As a result of Mutti's passing in late August, we had another few weeks of non-cruising as preparations were made for the funeral, which was delayed to enable family and relatives from other countries to make plans to attend.

The day dawned sunny, so we thought we'd make the most of the weather by cycling down the Saone and then across to LeChatelet to see if we could catch Liz at her hotel, Cascarot. But when we got there, we found the place closed, and after a quick chat to a neighbour, Rita found out that we had missed her by only 10 minutes when she drove off for a meeting in another town. So we sat on the lawn and admired the Saone, which flows directly behind her hotel, and then we went over to the little port, where Rita went for a swim in the Saone.

We had enjoyed the 15km ride down the river, but the 15km ride back was a different matter altogether, after a strong northerly wind picked up. While we were riding alongside a flat river, it felt like we were riding uphill all the way. We were really made to feel it after a guy on an electric bike breezed past us at one stage! So we were very glad to reach St Jean de Losne and go for a beer at the Swiss cafe. We were impressed, as we were many times later, to be asked for our Covid Vaccine QR codes which they duly scanned. It just made it that little bit more reassuring when going out for a meal or drink.

Another quiet, sunny morning was interrupted by the sound of swans flying overhead. We figured these were the resident swans at the marina, but it turned out to be two interlopers, who were then quickly and noisily chased off by the resident swans. I did more work on the birdsongs for Mutti's funeral, and later in the day Rita headed off to the campground just north of St Jean de Losne to check out the local swimming hole that she had heard about. I cycled up there a while later and found her swimming in the river underneath this tree. After she finished swimming, we adjourned to the little buvette, where we grabbed a drink while we sat in the sun. Somehow, I suspect this won't be Rita's last swim here!

I continued with the birdsong editing, and while trawling the internet for some more material, I saw a headline that I thought I'd never see "ABBA Reunites". I followed the stories and found out that they had recorded some new songs together, and were creating a concert using "Abbatars" which would superimpose their old visual appearances with their new songs and voices. An amazing surprise, so I continued to watch the worldwide announcement and interviews and learn more about the venture. I also watched their two new videos, and as soon as the music started you just knew it was ABBA.

As the afternoon rolled around, Rita decided, not surprisingly, that she might just go for another swim near the campground. I joined her later for an after-swim drink in the sun. As we were cycling home, I stopped to witness something I had not seen before; an electric "hover" surfboard, which was whizzing around the Saone, much to the amazement of the fisherman in a more conventional water craft.

While Rita packed her bags for the trip to Bern, I continued with analysis of the Electcity Meter data for the Virtual MicroGrid project back home. We then drove over to Bern, arriving in the early afternoon. We went straight to Mutti's old room at Alenia, where Rita did a bit of tidying up. We then drove down to the Aare River at Muribad and walked upriver to the swimming pool area, where Rita went for a quick swim in the river, and then we had dinner at the Muribad cafe. We stayed there until sunset, and walked back along the tree-lined path to our car.

We then drove across to Breitenrain where we were staying at Chez Regina, just down the road from the Wankdorf Stadium. It was then that I discovered that I had forgotten to bring my wallet with me from St Jean de Losne, so I will have to be careful when driving (without my licence) and Rita will have to pay for everything with her credit card.

We awoke on Sunday morning to the sound of church bells ringing. The feeling of lying in bed listening to the sound of the church bells reminded me of the old Paul Kelly song "Randwick Bells are Ringing". As I sat on Regina's balcony looking down the street towards Wankdorf, I was reminded by the streetscape of the year I spent with Rita in Bern in 1998-99.

After breakfast we drove over to Alenia, where the family was gathering to decide which of Mutti's belongings they would like to keep for themselves. Rita spent a few hours organising things before people started arriving in the early afternoon. It was good to catch up with people who I hadn't seen for a few years. As people were browsing through items, I captured this photo of David (Lothar's son) reading an old book, with Rita appearing to gaze on with interest.

Surprisingly, very few people took many items, and most of what was laid out for inspection was still there after everyone left.

