Tuesday 18th September
In the morning we filled up with diesel as the fuel station was just across the river from our mooring.  This is the first time we have filled up since Calais and our fuel tank was on half. They also had a chandlery, the first we had found in France. We needed a new fender as we had burst one on a pontoon on the Marne. We then travelled upstream to Montereau-fault-Yonne, where the Yonne joins the Seine. In fact it should be the Seine joining the Yonne as the Yonne is the bigger river at this point and the Yonne should flow through Paris. There is a large statue of Napoleon at the junction of the 2 rivers commemorating his last victory in 1814. He points which way to go. We moored in the Yonne just above the river junction. The mooring was just for pleasure boats so no chance of being bothered by commercials. Another English barge moored alongside in the evening and we went over for drinks. The wife and 2 of their visitors were nurses. Louisa joined a lively discussion about what was wrong with nurse training today while David discussed sewage pumps with husband. So everyone was happy.

The junction of the Seine and Yonne. Napoleon points the way

Montereau-fault-Yonne

Wednesday 19th September
We stayed in Montereau and planned our trip up the Yonne. The main problems are the sloping sided locks, which are difficult to negotiate. We have been given a differing advice on how best to tackle these. 1. Not moor up (if the lock keeper allows this) and use engine and bow-thruster to keep away from the sides. 2. Use a burst fender filled with water (luckily, we have one of these now) and sunk low to keep the hull off the side. 3. Use a central mooring rope and use boat hooks, engine and bow-thruster to keep away from the side. We cycled up to the first lock to have a look. A commercial was coming through and he just hovered in the middle with no mooring rope, which would be our plan for the next day.

Thursday 20th September
We set off up the Yonne but had to wait for a commercial barge at the first lock. As we went into the lock the lock keeper came out to take our bow rope. So our plan not to moor up did not work. We did have some difficulty keeping off the wall, the boat hooks were not very effective and the sunken fender was in the wrong place, but we got through without any damage. The next lock we were better prepared, we used a central rope, the fender was in the right place and all went well. At the third lock the lock keeper popped his head out of the office and asked if we were okay to stay in the middle, we were.  The 4th and 6th locks were straight sided and the 5th lock had a pontoon to moor against. We arrived at Pont-sur-Yonne after 6 locks and moored up for the night.

Sloping sided lock

Gravel waiting for commercial barges to transport

Sunday 23rd September
Feeling in need of a rest we stayed in Pont-sur-Yonne over the weekend. We have been to this town twice before, in 2005 and March this year. On Friday we had lunch at the same restaurant we visited in 2005, we were the only customers but it was a good lunch. On Sunday there was a large market in the town selling food, clothes, furniture and live chickens.
Some very noisy geese live near the mooring; they are particularly loud when a man comes to feed them each morning. They know his car and run towards it squawking when he arrives. We wonder if he is fattening them up for Xmas and if he will train them to jump into the back of the car. A second pair of geese lives on the opposite bank and occasionally venture over which causes a real commotion but they are soon seen off.

Noisy geese

Every town has it's poodle parlour

We plan to continue upstream to Sens tomorrow, only 12km and 2 locks but thunderstorms are forecast for the morning and the wind is starting to get up already this evening

Unusual boats