Drought Measures

 We decided on the Nivernais. Why? To be honest we couldn't face backtracking and as it's not late in the year we thought that perhaps the chronically shallow Nivernais might have more water than later in the summer. We had a taste of this lovely canal last year and this summer we hope to travel the whole length. We've had various reactions from other boaters ranging from pessimistic to cautiously optimistic but even if do have to give up we'll have a week or 2 of beautiful scenery.
It has been pouring with rain every afternoon for the past week so this notice at each lock seems a bit incongruous.

The first couple of lock keepers grumbled about the levels of the water and kept to the rules about making you wait for another boat to lock through with but the further away from Auxerre we have travelled the less anyone seems bothered. As this navigation follows the course of the river for much of the time and there seems to be no shortage of water falling from the skies and gushing over the weirs I'm not so sure of the usefulness of saving lock loads of water. But then I'm no expert.

I'm no wine expert either but am doing my best to learn. Just outside Auxerre are the kilometres of limestone caves (cellars) where burgundy cremant (sparkling champagne style wine but a third of the price) is produced.

The entry into the caves at Bailly.

Wine tasting inside the caves.

 -and back to the boat with supplies.

We are also trying out a new internet connection which has involved me becoming very proficient in dealing with French telecom operators. It's all legal but I'm not sure it's exactly  in the spirit of the 9 euro a month deal they are offering. The Orange hotspot we tried before turned out to be not much use at all due to the dearth of actual hotspots. No surprise there.

This is prime hire boat country of course so we are meeting (and sometimes taking emergency measures to avoid ) people from all over the world. Small problems still arise with our boat. Today the steering decided to pack up on a dead straight section of canal while I was in charge on deck and the engineer was below and we ended up broadsides across the canal. The kind of manoeuvre which brings a superscillious smile to our faces when hirers do it (not any more and serves us right). The engineer quickly donned his captain's hat convinced that it was my lack of driving skill but he fared no better so I did my leap from bow to bank once again - and once again into nettles- and hauled her into the side and tied up. It was, at least, a lovely rural spot  for a relaxing read on my kindle whilst the engineer got back to work and did whatever he had to do so we could steer in a straight line once more.
Tonight we are at Chatel Censoir  and the lock keeper handed me a card for the local traditional restaurant as we passed through so we may check that out.