Chateauneuf-sur-Charente Mooring Wall
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45°36’6.0264″N, 0°3’5.1768″W

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Mosnac-Saint-Simeux Mooring Wall
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45°37’17.5332″N, 0°1’34.9824″W

Distance travelled: 4 kilometers plus 2 locks

Another chilly morning greeted us. I was up at 5:00 am trying to figure out how the gas heater works so I could heat up the main cabin for the crew.

On board the boat Catherine & I have essentially reversed our morning wake-up times. At home she is normally up around 5:30 – 6:30 am to practice yoga & to work on her writing projects. That’s at least 1 – 2 hours before I get up.

Here on the boat I’m usually the first to get up around 5:00 – 5:30 am to boil some water for coffee & tea for the crew & to also try to generate some heat in the main cabin. After those tasks are completed I have a bit of time to work on the blog before the rest of the crew wakes up.

The boat has a propane gas heater but it requires shore power for the hot air fan to work.  There have only been a few mooring spots where shore power was available so I have resorted to boiling a large pot of water on the galley’s propane stove to help warm up the room. It’s crude but it works!

I guess if I had the right skills I could be baking baguettes & croissants in the oven. That would warm up the galley, make the boat smell amazing & give us some tasty treats for the day. Sadly, my culinary talents are pretty much limited to boiling water so I will stick to that routine & we will have to rely on the local bakers for our treats.

Photo above – I was especially motivated to get up early this morning because we were having choclatines for breakfast that the crew bought yesterday afternoon from a bakery in the village.

We only have 5 locks left to go through before we arrive back at the Nicols  charter boat base in Sireuil. We planned to go through 2 locks today & spend the night on the mooring wall at Mosnac-Saint-Simeux.

Photo above – looking back at our mooring spot at Chateauneuf-sur-Charante as we depart for Mosnac-Saint-Simeux.

Photo above –  a home beside the river on the edge of the village.

Photo above – a little bit of someone’s paradise located just a few hundred meters before we reached our first lock of the day.

Photo above – entering our first lock. Thankfully the sun was getting strong enough to warm us up.

ByPhoto above – Valerie taking in some sun while the boat is rising in the lock.

Photo above – The place where we have docked for the day is also directly in front of Pub Gabariers.

We arrived at Mosnac-Saint-Simeux around 11:30 am, so this was a very short travel time for us.

This village is very pretty but doesn’t have any amenities other than the pub.

Valerie and Catherine went for a walk through the village to see the church on the hilltop.

Photo above – morning glories and cat along the way

Photo above – kitten crossing sign – go slowly!

Photo above – the interior of the church

Photo above – amazing light pattern through the stained glass window onto the stone floor inside the church.

While the women were out walking, I noticed a really nice sports car in the parking lot & walked over to take a closer look at it.

Michel, the owner of the car & his friend Gilles came over to talk with David & I.

Photo above – this is a 1971 Renault Alpine.

Michel has owned this car for 44 years. He didn’t speak much English but his friend was quite fluent so we had a great conversation about classic cars & all the work that Michel had done to the car over the years.

They told us that there was a big classic sports rally & races in Angouleme this weekend. And, lucky for us, many of the rally cars were touring the area & would be driving on the road past where we were staying for the night.

We had lunch in the pub & it was very tasty. David & I had hamburgers & Valerie & Catherine had chicken burgers.

There was a unique snack “vending machine” close to where we were sitting. You could buy little cans of peanuts, jelly beans, olives & other snacks from it. The cafe owner told us it was very old but still worked & was restocked frequently.

Photo above – David getting some snacks from the vending machine. You find what you want to buy & then manually turn the entire top until the column of  snacks you want is lined up with a little door. Then you put in a 1 Euro coin to unlock the door!

After lunch we all had a brief rest. About 4:00 pm some sports cars started arriving in the pub’s parking lot & some of the drivers told us that there would be a few dozen classic cars coming down the adjacent road very shortly.

Photo above – David told me he used to own a car just like this. A 1972 MGB GT from 1974 to 1976.  His was aqua colour.

Photo above – Citroen CV – very classic French. I’d love a car like this.

Photo above – Porsche Speedster – Catherine wants one of these. However, this particular model of car is worth as much as a very nice boat that I would love to have. So, I guess we will have to decide.  Quite honestly, I think the value of the car would increase over time whereas the boat is likely to depreciate, so the car is a better choice.

Photo above – this would be a fun car to tour France in.

Photo above – or how about this one?

Photo above – this one is very sporty

Photo above – another!  Sadly, I have so little time & even less money to pursue these gems.

While we were watching about two dozen classic cars drove by. We were able to get a good look at each of them as they passed because they were coming up to a 90 degree corner & had to slow right down to navigate the turn.

Catherine & I walked a little further down the road to view a little basin off the main river channel that had been restored a number of years ago. Part of the infrastructure in the basin was originally designed to trap eels that the fishers would sell to locals & eat themselves.

Photo above – a view of the restored basin

Late in the afternoon we began to think about our evening meal & also about what provisions we would need to finish off our cruise on the Charente. We have to return the boat by 9:00 am on Monday morning so there isn’t much point to buying more groceries. We decided to make the best with what we have on hand & then look for a cafe if we need more.

Photo above – we started with a late afternoon chaqueterie board. If you take a close look at the photo you will see that it is a pretty meagure offering. We all had a pretty good chuckle over that & then poured ourselves another glass of wine.

Catherine & Valerie once again worked their “galley magic” & came up with additional snacks that were more than sufficient to satisfy our cravings. No one has gone hungry on this cruise!

As the sun set our minds turned once again to euchre & we played several rounds until bedtime.

Photo above – The moon was now rising & was about 3/4 of the way to being full. We had a nice view of it from our stern & enjoyed it’s reflection in the water.

I am still learning how to get the most out of the camera that comes with my new phone. Hopefully I can get some nice moon shots over the next week or two. 

Tomorrow is our last day on the boat. We just have 3 locks & a few kilometers to go to arrive at the boat charter base.

Cheers!