Shoe in the office upon arrival
We had petit dejeuner at the hotel when we met Shoe and Carol at 8:30 AM. After breakfast we organized our belongings to get ready for our ride/transport to Gray. Our ride arrived at 10:45 AM and drove us directly to Connoisseur’s dock. We arrived about noon. We caught up with Ian Lambert, hoping to square stuff away for an early escape. Ian, however, has lived too long in France. We located an open grocery store, laid in some provisions, took our briefing and our practice drive, and were finally able to leave Gray at 3:30 PM. Our first lock was right at the end of the Connoisseur’s dock, Shoe very aptly rotated the signal (a pole suspended from a cable in the middle of the canal); we followed the light signals, looped our lines over the bollards/cleats, activated the lock control, watched as the gates closed behind us and the level of the water lowered. When the gates were fully opened downstream, we exited the lock and went on down the Soane toward Pontailler-sur-Soane, about 33 kilometers and 3 locks, taking photos along the way, especially when the clouds broke and the sun came out. The locks close at 7 PM, and we squeezed through the last one about 6:50 PM. We tied up to the City Dock,  walked to La Taverne for pizza and pitchets of wine. After dinner, we toured the town to find a boulangerie for tomorrow’s breakfast croissant.
Our boat for the week
Mike, the captain, studied the charts and planned the next day. Shoe, the first mate, retired to the aft deck to smoke one of his cigars – that is until the rain chased him inside.