When everyone had gone home in the late afternoon, Rita and I went down to Muribad to relax. Since we had already entered Autumn, it seemed that many people were out to capture the last of the warm summer weekends, with a flotilla of inflatables rafting down the Aare.

We then returned to Regina's for dinner, after which we were tempted to sample something from the Ice-Cream Parlour in the street below. But the queue outside (because of Covid restrictions) never seemed to drop below about 20, so we decided to wait for a non-weekend evening to sample something.

Speaking of ice-cream (or at least ice), today I saw the photo below in The Guardian showing a port in Greenland in the middle of summer. And we think we might have it bad in France during winter!!

Late tonight Rita rode over to see Kuno, to wish him well for his 70th birthday tomorrow and see how he is going.

Today is the birthday of Rita's brother Kuno, and also our good friend Kaye Coates, from who's place in Talairan our barging adventure started way back in 2010. We headed to Muribad in late morning, where Rita had a river swim, before we had lunch. While sitting there I saw a small weasel scamper along the stone fence and down into the grass. We then went to Alenia, where I scanned some of the family photgraphs and some of the photos we used in the calendars that Rita prepared annually for Mutti.   The day at Alenia finished with a sunset over the city of Bern.

I spent the day at Alenia doing more photo scanning, then laying out the photos and printing them on A4 sheets, before laminating them for a display for the funeral later in the week. While I continued doing this in the afternoon, Rita and her brother Frank hosted a party for other Alenia residents who wanted to say goodbye to Rita Snr. They told stories about Mutti, and then got all the guests singing old Swiss songs which were favourites of Mutti, and would have also been well-known to others in her age cohort. Rita told me later that it was received very well, and indeed it must have been since an Alenia supervisor immediately asked Rita if she could do another singalong with the Alenia residents later in the year!

I started the day by sending out final reminders to those participating on our Virtual MicroGrid project to return their completed survey forms and to provide their NMI Electricity Meter readings for the past two years. Rita and I then decided to take the rest of the day off and enjoy ourselves by going on a little bike ride along the Aare (which turned into a 30km bike ride). So after parking the car at Alenia, we jumped on the bikes and headed south to Almendingen, where I got a great shot of the Berner Oberlander hills. The view reminded me of the Smoky Mountains in the USA.

We then rode down the hill to the Aare River. On this stretch I found that my brakes were not working properly and could not stop me when going downhill; so I walked the bike downhill until we got to the river. We then rode a track beside the river until we got to our favourite covered bridge. This is the turnaround point for many bike rides from Bern, and is were we rode with Doug and Lynne Walter back in 2014.

We continued back to Muribad, where we stopped for lunch, then continued riding through the trees along the Aare, until we reached the Tierpark at Dählhölzli, where we got up close and personal with this heron.

We then headed for central Bern, past the piscine at Marzili, and then along the Aare Basin, with Kuno's house on the opposite bank. In contrast to the flood levels when we arrived in Bern earlier this year, the river was now very low, with large rock shoals appearing everywhere.

We continued past the Bären Park, and then around the many bends surrounding central Bern, until we reached Rita's final destination at LorraineBad, which was today's location for another swim. Even though it was the middle of the week, there were still many people floating down the river, especially as it was approaching the end of the working day and many people were arriving for an after-work swim. Despite Switzerland being a land-locked country, they certainly are a nation of swimmers.

After about an hour of swimming, we started the ride back to Alenia, with a compulsory stop for a quick drink at Restaurant Altenburg on the Aare under the Kornhausebrücke. The ride back along the Aare was easy enough, but then we had the prospect of riding uphill from the Aare up to Alenia - oh, for an electric bike!

To finish the day, we decided to go to the restaurant at Tägertschi for dinner. Tägertschi is about 12km south-east of Bern and has about the same population at Taggerty back home (a couple of hundred), but the big difference is that Tägertschi has a direct train connection to Bern with an average frequency of about 20 minutes. The food was good, as was the view, even though the Alps were still shrouded in humidity mist.

After our busy day yesterday, today was less exciting as the rain arrived, and we spent the day packing up stuff in Mutti's old room. Nothing much to report.

