2009: through the channels of France, day: 16..20
Today was a nice, hot day. In the morning the sky was cloudless, and by the middle of the day the real heat began. We took off our waterproofs and sweaters, leaving in pants, T-shirts and life jackets.
In the morning we went to the store and bought groceries. There was a gas station nearby, where I also bought fuel in two cans. I always try to keep all the canisters full, because it is not known where and when it will be possible to refuel next time. This, however, applies to everything else. The more stock, the better. Eh, my boat is too small, otherwise I would immediately buy a ton or two of provisions.
At half past nine we set off. We passed several locks, and then had to call the locksmith, because lock number 17 did not want to respond to the blue rod when we entered it. Then this situation repeated 3 more times: we go into the gateway, moor, pull the blue rod - but the gateway does not react. The gateway agent who came to our calls (10-15 minutes after we called him) was explaining something to us in French. I did not understand anything, except that there are some problems on the gateway at the top. And then I thought: maybe it's like tconnected with the rate of filling with water locks? Maybe our gateway cannot close because the upper (or lower) gateway is not yet ready? We tried to test this hypothesis: we waited 20 minutes, when the next gateway did not want to close, but we did not achieve success. But in some other gateways, it happened like this: the gateway reacted, but with a delay of 5 minutes. In general, we were unable to catch the patterns, but just in case, I lowered the speed and began to move at a speed of 3 knots to give the gateways time to return to normal. Maybe it helped: the remaining timewe made the current path without delay. Or maybe it was just a coincidence.
We have now developed the following locking tactics: we go into the lock and look at which wall the nearest staircase is located. We approach it and temporarily moor to it. Then my Darling climbs up the stairs, takes the mooring lines from me and throws them on the nearest bollards or, if there are none, on something suitable. She gives me the ends of the moorings, and I hold the boat while she walks to the control panel to raise the blue rod there, which starts the lock. Then she goes down to the boat, and we disperse: I - on the stern, she - on us. Procedure dquite long, but calm and safe. After a series of experiments with other locking methods, we decided that this is better and easier.
At one of the gateways, the remote control was taken away from us. Further, the gateways opened automatically for us. You approach the gateway, and it is already ready: a green fire is burning and the gates are wide open. It's convenient, but it remains unclear to me: how does the gateway know that we are approaching? After all, I did not notice any sensors in front of him. Probably, it's just that all the locks work by default on the rise and after each lock they release water from themselves and open the gate. But those who go down must, apparently, somehow signal the gateways about their approach.
The thick blue fender we picked up yesterday proved to be very useful. I tied him to the port side, near the stern. And now there was no need to worry about the fact that you can hit the end of the mast against the lock wall when the sailboat is spinning with water - because the fender is the first to take the hit. In general, the book advises to have 6 fenders on each side. Four are cylindrical, they must be hung in the middle of the side. And you also need two large pear-shaped fenders - for the bow and stern. I don't have pear-shaped fenders because I didn't have enough money. But they really would be usefuloh, now I see it.
The drinking water has become very bad here. In the parking lot where we spent the night last night, there were water taps, but there was no water in them. And they could not find water at the locks either, until they finally found a working water tap at lock No. 11. Got a full tank there - good! Now we have fuel, food and water. What else is needed for happiness?! I answer: electricity and the Internet - that's what you need. But this is already a luxury, a gift from civilization.
At half past six in the evening we passed the last gateway for today - the 22nd - and stood up for the night right behind it.
Next will be the Mauvages tunnel, 4,785 meters long, through which you cannot go under your own power. We'll have to cling to an electric tug. Two men approached us in the evening and said that the tugboat would be served tomorrow, at 8-30. In general, towing takes place 4 times a day: 2 times in each direction, at 8-30, 10-30, 13-30 and 15-30.
The landscapes around are beautiful. High hills overgrown with forest, yellow and green fields on the slopes of the hills. The channel became cleaner and more comfortable. There is very little traffic here. During the whole day we met only one barge and one boat.
