We were up very early for Rita to take a taxi to Valence Ville station at 0550h, where she caught a train to Poligny, so that she could then collect the car from Sarah and drive to Bern. After she left, I went back to bed!

When I finally got up again, I fixed the tyre on my bike, because I needed to do some shopping and then wanted to go for a bike ride. Ten metres away from the gate to our pontoon, I nearly ran over a metre-long snake lying on the pathway. So I did a wide u-turn and came back to photograph him/her.

Initally, when it was just lying on the pathway, I was unsure if it was dead or alive, since it didn’t seem to react to any of my movements. But when it turned around and headed back to the grass, I knew it was indeed alive and had just been sunning itself on the warm bitumen. Given the distinctive spots on its back, Ruth later identified it (from her nature book, back in Taggerty) as a harmless grass snake, but it was very pretty!

After a trip to the boulangerie, I went back to the chandlery to buy some foam tape that I wanted for sealing the gaps around the wheelhouse doors. Although there were two rolls for sale, I only bought one, just in case this one was too thick for the purpose. I then went for a ride into town, along the bikepath on the side of the Rhone. On the way, I got a good view of the Chateau de Crussol.

It was a very pleasant ride, which went through Jouvet Parc as it approached the main part of Valence. I got off the bike and found a bench just to enjoy the sun and the view.

I then continued on through various parts of the park, including the floral garden (containing the town name in case you forgot where you were)...

and the fountains, pond and outlooks into the park.

As I continued riding, I spotted a red squirrel on a tree which then proceeded to bury its nuts for winter.

When I got back to the marina, I extended our booking till Monday, and then returned to the barge to continue this blog.

If you’ve read more than a few days of this blog, you will realise that I am often saying something like “and then I did some more work on this blog”. Yes, it takes a bit of time to keep this blog up-to-date. You will often see that I do the blog updates when I am in port by myself, or in the evening, or when it’s raining! When lots of other things are happening, or we have guests on board, there’s little time for blogging. It takes about an hour per day to keep the blog going, so if I miss a week, it takes a full day to catch up. You might think that this is a bit of a waste of time - haven’t I got anything better to do? Perhaps, but I enjoy doing the blog for five audiences. First, for friends back home who enjoy barging and travelling in France vicariously. Second, for those already barging who like to read what others are doing. Third, for those thinking of barging, where some of the experiences we describe can give them a better feeling of what’s involved. Fourth, for friends who have been with us on the barge and who like to re-live their time on board or to show to friends. And fifth, for myself. You will often see entries describing problems we have encountered and solutions we have found. I have been saved more than once by being able to go back to the blog and see what we did last time. And it is nice to re-read the blog on occasion, and see just what we’ve been doing for the past 8 years.