Today we said goodbye to Mutti, along with many other friends and relatives from locally, Switzerland and other countries. After a funeral ceremony with family at Seidenberg Friedhof, where her memory will be honoured, we moved to Gümligen Church where the formal service was held for family and friends. The altar decorations were simple but beautiful, with Mutti's famous smile the centrepiece.

The service was marked by some thoughful words from the celebrant, a family tribute from Frank, and some beautiful African singing by Fanny and her group. To finish the service, we played the soundtrack that Rita and I had put together, featuring flute and voice by Rita and her friend Else (recorded at Romainmotier church), followed by a birdsong compilation to remember Mutti's love of the outdoors.

We then adjourned to the nearby community centre for eats and drinks and a chance to catch up with friends and relatives who had gathered for the day. Everyone seemed to enjoy the photo montage we had put together of various stages of Mutti's life, a sample of which is shown below.

Throughout the entire day, I had restrained myself from checking on the football scores from back home. And someone up there must have rewarded me, when I later learned that two Melbourne teams were victorious. Melbourne Storm won their final home-and-away game of the season to take the NRL Minor Premiership, while the Melbourne Demons won their Qualifying Final to keep their dream alive of a long-awaited Premiership.

After all the preparations for yesterday, today was a relaxation day for Rita and me, which we spent reading and packing in preparation for leaving Bern. I also followed the finals in the NRL and AFL back home, with wins for the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Western Bulldogs. In the afternoon we went out to Worb with Regina to visit the new gym/cafe that she is opening with several friends of hers, and that night I watched the Speedway Grand Prix meeting on YouTube,

Another relaxing day starting with brunch with Regina, followed by an afternoon of sport following the Wallabies victory over World Champions South Africa in the rugby union and then watching the end of the F1 Grand Prix on the TV in Mutti's old Alenia apartment while Rita packed some things from the basement. This event gave Daniel Ricciardo a long overdue F1 victory. That night Rita and I enjoyed a pizza across the road from Regina's apartment and then succumbed to an ice-cream from the very popular ice-cream store around the corner. Well worth the wait!

This morning we packed the car and then commenced the drive to St. Jean de Losne. However, rather than go directly there, we decided to take a side-trip to visit Romainmotier (in the Swiss Jura) when Rita and Else had recorded the flute/vocal music track that we ended up using for Mutti's funeral. Along the way, we stopped to take a photo of two eras of Swiss bridge building, with the older version at the bottom of the photo and the newer version at top-centre in the form of the road to the French border that skirts around and above the valley below. Both are impressive!

One of the first views when reaching Romainmotier is indeed of the church where the recording was made, and it definitely was interesting, having been constructed in several periods (and styles) over many hundreds of years.

We had a good walk around the village, and then found a quiet spot where we could eat our pincic lunch. We then found a little restaurant behind of the church when we grabbed a coffee and dessert while we enjoyed the weather and the scenery. In mid-afternoon, we continued the drive back to St. Jean de Losne.

This morning we made an appointment to have the Control Technique inspection performed on the car, since it was well overdue given our prolonged absence from France. In line with COVID restrictions, one of the conditions of the inspection was that the inside of the car should be cleaned, and all personal belongings removed from the car! Anyone who has seen the general conditions of our vehicles' interiors will realise that this was not a simple task. So we spent the morning cleaning the car, and then I did some more Carte des Sejour research in case I needed to stay longer than 90 days in France. In the afternoon, light rain began to fall, so we retreated to the boat for some reading and general catch-up tasks.

Rita was feeling a bit off-colour this morning, so I went up to the Control Technique garage by myself, and just hoped I could understand any questions that were asked of me (in French). I presented my Carte de Grise to the guy at the counter and he copied some details from it and pointed toward a chair and said it would take about 20 minutes (vingt minutes). So far so good. So I sat and watched as he ran lots of tests on the Scenic. As he did so, I sat and wondered how I would understand all the problems that he had found. The moment of truth came as he re-entered the office area and sat down at his computer. I stood up and walked over to the counter. To my surprise, he said "tout va bien" (all's good) and then pointed to the credit card machine (since I had already got my card out of my wallet). In 5 minutes, I was in the car and headed home. Simples!