Parking coordinates: N 48-34,820' E 005-28,081' Traveled today: 11.8 miles.
8 МАЯ 2009, ПЯТНИЦАToday is the French holiday - Victory Day. We thought that, as on May 1, the locks would not work. But they were wrong. Hooray! Thanks to this, today we reached the city of Toul (Tul) and spent the night in a well-maintained marina.
Last night, two Frenchmen approached us and told us that the towing through the Mauvages tunnel would be in the morning at 8-30. I just did not understand whether we should wait for the French at the place where we spent the night (near the gateway) or whether we should go to the tunnel.
We woke up at half past six, had breakfast, packed up and waited. At 8 o'clock no one appeared and we decided that we should go to the tunnel. After all, the tugboat is electric, and here no wires were stretched over the canal. We went to the tunnel - and rightly so. Soon we were overtaken in a car by two yesterday's Frenchmen who were driving towards the tunnel. We approached the tunnel and saw a traffic light with a red light on it. I decided that we should stop at the traffic lights and began to bring the boat to the shore to moor, but then it seemedone of the French and waved his hand to us - come here. We approached him, and he partly with gestures, partly in broken English, explained to us that he would not tie us to the tugboat, because our boat would be towed from one wall of the tunnel to the other. Therefore, we will have to go through the tunnel on our own, following the tugboat. If there are any problems, we must blow the horn.
At 8-30 the tug set off, and we followed it. The tug went alone, without towed ships. In general, apart from the two of us, there were no other ships. We walked through the tunnel for a long time, more than an hour. The tug was moving very slowly, I can’t say exactly at what speed (once again my turntable of the log clogged up and it stopped working), but about 2 knots. We trailed behind him, putting the diesel at the lowest speed. It was difficult to follow the tug, because a wave was coming from it, which knocked us off course. The tug was powered by electrical wires laid along thed ceiling of the tunnel, like a tram, but moved due to the fact that he chose from the bottom of the tunnel a chain laid there. When an hour later we finally came out under the open sky, I breathed a sigh of relief - this "tow" was quite tiring. If I had gone through this tunnel alone, it would have been much easier.
But the difficulties did not end there. The French driver of the tug needed to know our names and the name of the boat. And since he could not perceive them by ear, he handed us a notebook and a pen (on the go, in a narrow channel!) so that we could write them for them. And then I had to send it all back. Phew. Thank God, we parted without incident, and I joyfully rushed forward, away from this iron monster, wishing to never meet him again.
Then began a cascade of locks, working on the descent. We approached the first gateway and saw that it was working - a red signal was on. If the airlock weren't working, then all the lights would be off. This made us happy, but the question arose: how to open the gateway? No buttons or levers were found nearby. True, it was written there, the number of the VHF channel - the twentieth - but no one answered the calls. I had to resort to the usual method - to call the dispatcher on the intercom. He immediately answered and told us that he would open the airlock now. And indeed,once at the traffic light, red and green lights first lit up, and then the lock gates opened, and one green light lit up.
We passed this gateway, and moved on. Gateways followed every 10-15 minutes. A total of 12 locks passed. Since they were all descending, it was easy to get through the locks, and we passed through these locks in record time: 2 hours and 20 minutes. At one of the locks we met with a small boat under the Swedish flag, which was moving towards us. They rejoiced at him as if they were their own. I yelled at the Swedish woman, “This boat is from Sweden!” (pointing to her boat), to which she replied, "I know!"
After the 12th lock there was another tunnel, short: Foug - 867 meters. When I brought the boat into it, the water was so clear and calm that for a moment I was frightened: it seemed that the boat was floating in the air and was about to fall down. But then ripples began to ripple through the water, from our boat, and the illusion ended. The tunnel is poorly lit: there are some kind of weak lanterns, shining with a reddish light.
