Thunderstorm in the night with heavy rain, everything was still wet when we set off at 6.45 a.m. Passaat went downstream, empty, ten minutes after we set off. We had a brief spell of light rain as we rounded the long bend into Tournon. Noted a new mooring on the Tain L’Hermitage side, a set of steps and a landing either side of a dolphin; a French catamaran was moored on the very rough quay downstream of the port de plaisance. A few small boats were moored inside the harbour with loads of caravans surrounding it. Cruise ship Swiss Pearl was moored at the upstream end of town on the junction with Le Doux river. Low hanging clouds and mist made visibility very poor heading up to Gervans, lock 4. The lights were on green/red so Mike called on VNF and the keeper said OK to go in. We rose 11.2m fast and left the top at just after nine. A work boat was moored on the dolphins above the lock.
The weather above the lock was much better, the grey mist had gone and the sun was out. Dutch péniche Humanité came steaming downriver, heading for the lock. Back on to a river section, with Arras-sur-Rhône on the left and Serves-sur-Rhône on the right - both had lots of ancient fortifications. We arrived at the old quay at Ponsas at 10.20 a.m. An old German motor/sailing vessel was moored just where we needed to be to get the moped off. The quay was 5m high with ladders, but had a slipway at the downstream end with bollards on the sloping edge, ideal for getting the bike off. Their engine was running so I asked if they were leaving. Yes, within the hour. They’d been stuck there for five days due to the failure of an ancient water pump, which had to have parts shipped from Germany. They left twenty minutes later so we slid back to take their place. Helped fetch the moped off and Mike went to get the car from Glun at 11.15 a.m. Loaded gas boat Samoen went uphill at 11.25 a.m. its sister ship Pampero went uphill at 2.30 p.m. When Mike returned with the car we had lunch then put an empty gas bottle and a fuel can in the boot and set off to Carrefour, noting fuel and gas prices on the way. Traffic on the N7 was bad, crawling as far as the motorway junction then back to normal. Missed the post office in Salaises, it had closed ten minutes before we arrived. When we got back to Ponsas a gang of youths were fishing from the quay; one bright young spark was standing on the roof of the boat so he could fish between the side of the boat and the qay - until he got a shouting at from Mike. He moved. M and D sent a text to say the Big Boat was moored at a new pontoon on the town side of Macon. Made a salad for dinner, too hot to cook. A cruise ship went downstream at ten, lit up like a Christmas tree. Mike was tired and went to bed before eleven, so I had the task of slackening all the mooring lines as the river level was dropping.
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