As I walked back to our boat at the end of the pontoon, I met a guy from the H2O Sales Department who said that another "boat for sale" had just arrived and, because of its size, needed to moor on the hammerhead at the end of the pontoon. He therefore asked if we could leave the hammerhead mooring to let them moor there, and then circle back around and raft up alongside their boat. Since we hadn't moved the boat for some time, I was looking forward to the challenge, and proceeded to do a perfect 360 turn while they moored inside us. In the afternoon, we heard a strange noise emenating from that boat when they were pumping grey-water over the side. Because of this sound, we nicknamed the boat "the chunder boat"!

After doing more research about getting a Carte des Sejour for the spouse of a Swiss citizen, and exchanging a couple of emails with the Prefecture at Dijon, we decided to lodge an application. So we went up to Intermarche to get a few "passport photos". However, my beard had grown so long that it was impossible to get the top of my head and the bottom of my beard in the frame required for a photo, which resulted in three attempts to get a "valid" photo before I ran our of allowable attempts. So I just took the last photo and hoped it would be acceptable!

We posted off my Carte des Sejour application today by registered mail, giving the port at St Jean de Losne as our residential address (after getting an attestation of such from the H2O head office). We heard from Phil Tyson that someone had told him that the port at Dijon might have been closed. So since we were both thinking of going there soon, I offered to drive up there to check out the port. Luckily it looked to be open (although fairly empty), and a quick conversation with one of the boat owners confirmed that it was still open.

We had decided that we were going to leave port today and do at least a bit of cruising before the season ended, so I bought a 30-day VNF Vignette (having forgotten to buy one earlier in the year when we went up to Mantoche). In late morning Rita drove the car up to Auxonne and parked it there, and then rode her bike back along the canal to the lock where the canal meets the Saone. In the meantime, I had left St Jean de Losne single-handed and was heading up the Saone to meet her. In mid-afternoon, we saw each other at the lock, and she came aboard (with her bike) once I had entered the lock. We then cruised on to Auxonne, where I watched the first qualifying event for the Speedway of Nations Best-Pairs Championship on YouTube. We then headed over to Effie and met up with Phil and Kathy, where we had a few drinks, a BBQ dinner and lots of chat well into the night.

Our first full day in Auxonne for some time dawned sunny, but we woke to find that Phil and Kathy had already departed for Dijon aboard Effie. So later in the morning, Rita and I went for a walk around Auxonne to familiarise ourselves with the place again. As we returned we saw that someone had parked their bicycle in the River Saone.

To avoid our bicycles accidentally ending up in a river, I spent some time adjusting the brakes on them, after my experiences in Bern. Rita went for a late-afternoon swim up the Saone, while I took the opportunity to watch the 2nd round of the Speedway of Nations qualifiying, which was narrowly won by the Australian pair. After Rita came back to the boat we had dinner on board while watching the sunset over the Saone.

The sunny weather in Auxonne didn't last long, with today being cool and rainy. So we had a long sleep-in. As we were preparing brunch, Rita noticed that the gas had run out, so I switched over to a full gas bottle and made a note to myself to buy a replacement gas bottle.

In a bid to escape the rain, we decided to drive up to the Jura and visit Sarah and Albon in Besain. We had lunch with them, and then went for a walk around the farm. Besain is a fairly quite town, but even I thought Rita was taking it a bit too far when she lay down for a sleep in the middle of the main road through the town.

We checked out the cows and the newest machinery on the farm, while Albon and Sarah checked out the fencing.

By the time we got back to the house it was almost dinner time, so we accepted their invitation to stay for dinner. They brought out a special treat for dessert, which reminded us of our time in Moissac.

Auxonne was overcast, but dry, this morning. We went up to Intermarche and got a replacement butane gas bottle. And then I settled down to do some reading (more Michael Connelly detective stories). Highlight of the day was when Rita arrived back from some shopping with several new sets of underpants for me! The day finished with a full(ish) moon over the Army barracks.