And then there was a gateway with the same name: Foug. This lock was deeper than usual - 7-8 meters, roughly and, as always, poorly adapted for small ships. When we went down in this lock, we did not have enough mooring lines. I have mooring lines - 12 meters long. Laid with an “earring” on the bollard, they allow you to lower the boat by about 6 meters. And this gateway was deeper. Fortunately, there were other eyelets below, built into the wall of the airlock, and we clung to them. But okay, we're down. And how to rise in this gateway??? I see only one way: to cling to the stairs,immured in the wall near the entrance and, withstanding the pressure of the water (which is probably the strongest there), gradually rise, moving the ropes along the steps of the stairs.
The weather was bad all day - cloudy, cold and even at times it began to rain. It's good that all the locks were on the way down. Going down is much easier than going up.
We passed 12 more locks. Not without annoying delays (where without them!). In one of the locks, no traffic lights were on. We circled in front of the airlock, and then I waved my hand and decided to go in. We went in, got up, pulled the blue rod... but instead of the usual squeak signaling the closing of the gate, we heard a French voice telling us something from the speaker. We did not understand anything from what we were told, but we understood that we had climbed into this gateway in vain. They backed up and crawled out slowly from the airlock. We moored at the entrance and waited. Minutes blackAt about 15 the green light began to flash at the traffic light, we entered, and this time everything went well.
We all could not believe that today we would reach the city of Tul. We have been striving for this city for several days, and every day it seemed to us that today we would reach it. But every time something interfered with us: either the locks stopped working, or we were late for the start of towing through the tunnel ...
But on this day we still reached Tul! It was already at six o'clock in the evening. The marina was located immediately behind lock number 25. There were several berths, with water and electricity. We moored, and I went to look for the captain. But he did not find it and asked the German from the boat - who is there to pay? He replied that I should not worry, and if anyone needs me to pay, he will find me himself. And then he told me the code for the shower and toilet: 1956. In general, I didn’t need anything else.
Toilet code, electricity, water - that's it, civilization! We had dinner, washed the boat, and washed ourselves. They changed the bed linen for fresh ones and went to bed warm, under the gentle buzz of a fan heater. Good!
9 МАЯ 2009, СУББОТАToday we had a rest day. We are standing in the marina of the city of Tul. I wrote "rest day", but in fact the day, as usual, was full of worries.
In the morning we went to look for a laundry. There was a diagram on the stand in the marina - how to get to the laundry, but it was so approximate, and the narrow streets of the city were so confusing that we wandered for a long time, but could not find the object we were looking for. I had to turn to the locals for help. We went into a shop and turned to a young salesman with a question. He called the second salesman and they began a long and heated discussion in French. At the same time, they waved their hands and generally seemed to have forgotten about us. Finally oneone of them came out of the store and waved to us. We followed him, thinking that he would now show us the approximate direction and return, but he led us for about 10 minutes and led us straight to the laundry. We were pleasantly surprised by such responsiveness.
The laundry room was stocked with washing machines of various sizes. The largest one weighed 16 kg and the laundry in it cost 9.2€. Plus drying - another 2.3 €. We returned to the boat, collected all the dirty clothes, which we had accumulated a lot during the 2 weeks of the trip, and also took with us the mooring lines, which became so dirty after the locks that it was unpleasant to take them in our hands. There were so many washings that everything did not fit in one machine, I had to wash in two. While washing, we walked around the city and bought groceries.
Tul is a pleasant town. There are many old buildings and a beautiful cathedral with amazing colored stained glass windows. I generally go to these Gothic temples, mainly to look at the stained glass windows. I think it's really beautiful.
Everything was washed well, but the drying did not live up to our expectations. I had to dry it twice, but even after that the clothes were still damp. I had to hang it in the cockpit to dry and direct a fan heater at it.
Mooring lines after washing became much softer and more flexible. Our hands have healed, and there are almost no wounds left on them. But the skin on the palms became rough and tough, especially on me. “Like emery,” says my Darling. You must use gloves. I used to disdain this, but now I see that in vain. Unfortunately, we did not stock up on gloves. Today we were looking for some household gloves in the stores, but did not find them.
