We left Cezy in hot sunshine and cruised only a short distance to the town of Joigny, which provides an attractive backdrop to the river Yonne. The town is built on a hillside, and above it are acres of vines stretching to the hilltop.

Joigny used to be a port from where charcoal was barged, but its canal commerce days seem to be over, other than having a boat hire place for those who want to rent a boat and explore the Yonne, or the Nivernais or Bourgogne Canals.

It was Sunday, so Liz and I didn't expect anything to be open. After tying up we lazed away the afternoon, and about 5pm decided to go for a stroll through town, only to discover we had missed a fete or festival of some sort, which was just packing up. Our first hint of festivities was to see two 'brides' in full wedding dresses walking purposefully along a street. They did not seem to be intent on getting to the church on time, and anyway, one of them wore a satin sash which proclaimed her Miss Marriagable 2014 or somesuch, so we presumed we had missed a beauty contest. Phew. Close call.

We followed confetti on the cobbled streets to where all the action had taken place, just below where the vineyard belt started. There were still some stalls, though most were packing up. A kids' merry-go-round still whirled its way round and round, and the booze tent continued to do good trade. The fete had included a vide grenier - the equivalent in New Zealand and the UK of a community car boot sale - which annoyed me as I like to browse through junk. Always have done since my Mum and Auntie Muriel used to regularly take me to jumble sales in Liverpool on weekends. They never got any offers for me though.

I've been a fan of rummaging and junk ever since, and have collected a few bargains in my time. However, we were too late for this sale, and what was left was largely rubbish, so maybe we hadn't missed anything after all.

We walked through Joigny's backstreets, many of which contain 16th century half-timbered buildings, with charming views down alleyways. Off the town square a soprano accompanied by piano was giving a recital, to enthusiastic applause from the audience. Opera has never been our cup of tea, but she certainly sounded like she knew what she was doing.

In the Gothic cathedral there was a notice saying that mass had been cancelled due to the fete. Wonder what God thought of that? That merry-go-rounds and shooting galleries should be more important than worship? That cups of beer were deemed more urgent than confession? (This might explain why the weather turned from a superbly-warm 30+ degrees on Sunday to miserably cool and rainy the next day)

Bob and Maureen, who we'd spent the previous couple of days tied up alongside, had told us a story of the boatie in France who'd been fined £500 for having an out of date fire extinguisher on board, and this had been weighing on our minds, so next day we set off to a nearby shopping centre to look for new ones, even though ours don't have any dates at all on them and were 'passed' by the inspector at St Gilles Lock back in June.

We found some extinguishers in the bricolage (DIY store) but the information on them was confusing, and we didn't know if 2011 was the date of manufacture or expiry, so we left them. Lucky we did, because the hypermarché almost next door had cheaper extinguishers with clear manufacture and expiry dates so we bought two and are now compliant for the next four years.

We still however don't have any official boating qualifications, so might yet well end up in jail. If quizzed by authority we will simply have to fall back on that old stand-by, 'Je ne comprends pas, monsieur. Désolé.'

On the other hand, if the waterway authorities become a flaming nuisance, we'll be able to use our new extinguishers on them. Result!