I was up early to leave Besain for the drive to Lyon, to pick up Craig and Ginger, our friends from the USA, who have just completed a Rhone River cruise from Avignon to Lyon. The trip was relatively straight-forward, until I got to the outskirts of Lyon and found that the South Peripherique (that I had intended to use) was at a standstill due to a downstream accident. So I did a quick exit and then let Google Maps re-route me to my destination via some other roads. It was a bit hairy at times, but I finally got to the Viking cruise ship terminal. However, because of the re-routing, I approached the terminal from a totally different direction and didn't realise I was there until I saw the actual boat.

It was relatively simple to find Craig and Ginger, via the Viking groundstaff, and we were soon on our way back to Besançon. Not surprisingly, the conversation was non-stop on the return trip, as we hadn't seen each other for several years when they were last on the barge in 2017. On the way back, we stopped at a few electrical supply shops, where I searched for a replacement fuse for the bowthruster batteries charging circuit. Unfortunately, the search was unsuccessful.

We got to Besançon in late morning, and after unpacking, we had a quick lunch on-board, before Craig and I drove to Auxonne to leave the Scenic there, ready for the return trip to Lyon at the end of our barging journey over the rest of the week (while Ginger had a rest on the boat). When we got to Auxonne, we met up with ex-Capitaine John, who had just arrived from Australia for the season. We then took the train back to Besançon, and walked back to the boat through the old city, arriving home around 1900h. Craig and Ginger than went for a short walk around the Conservatorium neighbourhood to get their bearings in their new home for a couple of days.

During dinner, the rain started falling, but by the time we finished it had eased up, and so we walked back to the boat in only a light drizzle.

Since Rita was still away, the three of us went out for dinner in the old town. I continued my Cafe Gourmand competition, but unfortunately, tonight's offering only scored 7/10.