Going to wander around the city, we took a laptop with us and checked several times whether it would catch any network? There were networks, but they were all secure. Returning to the boat, we once again decided to try to find the Internet - and found it on a bench next to the marina. On the boat, the signal was not caught, but on the bench, although weak, it was. Thus, we had the opportunity to check the mail, and send reports about our journey. In general, we have not had an Internet since April 28. We every day, becoming for the night, checked - is there, by any chance, the Internet? But we areoyali in such remote places that even a mobile phone worked badly, what kind of Internet is there.
In this marina, it looks like they won't take money from us. We have been standing here for more than a day, connected to electricity, use the shower and toilet, but no one cares about us. And, most importantly, there is no one to pay. There is not even an office here, even if it is closed. There is only a sanitary block - toilets and showers (a shower costs 1€ - you have to throw a coin into the slot on the door, and then splash as much as you like). The information stand says that parking costs 10€, but where to pay is not clear. However, as the local sailboatsmen explained to us, if someone wants to take money from us, he will find us himself.So we do not suffer from remorse - it seems that this is the norm here.
There is a miracle toilet bowl in the toilet in the marina. I've never seen this before. When you move away from him, he flushes the water himself and, most importantly, cleans the toilet seat: it makes two turns and is wiped with a special brush. I'm amazed. I admire this process every time I visit this establishment.
Five days ago in the canals we saw the sailboat Bavaria 34, with the mast removed, placed on props on the deck. The sailboat was under the flag of Switzerland, it was overtaken by two men. They passed us in the morning while we were having breakfast. But then we overtook them because they stopped at 12 o'clock. Then we did not see them for several days, but today they appeared here in the city of Tul. We arrived in the evening and parked. They recognized us and waved to us.
Tomorrow we will sleep for the last time in the warmth, and - forward, to the conquest of new locks. We have gone only a third of the way that we have to reach the Mediterranean. And I, naive, hoped that we could pass France in 3 weeks. In fact, it will be good if we manage to reach the sea before the end of May.
To this day we have covered 300 miles and 175 locks.
10 МАЯ 2009, ВОСКРЕСЕНЬЕBells began ringing in the city from early morning. Maybe today the Catholics have some kind of religious holiday, because the bells did not stop until noon.
We slowly woke up and had breakfast. Then I went to the gas station and bought fuel. We got water in the tank, went to the shower. It's amazing what a powerful refreshing effect a shower has. It seems that it washes away not only dirt, but also fatigue.
Finally, at one o'clock in the afternoon, we started. The weather was cloudy, it was raining lightly, but we were in a great mood. We had a good rest and were full of energy.
At the first lock, which we had to pass, the traffic lights were not on. We moored near the lock, and I went to see what was the matter. In the booth, I saw a lock operator, and showed him through the glass with signs that I would like to go through the lock. He pointed in the other direction and held up two fingers. This meant that at first he would miss two boats from the other side. I nodded to him and returned to the boat. After about 20 minutes, two boats left the lock: one is brand new, brand new, the other is old, shabby and smelly. The boats passed us and we got permission togo to the gateway.
Today we worked with mooring lines in gloves. I found several pairs of household gloves in my locker (once upon a time I bought them in St. Petersburg and brought them to the boat), and today we tried them out. The result was excellent. Why didn't I think of them before?!
Having passed the first lock, we soon passed a drawbridge, then another lock and reached a fork. Here the Canal de la Marne au Rhin was connected by a short water bridge to the Moselle River (Moselle). We had to go there, and we turned right. We passed another lock, and went out into the Moselle River. For the first time we were not in a canal, but in a real river. The river was wide and deep. The depth immediately increased from our usual 2.2 meters to 4-5.
