While the main purpose of the trip today was to go to Bern to see Rita's mum in hospital, it was in fact the start of a longer road-trip which would see us off the boat for the next couple of weeks. After several days in Bern we would go to Munich for a music therapy workshop in which Rita was enrolled, then back to Bern (which was our original plan), then on to Moissac to catch up with old friends. So if you want to skip to our next barging activities, click here.

But today, the destination was Bern, with a short stopover in Besain to catch up for lunch with Sarah and Albon who had just returned from their family get-together near Paris.

Around 1600h, we arrived in Bern and found the hospital. Fortunately, Rita's mum was improved from a few days ago, and while she was still tired, she was pretty alert mentally. After an hour with her, which was the maximum allowed by the hospital for her situation, we headed of to brother Kuno's house, where we had stayed before on many occasions. It was comforting to see his windows open to the Aare River, as is the norm given such a view.

After settling in a little, Rita and I went for a walk around old Bern, checking out many familiar sights including the 13th-century Zyglogge clock tower, under which I first saw Rita playing in her steelband in 1998.

We then returned to Kuno's and noticed that the rain of the past few days had again raised the river level in front of his house, but he was not too concerned about flooding this time around.

As night approached, Kuno got busy in the kitchen, and prepared a fabulous baked Dorad dinner, which triggered a few drinks and lots of chatting as the night wore on. It certainly brought a smile to the fish's face.