Raining, but it stopped mid-morning. We went shopping in Auxerre, calling at Champs to post letters. No sign of a Carrefour Market in Auxerre so we went on to shop at Casino. On the way back we looked at the mooring at Bailly, there was just one LeBoat moored there with an Australian flag on the bow. Back at the boat the neighbours had done their shopping by bike at the Maxi Marché in the village so we agreed to move on downriver. Set off at 2.45 p.m. I’d almost finished packing the groceries away. Down to lock 74 Vincelles (1.57m). The house looked uninhabited and the forty something male keeper in shorts worked the lock for us. Diana closed the top end gate and wound the paddle down. Mike did the bottom end and got back on down the ladder which was too far back for Charley and I couldn’t get over to it until they started moving out of the lock. The keeper asked if we would like some Chablis from him at 6,95€ a bottle, nobody wanted any, sorry, not fans of Chablis. (We thought the VNF had stopped the keepers from selling stuff to the boaters?) Followed Charley downriver past the quay at Bailly. The Ozzie hireboat that had been on the quay went past heading uphill. Another hireboat was coming upriver and a white painted narrowboat called Hoddy-Dodd (Wixon Suffolk painted on the side) went past, crew waving, and they moored on the quay at Bailly. 
Mike reckoned there was a 2 kph flow on the river after all that rain. Into a short canal section to lock 75 Bailly (1.35m) Another 40ish man worked the lock and again the lock house was not VNF occupied. This time Charley had the ladder so Diana did the lock. A France Afloat hireboat was hovering below waiting to go up the lock as we left. Under a railway bridge and on to a wider river section. Past a white stone Château with a very elegant curved staircase on our way to lock 76 Belombre (0.78m). Two young girls worked the lock. Beyond the lock was a road bridge with a needle weir across the river abutting it. There was an unusual cranked arrangement of paddle gear on the bottom end gates which looked like a brace and bit. Below the lock we ran parallel to the river in a canal section separated from the river by a stone wall which ran all the way to the next lock, 77 Toussac (1.69m). In the garden of a large house there were two old gypsy caravans behind a high wall. A young lad worked the lock for us. There was no house at all by the lock and he had a wooden shed on the lockside (must be dismal on wet days). Noticed that the extra bollards on the lockside looked like they’d been recycled from a ship breakers yard and would have come from a péniche. We moored on a short pontoon in Vaux at 4.35 p.m. We tied to the pontoon and Charley moored alongside us. Mike put the Internet on which came on as 2G until he put the dongle out on the roof in a box and it turned blue for fast speed.
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