Then we met one of those barges that we had seen so many times in the canals. But there they moved quietly, but here ... Can you imagine a tractor rushing along the freeway? So I had such an association when I saw this crazy barge. She rushed at full speed, raising a huge wave. And besides, behind it stretched a huge plume of smoke from the exhaust pipe, which hung over the river like a cloud, for another five minutes after the barge had passed. From the pipe in the side of the barge, some kind of turbid liquid poured into the river in a powerful stream. Maybe a bargebut she was sinking, and therefore she was driven with all her might in order to have time to arrive at the port, where they could provide assistance? I don't know what was the matter, but the spectacle was impressive.
We walked up the river, towards the city of Epinal (Epinal). Soon another gateway appeared, a very large one. To the right of the main airlock was another, smaller airlock and an arrow marked "Plaisance". That is, small ships were supposed to lock in this small lock. We obediently went to this lock, slowing down, because the gates of the lock were closed and no lights were on at the traffic lights. But then a window opened on the tower, towering over the lock, and the figure of the lock operator appeared, who became a swing.give us a hand, showing that we should go into another, large gateway. We turned left and entered a huge gateway. I could not even believe that such a colossus would be filled with water just for us. But that's how it was: the huge gates silently closed and the lock began to quietly fill with water. The lockdown went smoothly and without problems. Very calm gateway, well-made. And other locks on this river turned out to be of the same calm disposition.
An hour later they passed another lock, even larger than the first, and an hour later, the last big lock on the Moselle River. Then the Canal des Vosges began, and the locks became the size we were used to. Gateways on this channel are bred by lockers, who apparently work only until 6 pm. When we passed the first lock on this canal, the locksmith asked us where we were going to stop for the night. I showed him on the map a place called Richardmenil. The book promised that in this place there would be all the benefits of civilization: water and electricity (the book, by the way, is notshe lied). The locksmith nodded and said that he would open the next lock for us (the last one before Richardmenil), and then that's it, that's it (he folded his hands in front of him like a cross). Well, everything is clear. We hurried to the next lock to go through it faster and let the honest worker go home, to his family and children. I'm having a problem shifting gears. The control knob began to turn somehow strangely and the gears began to turn on with difficulty. I was alarmed: it was still not enough for the cable to break at the most inopportune moment (for example, when wem to enter the gateway) and I will not be able to stop the boat at the wall. While the gears were still engaged, but I began to try to pull the handle less.
But, as if that weren't enough, something else happened. Approaching the last lock, which we had to pass today, we ran aground! And they sat down specifically, before that we had never sat down like that. Usually it was enough for me to move back, and the boat crawled aground, but this time this technique did not work. The screw drilled the water with all its might, but the boat stood still. I tried to push the boat with a long board that I carry with me. But could not. And then the gates of the gateway began to open! We had to hurry until the locksmith got tired of us waitingth. Do not spend the night aground in the middle of the canal! There is even nowhere to land for an overnight stay - the coast is shallow, as we have just seen. We had to urgently get out of the shallows. It's good that our ace lay inflated on the deck. We immediately threw out the things that were stored in it, threw it into the water and I swam on it with a long rope to the other side of the canal. He moored to the shore, tying the ace to the bushes, and he himself began to climb up the slope, with a rope in his teeth. I climbed ashore, pulled on the rope - and the boat refloated surprisingly easily. Good thing we ran agroundspeeds less than 2 knots. If the speed was greater, I think we would get bogged down specifically. When the boat refloated, the engine on it was running in reverse, at full power. My Darling shifted the engine to neutral and then tried to turn the boat around with her bow toward the lock. She failed because the channel is narrow. Then I arrived in time on the dinghy, climbed on board and rushed to the tiller. The boat was blown to the bank of the canal, and we could run aground a second time. Having traveled back and forth across the canal, we finally turned our noses to the lock and went to it. Tuzik dangled over toI was tied with a short rope, and although I knew that it was forbidden by the rules to walk through the canals of France with a towed dinghy, I went with him to lock.
