Mike and I both had slightly dodgy stomachs on Monday morning so we headed to the Champs Elysees equivalent in Beziers where we got drinks and a croissant.

Mike also wanted a haircut. According to Google there are 2 barbers just 400m away which we navigated to in blistering heat. Both were closed even though both Google and the sign on the door said the second one should have been open at that time on a Monday. We headed back and found a ladies hairdresser who obliged with an efficient number 1 cut. Note that a French ‘number 1’ is shorter than the NZ or UK equivalent but a day later it looked the same!

We had intended to get food from the market to eat out that night but the market was closed. Most of Beziers is closed on a Monday.

Barb went off for a walk and to check out the department store, which was open, and Mike and I headed home for some cool. Everything went badly from that point as Mike was dehydrated with a bad stomach and promptly passed out, narrowly missing the stairs with his head. Suffice to say it’s an afternoon and evening we don’t want to revisit. I was struggling to see how we would make the train to Arles the following day but Barb headed out to the pharmacy and came back with necessary medications that did the trick. We both spent the night downstairs as were not up for negotiating that rickety stairwell to get to the loo. Also, even with the aircon it was very hot in the rooms upstairs.

We were thankfully both ok the next morning and I kept up my intake of water. I was worried about the 2 trains we had to get for our trip to Arles as we only had 6 minutes between for the transfer. However we hopped on an earlier commuter train to Narbonnne ( the transfer point) and then sat in the air conditioned cafe at the train station, nibbling on muffin and sipping water.

We kept getting messages that our train to Arles was delayed and did we want to cancel due to heat! However it turned up 15 minutes after the scheduled time and we piled on, hoping it was the right one. It was actually going to Marseilles, but Arles was one of the stops.

Steve and Fiona have joined us for the river cruise and they came down to the station and helped us with our bags. It’s only a short walk to the river and boat mooring but in 37C heat that was far enough.

We are sailing on the Poetry 2, which is an identical boat to Tranquility 2 which we sailed on from Amsterdam to Budapest. It is air conditioned luxury and we were greatly relived to settle in.

Cocktails before dinner were not happening for Mike and I but we did down a glass of Veuve Cliquot and had a very nice meal.

We overnighted in Arles and there are excursions the following day.