16th - 17th June. Back into Paris then a major change of route. Down the River Seine and up the River Oise.

We cruised back on to the canal St. Martin, passing through the Bassin de Villette. This is an alternative mooring to the Arsenal in Paris. We are told that there is night life to be had here but no security.

On down the four double locks. We had to wait for two trip boats at one of these locks, but they are very efficient, and it also gave me a chance to go and buy our essential daily baguette, from a local boulangerie.

St Martin is quite a fashionable part of Paris.

Below the fourth double lock lurks the tunnel which leads us under the park, back to the port of the Arsenal.

There are frequent ventilation shafts along the tunnel, with trees to be seen above each one.

These plaques show the heights of previous floods, here in the Arsenal. The height for 2016, last week, is marked by the arrow. We met a boater who had recently come down the river Marne, which is apparently still in full flow. We should have been going up the Marne, but it sounded like a very bad idea, so we turned right, not left, out on to the Seine, and continued downstream through the centre of Paris.

There was one large barge ahead of us, and another right behind us, as if we didn't have enough to worry about with the force of the river!

As soon as there was room, we let the second one through. His wash made it a bit rougher for The Puzzler, but she is coping well.

We did not manage to visit The Louvre Museum, when we were in Paris two weeks ago, so it is nice to have another view of it.

The Eiffel Tower, which we did visit, is even more impressive from the river. At least this time the rain has stopped!

The huge football under the Eiffel Tower is there to remind us that Euro 2016 is going on in France at the moment.

Each bridge reminds us how much water is flowing along with us on the River Seine. Keep to the centre of all bridge arches!

It was very difficult to find a mooring on the Seine, once out of Paris, as any available jetty was under water. These attractive houses smiled down on us, as we sped by. Eventually we found a spot below Bougival lock, on a wall mooring, and I persuaded the three lockkeepers that, as the lock was under repair, and therefore definitely closed, we could stay there overnight. It must have taken them twenty minutes to come to this decision, but it was a really good one for us. After over eight hours, and 60 kilometres, we had had enough!

At Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, where there seemed to be hundreds of boats, we turned right on to the River Oise. At once, the force of the water was noticeably less, and we found this lovely safe mooring at

Vauréal.