Chatillon en Bazois - Baye - Day 3, Monday 13/8/12

Another early start at 09.45, after bacon sarnies, we headed off towards Baye and 13 locks to do traveling 17km. All locks were in our favour, apart from the last one and we waited 10 minutes outside the lock, before trying to go alongside to see what was going on! Disaster. we clipped our prop/outdrive on a hidden stone and some oil started leaking out! The lock-keeper eventually got the lock opened for us (lazy git) and we locked through and tied up. Luckily this is where the electrician who fixed our battery problem was based and his partner Michel who owned the boatyard. We talked to Michel who was inundated with work and asked when he could lift us out to see if there were any major issues, he hummed and hawed like the french always do and then said perhaps in a day or 2! We had no choice but to wait as we didn't want to continue in case there was a major issue. At least we were moored up safely and in an good place. We booked dinner (no restaurants at all in Baye!)in the home of one of the Gite owners and it was a great affair with the owners joining us plus 2 other couples who were on a cycling holiday, for dinner of delicious goats cheese terrine, cod and vegetables, and cherry cake for afters. Then the french liquer came out! The conversation was easy as most spoke a little english and with our little french, we all got by. After dinner, we walked back to the boat and witnessed the most amazing sunset. What a lovely part of the world this is.