We had a long leg ahead of us today on the trip back to Auxonne, so we were up early and away at 0945h, taking advantage of the fine weather today. It was a relatively uneventful trip along parts of the river that we had travelled several times before. The only mild drama was when I realised that the bowthruster batteries were starting to run low again, so I just used them infrequently and saved them for when I really needed them. A good indication of the peacefulness of the trip was that the only picture I took all day was of some cows standing in the water as we cruised by!

Thurs 27 July - away early, bowthruster charge, Gray, empty quai, free power, Test

We arrived in Gray at 1515h to find a near empty quai, so we could take our choice of mooring place. This proved useful when we went to pay for our electricity and water, and saw that someone must have left earlier today without using up their 24 hours of electricity and water connection. So we simply plugged into that space and didn't have to pay for any services until midday tomorrow. Later in the afternoon, I watched the last bit of the first day of 5th Ashes Test at The Oval in London, and saw that England had been dismissed relatively cheaply for 283, while Australia had made a decent start at 1-61. Not that any of this matters, because Australia has already retained the Ashes and the 5th Test is a bit of a "dead rubber".