The locksmith didn't tell us anything about it. He let down two iron hooks from above, on which we laid our mooring lines. He lifted them up, threw them over the pedestals and lowered them back to us. After locking, he came up to us, gave us a brochure and began to explain something in French. At first he showed 10 fingers, then 2 more. We tried for a long time to understand what he wants, but we did not understand anything. In the end, we said “OK” to the airlock (so that he would not worry) and left the airlock. By the way, do you know how the French show the number 2 on their fingers? Not likewe are Russians. We raise the index and middle fingers, and they raise the thumb and forefinger.
After two kilometers we saw a pier along the left bank of the canal. There were already two boats, and we moored after them. There were bollards with electricity and water on the pier. Having moored, we began to clean up the boat: we washed the dinghy, dragged it back to the wheelhouse deck and loaded things into it (we store spare water canisters and other things in it that could not be found inside the boat). Then they sat down to supper and, during this lesson, they heard a knock on the side. It was a man who came to charge us for parking: only 3 euros.
Coordinates: N 48-35.441' E 006-09.871' Traveled: 16.5 miles and 7 locks.
11 МАЯ 2009, ПОНЕДЕЛЬНИКThe last two days we have been going slower than usual. Walked 16 miles yesterday, today 9 miles. And, I must say, this mode of movement, apparently, is optimal. It is best to move 4-5 hours a day, then rest the rest of the day. Then we are not very tired, we moor before dark, and we still have the strength to walk around the neighborhood. But, unfortunately, we cannot afford to go in this mode for a long time. We have to hurry, so we try to cover as much as possible in a day.
Today we woke up early, had breakfast and I began to figure out what happened to the gear switch. I have engine controls on the back wall of the cockpit. One, small, serves to adjust the gas, the second, larger, shifts gears - forward, neutral, reverse. This pen is behaving strangely. I began to understand, and soon saw that the nut had come off at the end of the cable, which is attached to the engine. Pulled it up and it got better. But I still did not like the way the pen worked, and I continued to search. Found that the handleIt also wobbles because the locking bolt holding it in place has loosened. He tightened the bolt, and overdid it - the handle began to sit on the axis so tightly that, when moving, it pulled the second handle that controls the gas. Therefore, when, for example, after neutral you turn on the forward stroke, there was a simultaneous increase in the gas supply, and the boat started briskly. I discovered this later, while driving, when I left the lock at full speed, in front of the astonished lock operator. Fixed it by loosening the bolt. After all these settings, the pen began to work normally.oh, but to be on the safe side, I sawed another hole out of the locker into the engine room so that if the control cable broke, you could put your hand through the hole, grab the lever located on the engine and change gear manually.
While I was doing all this, Darling once again took up the repair of the awning. Our awning is already frayed, and the old threads are torn incessantly. But without an awning, we can not, the awning over the cockpit is an extremely useful thing. Therefore, Sweetheart sews it and sews. For which many thanks to her.
In the morning, the French, VNF workers, approached me twice and had a lively conversation with me in French. I didn't understand much of what they were saying, but I did understand that they wanted me to go to the lock because the lock would be open at 10:40. But I categorically told them: “Motor - finish! Choo-choo-choo - impossible! Then they told me: “Tomorrow?” That is, tomorrow? I made a face of pain and asked: “Or maybe today?” They consulted and asked me about something. I did not understand them, but Sweetheart prompted me: "They want to know what time will be convenient for you." I pchanged his mind and drew a figure in a notebook: 14-30. They called somewhere and then said, "OK." That is, at half past three, a personal gateway operator will be waiting for us to open the gateway for us. The thing is, as I understood later, that after Tul, manually operated locks began, and they do not open according to a schedule, but according to a preliminary request. We had to tell the locksmith (by phone or otherwise) that we would like to go through such and such a gateway at such and such a time. Having finished adjusting the engine, we tidied up the boat and at 2 o'clock in the afternoon we began to move. Soon they came toto the first lock and saw a lock operator there (we recognized him by his blue uniform shirt), who let another boat pass in our direction. We quietly approached the shore and stood near it, holding on to the iron piles standing there with the help of repulsive hooks. It was impossible to get close to the shore, it was shallow there.
