I had an unsettled night as the asthma attack caused breathing difficulties, and the old Ventolin spray could only give limited relief. So first thing this morning, Rita was on her bike and cycling into Gray to pick up a new Ventolin spray from the pharmacie. I was grateful when she returned. After so many years without any symptoms, this episode was bringing back many memories.

So I spent a relaxed day, in the shade, reading and noticing little things around the mooring, like the reflections of the sunlight from the waves to the side of the boat next to us.

Tues 11 July - unsettled, Ventolin, waterline, more apero, thunderstorm, sunset

While I was taking it easy, Rita decided to go for  swim in the river, and took a scrubbing brush with her to remove some of the algae along the waterline of the boat. She reported that the underside of the boat was fairly "crusty", indicating that we will need some sandblasting and repainting in the next year or so (after the last one in Toulouse in 2018 before we came up the Rhone).

The day passed fairly quickly, and soon there were ten people sitting in a circle having apero drinks again! But this little gathering was broken up fairly quickly when another thunderstorm appeared over the horizon. It was relatively short-lived, but since everyone had already taken their chairs and tables on-board again, we didn't try to reconvene the gathering.

As sunset approached, the view to the west was not the usual golden sky, but rather a bright grey colour. But the view to the east on the other side of the river almost looked like the beginning of Autumn, as the setting sun lit up the riverside trees.