating (CH) will only operate if the Hot Water (HW) is also operating (since the CH works by circulating HW through the radiators). Therefore, it is necessary to first turn the HW on. This can be done by moving the black bar on the left of the display screen up and down by pressing the HW Select button. ON means that the HW is permanently on, regulated only by thermostats. OFF means that the HW is permanently off. AUTO means that the HW comes on and goes off at pre-determined times (which can be changed using the SET PRG slider at bottom-left). Currently, it is set to come on at 0630h and go off at 0830h, and then come back on at 1630h and go off again at 2230h. I haven’t yet worked out what the ADV position does (but haven’t needed it).

Once the HW settings are made, the same can then be done with the CH, by pressing the CH button to move the black bar on the right of the display screen. For most of the time, we have left the settings on AUTO (and set the CH thermostat to 20degrees). The two red lights on the right indicate that the HW and CH are both on. Occasionally, we have switched to ON for a boost or for when returning to the barge after an absence, during which time the HW and CH have been switched to OFF. In warmer weather, and when on shore power, when CH is not required but HW is required, we have switched the immersion heater on to generate HW with electricity.

Once the weather outside got very cold, we noticed condensation on the inside of the wheelhouse windows, which would then run down onto the woodwork. Turning on the exhaust fan when cooking solved many of these problems, but even so on cold mornings we noticed condensation just from the moist air we exhaled when sleeping.

So, on the previous advice of several people, we bought a Kartcher Window Vac, which does a good and quick job of sucking the moisture off the windows in a very tidy fashion. Like the Kartcher wet-dry vacuum, this is a tool worth its weight in gold on a barge.

Sunday 28 October

Today was cold, windy and wet, so we gave up the idea of going for a short cruise on the Saone when Sarah, Albon & their two boys came to visit.

Albon had got 4 new winter tyres fitted to the Scenic in Poligny, and while it was not cheap and we won’t use them very much, they are essential if we drive to Switzerland in the colder weather.

So we stayed on the boat, had lunch and then played various card games, which the boys enjoyed greatly.

We also decided to finally make use of the meringue we bought for Flis for her birthday when we were in Viviers several weeks ago, by building a meringue boat and releasing it in the port and then onto the Saone. It wasn’t the greatest maritme success I’ve ever seen.

It stayed very cold during the day, and then rained at night.

Monday 29 October

We had more overnight rain, and then it continued raining all morning (we certainly got to Auxonne just in time).

The heater radiator in the wheelhouse was not getting very hot, although all the other rooms were fine, so I bled the wheelhouse heater by releasing air trapped in the top of the radiator, and then it was much better.

Capitain John advised us that we would need to move off the hammerhead, because the connections between the hammerhead and the main pontoon were not very strong, especially when the wind picked up. While the hammerhead is useful for immediate short-term mooring when boats first arrive, he advised that we would need to move the barge to a berth on one of the finger pontoons on Pontoon A.

This was a tricky manoeuvre in a tight space between boats moored on Pontoons A and B, made just that more challenging by a cross wind blowing from the north, and into Pontoon A. But by taking it nice and slowly, and being aware of the wind, we managed to position ourselves alongside sister-ship Quercy without too much drama. On our other side was a 49ft Piper, Victoria, which reminded us where we would be going in a few weeks time. In total, there are five Piper barges in port, with Rangali a little further up Pontoon A, and Lady Jane over on Pontoon C.

In the afternoon, we drove to Sarah and Albon’s place at Besain, on our way to Bern. We continued our card games and were enjoying ourselves so much we decided to stay for dinner and the night.