The first full day back in Auxonne was hardly anything to write home about. Overnight rain set the scene for the rest of the day, Rita had the good sense to escape Auxonne and drive up to Besain to see her friend Sarah, who she hadn't seen for over a month! Meanwhile, I got rain and wind that continued on and off all day. So all I could do was follow the ODI World Cup where Australia was playing The Netherlands. Australia batted first and got a huge score of 399/8, with David Warner and Glenn Maxwell both getting centuries (104 and 106). Australia then bowled The Netherlands all out for 90 in 21 overs. Hardly a competitive game, but it does boost Australia's averages if that becomes important for progressing to the knockout games.

The morning started out dry, but then turned to rain. So I sat inside and followed the ODI cricket, where England suffered another loss, this time to Sri Lanka. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I was going to change all the ropes over today, from our good cruising ropes to our older winter mooring ropes. But the rain has deferred that job, because I don't want to end up with a lot of wet black ropes to store away for winter. The rain continued all day and got much heavier in the afternoon, so I kept an eye on river water levels, both in Auxonne by looking outside and also nationally, online. The wind also picked up, so I attached front ropes, linking us to the two Pipers on either side of us (a good outcome of mooring in bunch of similar length Pipers). We have been in touch with Alban to see if we will be able to store the campervan in the same shed in his village as last year, but so far we have had no confirmation. So, just in case, I order a campervan cover online today, in case she has to stay ourside over winter.

We started with rain, then sun, then rain, then sun etc etc all throughout the day. Between the rain showers, I managed to change the ropes, and then hung the black ropes out to dry, hoping there would be enough sun. There was nearly enough.

I then took down the dogbox tent, in the hope of getting a start on erecting the front canopy for the winter. But there was not enough time between showers to get it all done, given that trying to put the canopy on when it's raining is a dangerous proposition. In the afternoon, we had tea and cake with Pete, who will be taking over as Port Captain when Alain goes on holidays in a couple of weeks time. We both learned a lot about each other's life stories.

Later in the day we noticed that the port had been enveloped in a green carpet of tiny weeds/plants. Strangely pretty!

Later that evening, England regained some sporting pride, when their Rugby team beat Argentina 26-23 to take 3rd place in the Rugby World Cup. But their true sport is cricket, so they're still hurting inside.

Once more the day started rainy, but today it then cleared up for a fine day. Being a weekend, most of today's post is about sport. So, if you don't like sport, skip to tomorrow's events. The ODI World Cup finally produced a cracker of a game when Australia beat NZ, 388-383, with NZ just failing to score the winning runs off the last ball of the match, after a run-out on the second-last ball. Australia also played NZ in a Rugby League test match, with Australia again running out the winners 36-18. While all this was happening, Rita had gone to clean all the bugs off the van that had accumulated on our long road trip, while I was busy taking advantage of the finer weather by erecting the structure for the canopy cover. I then got Rita to help with fitting the canopy over the structure. Always a tricky procedure, but much easier to do it in the sun than in the rain. In the evening, South Africa beat NZ 12-11 in the Final of the Rugby World Cup, to cap off a horrible sporting day for NZ in cricket, Rugby Union and Rugby League.

Today was on and off rain in Auxonne, so we decided to escape by taking the van to Besain for its winter siesta (we learned that the shed was available again this year just after I bought the van cover!). So we drove in tandem up to Besain, parked the van in the shed (much easier this year after the experiences of last year), and then had a chat and a drink with Sarah and Alban, The weather was quite balmy in Besain, unlike Auxonne.

We then drove the Scenic back to Auxonne, via Arbois and through the surrounding vineyards which had started to change colour. We arrived in Auxonne and got inside the boat just before another rain storm arrived, That evening, England continued their consistent run in the ODI World Cup by being beaten by India (the clear tournament favourites) 229-129. Oh dear!

The morning started dry, so I took the opportunity to put the straps over the canopy to keep it secure in the winter winds, while Rita went up to the Auxonne Market. I realised this morning that putting this blog together is a real memory test (especially right now as I am writing the blog six months later). Every day I jot down some short notes (using the Day One app) about what happened on that day, sometimes supplemented by a photo if it's visually interesting. But often it's just the note (often with fat-finger spelling mistakes) and I have to work out what the hell I meant when I wrote it down. Sometimes it's a real challenge.

Around noon, we got some heavy rain, which continued all afternoon. At this stage, I started to get a bit worried about river water levels, having seen what happens in port if the Saone overflows its banks. This is particularly a problem for pontoons A and B (we are moored on Pontoon A), since they get completely cut off from dry land, even though the boats and the pontoon rise with the rising water. If the path at the end of the pontoon gets covered in water, there is no way off the pontoon. With only a week before my scheduled departure, I don't want to be stuck on the boat and unable to get to the airport. So we are considering a contingency plan of an early departure to Besain, and spending the last few days with Sarah before heading to the airport. Time will tell!

I realise in looking back at the last week's entries that every heading has talked about the weather, particularly rain. But today started out as a fine sunny day. Then it rained! But then the sun returned and gave us a rainbow over the port.

This year is the first that I have taken advantage of the Freedom of Movement given to citizens of 3rd-party countries who are married to an EU or Swiss spouse, with whom they are travelling. While I have behaved in accordance with all the rules associated with this FOM, I figured it was wise to have all the evidence on hand when I go through Border Control on the way out of France, given that it is over 6 months ago that I first entered France this year. So today, I put all the documents together to show that I have not stayed in any EU country for more than 3 months at a time, and that I was always accompanying Rita on this travel. Hopefully, I'll have all bases covered.

The weather was good enough today that we actually got a sunset. Although it was timid by Auxonne standards, it was nice to have something other than rain to look at at the close of the day.

After sunset, we went across to visit Hans and Muriel on Polaris. We had travelled in parallel with them on our trip up the Saone this year, meeting up with them in various ports, and now they have just returned to home port in Auxonne. We had dinner with them, and then returned to our boat. Rita then did some more work on her report, while I did some work on this blog. Around 2330h, I took myself off to bed, not because I was particularly tired, but because I had a cunning plan in mind!