Now that Rita was back on the barge, it was time to move on again. But first we needed to give back the key passes, which got us through the security gates, to the Capitainerie. While Rita was doing that, my Kingfisher friends returned, and this time I got a photo of one looking at itself in a reflection on the window of the boat behind us. Made me wonder whether putting a mirror on our deck would get one to pose while looking at itself?

We made a 0925h departure, and headed out on to the misty River Saone.

Given the forecast weather change over the weekend, we were keen to get as far north today as we could manage.

As always there were plenty of birds to see, including this cormorant drying its wings on a channel marker pole …

… this flock of cormorants taking flight in front of the barge ...

… and these swans just idly paddling up the river.

We soon passed the entrance lock for the Pont de Vaux canal, but since we were now in a race to get to Auxonne before the weather changed for the worse, we passed by and resolved to explore it at a later stage.

We had a 45 minute wait at Ecluse Ormes (PK119) after being caught by a commercial barge, but then had an easy run to Chalon-sur-Saone. The colourful gardens at the entrance to the moorings on the bypass waterway were easy to spot.

There were also several large hotel cruisers in port, and they made an interesting contrast with the old part of town.

But we kept on going beyond Chalon-sur-Saone, and eventually moored for the night at Gergy. There were supposed to be many facilities at this mooring, but everything had closed for the season. Even the pontoons were a bit rickety and in need of a little TLC. But it looked like it would be a satisfactory place for a one-night stay.

So we headed into town for a walk around, and served a useful purpose by kicking the soccer ball back to the kids training on a local park, after they continually kicked the ball over the fence onto the road. We then checked out the local church and pub (the Whitehorse Inn).

Although the main street was relatively plain, it had a cosy feeling about it.

So we did a bit of shopping at the supermarket, boulangerie and butchery before heading back to the boat. On the way back, we discovered a big pile of autumn leaves and couldn’t resist kicking our way through them.

There were a few big boats that went past at night, but they didn’t cause much disturbance. The moonrise over the river was peaceful, if not particularly spectacular.