22nd May - 28th May. Moving quickly on down the Yonne to Pont-sur-Yonne, then Montereau where we join the Seine, and continue downstream.

We did not move again until Tuesday, as it was just too wet! The river is now running fast, and beside each lock, the water thunders through the barrage. You would not want to fall in above that!

This cat came to the lock for a drink when it was full, but the eclusier walked past, and frightened her. However, as soon as the lock emptied, she came right down the steps into the lock for her drink.

We stopped in Sens for lunch, planning to get diesel there, but the pump was not available. Our water hose was not long enough to reach the tap, so we had to top up the tank by the bucketful! We moved on to Port-sur-Yonne, where the church is under extensive repair. There was just room for us on the jetty.

Five minutes later, Tim arrived with Randal, which is a hotel boat from the Nivernais, so he moored outside The Puzzler. We spent a pleasant evening together on Randal.

The barges seem to get bigger and bigger! We are waiting for him to exit the lock before we can go down.

There are no sliding floating bollards in the last three locks on the Yonne, so we are floating in the middle of the lock, so as to avoid the sloping sides. Usually it is obligatory to tie up in locks, but this is easier and safer, for going down a lock.

This is a lovely rural mooring, just on the edge of the village of Cannes-Ecluse. We found some elderflowers for our annual elderflower cordial.

Moving on to Montereau, we found Diana and Chris, and had a very pleasant lunch together on Esme. Joining the Seine, we pushed on to St. Mammès, and were relieved to find fuel at the bunker station there. Having heard that all the French refineries are blockaded, it had been of some concern that the fuel might have run out before we arrived.

Some of the houses alongside the River Seine could have come straight out of a fairytale.

On this part of the Seine, there are many residential barges along the banks. Apparently many of these are the homes of retired barge owners.

This prison dominates the landscape on the approach to Melun.

We had to wait before lock 4 for barge Navis and double barge Enola Gay to enter the lock. There was plenty of room for The Puzzler too, as these locks are huge.

Three kilometres after this lock we turned off the river into a small lake, which has moorings for boats of maximum length 10 metres, with a depth of 0.8 metres. It was perfect, with an end of jetty which was just the right length for The Puzzler. There was good walking around the lake, and Shannon enjoyed her first swim for a long time. She was also delighted to get away from the barges, with the wash they create.

19th -21st May. Our visitors leave us in Migennes. We continue on the River Yonne to Joigny.

Elaine and Mary had to catch an earlier train on Thursday, due to strike action on the railways. The river lock in Migennes was also closed for most of the day, but we are not sure why that was. The water by our mooring got higher and higher, while the lock was out of use, making it very easy for Shannon to get a drink!

On Friday we were in the lock behind a cruiser, and beside a Dutch barge style narrowboat, Grand Dutchy. The lockkeeper was amazed when the three of us all fitted in together.

At Joigny we moored above the bridge, on the right bank of the Yonne. The water was flowing quite fast but, by going in upstream, it felt quite safe here. On Saturday, the large covered market beside The Puzzler was full of fruit, veg. and meat stalls, with clothing and everything else on outside stalls.

What a display of foxgloves!

There are several open squares in Joigny, which climbs up the hill from the river Yonne.

The narrow side streets have real character.

The house of the tree of Jesse represents the ancestral tree of Jesus.

This is the remaining town gate, right at the top of the town of Joigny.

These two were very interested in all that went on in the street below them.

The river Yonne is a long way down, seen between the houses.

28th - 30th September,2015. On to Auxerre, then we join the Canal du Nivernais to sail on to the Cave at Bailly, where sparkling wine is made.

The next main town up the river Yonne is Auxerre, where the cathedral is also called St Etienne. This can be seen from afar, surrounded by other churches.

This is the main entrance of the cathedral.

These fantastic carvings are over the doorway. There is such detail in them.

This cathedral was built between the 13th and 16th centuries. Joan of Arc stopped here to pray in 1429 and St. Patrick of Ireland was trained in Auxerre by St. Germain. This is the highest roof which we have seen in any of the cathedrals which we have visited.

Walking through the town of Auxerre is a real step back in history, with wooden wall sections and tiles too, decorating the house fronts.

This 15th century clock tower has a double dial, showing the movements of the sun and the moon during the day on one side, and the hours on the other.

From Auxerre we sailed on to join the Canal du Nivernais, which is really a continuation of the river Yonne to start with, with canal sections.

Once again we can see vineyards on the hillsides.

At Bailly we went to the Cave of Bailly Lapierre, which is a wine cellar inside the hillside, so it really is a cave! This was once an underground quarry, from which came the stones for many great cathedrals, including Auxerre.

We did the guided tour, which was very interesting, and was good for our French! There are 5 million bottles in these caves, all at different stages of maturity.

From 1993 Caves Bailly Lapierre held an annual sculpture exhibition, for ten years, with visitors voting to decide the winner, who was then invited to produce a work carved directly into the rock. This one is The Riverboat, which represents a boat which plied between Auxerre and Paris.

The view over the river Yonne from just outside the cave was worth the climb to get up there!

The small village of Bailly, down by the river, is very quaint. There was an art exhibition in the chapel, of pictures painted by Hosotte. He has done some lovely scenes in oils, but sadly photography was forbidden.

23rd - 27th September. Better weather, more walnuts, a great Gothic cathedral in Sens, then on through more locks to Cézy.

The weather is improving again. The whole sky was cloud covered, but the sun managed to shine below the clouds, just before it set for the night. Do these shadows set a record for length?

We continue to collect walnuts from the boat. This is our best “bunch” of eight!

Moving on to Sens, where the cathedral of St Etienne is fitted in between various other fine buildings. This cathedral was the first of the great Gothic cathedrals of France, and has a magnificent 12th century vaulted roof. There is also a great gold canopy over the altar, but this part was behind metal railings, for its protection.

However, we felt that the most impressive part of the cathedral was the 18 metre Great Rose window.

The sun was shining through this window, and the colour was reflected on the huge pillars.

Our own flowers are still quite colourful, as is Andy, as he counts walnuts, which are on the roof of the boat to dry!

The sloping sided locks now have floating pontoons, which makes them much easier to use. We are tied across both of these, because of the length of The Puzzler. We have seen very few other boats on this part of the river Yonne.

The gate paddles here are unusual, as the éclusier (lockkeeper) just pulls a lever to operate them, instead of winding a handle.

Beside each lock, the weir is guarded. There does not seem to be much flow on the river Yonne at present, but this shows that still waters run deep!

We took a detour off the main river to go to this delightful secluded mooring, near to the small village of Cézy.

Cézy is an attractive traditional French village, lying back from the river. A stream runs through this small building there, creating an ancient communal place for the villagers to wash their clothes. These lavoirs are a real reminder of times long ago.

We sailed past Joigny, but will visit here when we pass this way next spring. It looks to be an attractive town.