After breakfast half the group got on the bus for the 2 1/2 hour drive to Lyon. We belonged to the other 'tired of riding on the bus' group and 'stayed home'... I was not at all distressed about missing a wine tasting.

Around 10:00, 'once it warmed up a bit', Mom and I were hanging our keys on the board (to signify that we were leaving the boat) when we were stopped. I had planned to take Mom into old Viviers since she had skipped the walk yesterday. It was (at most) 1/4 mile from the boat down a tree-lined street, and i thought it would be fun to show her the pottery store. But we were told that we would be 'navigating' once everyone was on board (the key board ensures that no one is left behind!) However that morning we had all been told that nothing would be done until at least noon, when conditions would be checked again, so people had disappeared on their explorations, and the last folks didn't get back until 11:30, when we finally 'set sail'! (search parties had been sent out to locate them, but a few had been very adventurous and couldn't be found; we just had to wait for them to return on their own. It was too bad we hadn't left the boat a few minutes earlier and made it into town - turns out it was Market Day, with dozens of vendors selling food and clothing and other miscellaneous stuff.

The boat does actually move although we started off backwards for a bit to get into the other channel - which I hadn't even noticed. Then it was off to lunch while we entered the first lock.

After lunch Mom played bridge in the front glassed-in panoramic lounge while I bundled up and went topside to watch the shoreline drift by. We got to see our sister ship, the Chardonny, pass by on it's way downriver. They were (of course) also stranded these past several days, and we all waved madly to each other, happy to finally be cruising! By the time we reached the second lock (where we had to wait for a boat ahead of us to go up, and, so it wouldn't be a total loss, another one came down) the wind had stopped, the sun was out, and it had warmed up, so the jackets came off.

We docked in Pouzin to await the arrival of the other half of our group, and we will sail through the night to Lyon (which is about 20 hours from Viviers, where we'd been stuck.)

Bana and her partner (from Petaluma) won at bridge this afternoon, and she said it was quite an enjoyable afternoon.

Dinner tonight will be shrimp cocktail as the appetizer, and then duck a l'orange, with warm apple crumble and ice cream for dessert. We are certainly continuing to eat (very!) well.