10 minutes later the boat left the lock. It was some kind of hefty boat and, which struck us, under the Canadian flag and the inscription on the stern said that the home port was Vancouver. How did he get here, in the middle of France??? Then we went to the gateway. The gateway was high, 5 meters, and - not a single fastening on the walls where one could cling! Therefore, the locksmith stood at the top and helped us to moor. Darling threw him our mooring lines, first stern, then bow. He caught the mooring lines, threw it over the bollard and lowered it back. Did the same with the second one. OtherwiseThe blowing was normal, except for the fact that the pressure of the water was quite strong.
Thus we passed 7 locks. They were opened to us by the same gateway operator as on the first gateway. He was driving from lock to lock in a car with a trailer. He was carrying a diesel generator in the trailer. Having approached the airlock, he unwound the cable coming from the generator, pulled it into the booth and connected it. That is, all these gateways were not even connected to the mains! This is probably because the gateways are being modernized: the electrical system that controls the gates has already been installed, but everything else has not yet been installed. At the penultimate lock, the locksmith approached us, showed oneAlec, waved his hand forward and folded his arms in front of his chest. This meant that he would open another gateway for us, and then - that's it, the end of the job. Indeed, it was already half past five in the evening, and in France, as far as we know, a 7-hour working day. I wrote him in a notebook the word: "Demain" (tomorrow) and put a question mark. He wrote back: "9 h" - that is, he will start working from 9 o'clock.
We stopped for the night right after the 7th lock, in a place called Roville-devant-Bayon.
Then two things happened: Honey found the Internet here, and cats. The Internet is understandable, but about cats, I have to explain. My Darling would love to have a cat or a dog on the boat. I would not mind either, but we understand that this is unrealistic. We have too little space here, first of all. Secondly, the animal requires care, and we are already too exhausted on the transition to take care of someone else but ourselves. Therefore, when she sees some cat or dog, Sweetheart freezes with delight, and then slowly begins to approach, hoping to pet her. C withBoth still manage to do it, but the cats in France are absolutely wild and categorically do not want to be petted. But then Mila was lucky: the cat was so hungry that, in exchange for sausage, she allowed herself to be stroked a little. I captured this scene with my camera. Sweetheart was happy.
Then I went to the grocery store while Sweetheart was preparing dinner. Actually, I did not hope to find a store in such a small village, but I was mistaken - I found a supermarket on the main street. Stepping back, loaded with food, I remembered that I forgot to unplug the refrigerator from the battery. My batteries are probably old, because they sit down quickly. Theoretically, one 75 Ah battery should last overnight to power the refrigerator (it consumes 5 A). But really, if you leave the refrigerator for at least an hour working, when you turn offengine, the battery is so low that it becomes impossible to start the engine. Therefore, as soon as I turn off the engine, I immediately remove the terminal from one of the batteries (I have two of them). If the battery that stays on drains too much overnight, a second battery saves me from having to manually start the engine (there is such a possibility). This time I forgot to do all this and went for a walk, leaving both batteries connected and the refrigerator running. I was afraid that when I returned, I would findand the batteries are discharged. But - it worked out. The engine started, and I let it run for about five minutes to recharge the batteries, after which I turned off and disconnected the second battery.
The sun had set and thunder could be heard in the distance. Today was a hot day, although it had been raining since morning. In general, the weather here is very changeable: sometimes it rains, sometimes it's sunny. And now: after the peals of thunder, heavy rain soon poured. It's good that Darling sewed up the awning over the cockpit. We are happy and comfortable here.
Coordinates: N 48-28.435' E 006-17.922' Traveled: 9.4 miles.
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