One year of sailing!

A year to the day since we left Nottingham and went to Plymouth to learn to sail. We left Reims at 1200 after sorting out the problem with the new phone and having at look around the cathederal. Had a few near misses today. First was leaving some non rechargeable batteries on charge all night. They both exploded this morning. Then while motoring along we moved over for an oncoming barge as he had overhanging trees at his side - and right of way over us anyway. While still about a metre away from our side and doing about 4 kts, we went aground on a shallow bit. It sounded & felt like rocks - I even went down after to check under the floorboards! The front stopped and the back skewed around a bit, but luckily we didn't hit him. We only use the port motor so there was no problem with the starboard one hitting anything. Hopefully the keel shoes took the knock, but we'll see when we get to the clear (warm) waters in the med. In this canal on the downstream side of the locks, the excess water from upstream is jetted out of a pipe at a 45 degree angle to the bank, causing lots of cross currents about 10m away from the narrow gap of the lock. The only solution is to keep lots of speed on until you are in the lock chamber and then put the motors in reverse to stop in time. In one particular lock the pipe was right before the entrance. We were doing over 4kts as we hit the cross current. The wheel spun from lock to lock to stop us hitting the lock head on and it took what seemed like ages to get control again as I didn't have enough hands to put the throttles into reverse - even Mayuri shouted. We must have been millimetres away from sinking the boat. Stopped at 1800 after 13 locks and another long tunnel as the one we've arrived has shut until morning. Spent some time making another rope fender as the edge of the canal here is under water and the normal fenders just float, then polished some of the scrapes & marks out of the side - luckily nearly all have gone. Thought we were quite isolated here among the trees, so I' thought I'd sit out in my bath robe typing away and eating a big bag of foreign crisps but some people have just walked past - so were probably quite close to Conde sur Marne