Well ……. so much for "more from us soon" as we said
in our last update in May as its now 3 months later! Sorry!
Basically, it's like this…
We have been complimented on our photos and have been asked if we only take
them in good weather. We have also been asked if we are still eating, drinking
and having fun. The answer is of course YES on both counts.
It is difficult to use the laptop in full sunshine and sitting in the dark
on board Lea Crest is a definite no-no. But of course that causes another
problem, in that we end up with lots of sunny photos and trying to keep the
update down to 20 pictures or so does not do them justice. So, anyone who
can suggest a solution to this dilemma, please get in touch.
Of course sun and fun are not obligatory but we do recommend that everyone
should continue to eat and drink from time to time. Now on with the long awaited
update…..
Soon after leaving St. Jean de Losne we saw a chap pulling out a monster
from the river Saône, as you will see in our first photo. Perhaps his
fridge wasn't quite big enough to accommodate this rather large specimen!
A GOOD CATCH
Just a little further up the Saône, in a town called Gray, we spotted
this young man and his father. The boy had just caught this fish called a
silure, which is like a giant catfish.
ANOTHER WHOPPER
As you can see, the silure was as tall as the boy and actually is a relatively
small specimen for these parts. One of these at 2 metres in length and around
85 kilos would be a good catch.
Our cruise this year isn't quite new territory for us, as we visited most
of the places 4 years ago on our way down from Calais. So it's a bit like
going down memory lane backwards. But we were always advised to do canals
and rivers in both directions as they seem so different. What good advice
that was and how nice to have the time to take it steady this year.
Our next photo is of Ray sur Saône, a very pretty village and mooring
spot.
RAY SUR SAÔNE
A little further along our route and up another arm of the river we came
to a village called Loing. We are sure that it must have other claims to fame
but its model of the Eiffel Tower is the most well known. The model was built
in 1997 to a scale of 1/20th of the real tower and it weighs 2½ tonnes.
WHAT an EYEFULL
We are always happiest when looking around the open markets, especially
the ones that aren't selling tee shirts and handbags, and as you can see we
found a very good one here in Corre.
HUNTING and GATHERING
The local fire station, where this next picture was taken, is really quite
small. It is in what looked to us like a prefabricated garage. But as you
can see from the photo (taken through the window) it has a very special cloakroom.
A LITTLE TREASURE
Unfortunately, there was a large fire in the village of Corre in February
of this year which clearly got out of hand. The results are here to be seen
as the local supermarché came off a little worse for wear.
CORRE BLIMEY
Moving on to a place called Fontenoy le Chateau and the local shop had just
what was needed.
COOL DUDE
Now we know that lots of rubbish can end up in the canals and more so in
England (sorry). But we think that this "Junk" that floated past
us really does take the biscuit!
JUNK IN THE CANAL
The owner of this junk actually built it himself and has a remarkable story
to tell. His name is Clive Hamman and his book is entitled "No Fixed
Address". (We're sure you can find out more if you want to without any
further ads from us). Good luck Clive and we hope that all your future plans
are successful.
We have often been told to have a knife handy when going through the locks.
Tales of ropes getting stuck and axes being used abound. But these are not
urban legends and the last time we were graphically told of this problem,
we later spotted the offending lock. It seems that VNF (French waterways Authority)
had gone to the trouble of painting the danger zone with bright yellow paint.
So you can't really blame them can you? What did you expect them to do, fill
the crack in with cement or something?
IN THE NICK OF TIME
We haven't tried too hard to find out which place is actually twinned with
the town of Epinal where the statue in our next picture is situated. But we
think that there may be a place in North America called La Crosse, or is there
some other link perhaps? We just liked the statue and as a boy David always
liked the native Americans, being happiest when playing the part of an "injun"
as opposed to a cowboy.
JUMELAGE (TWINNED)
Whilst in Epinal we went to visit the Museum of the Image, which is all
about the history of printing. Not the best place we've been to but one area
told the story of children's comic books and the cut out models that they
often contained. Each week with the comic there would be a cardboard model
of a building to construct and this next one was considered by the French
to be a typical English house. Spooky but it looks a bit like our old house
(Lea Crest) in Mirfield.
LOOKS FAMILIAR
In Epinal we met a lovely Dutch couple, Andrew and Rita, who were moored
next to us. They have 2 cats and a dog on board and their dog has this strange
habit of either chasing its own shadow or just keeping an eye on it. It was
very funny to watch and unfortunately that is what we tended to do quite often.
It is however surprising what other shadows appeared on Andrew's boat!
SHADOWS
The next photo has already gone out to a few friends in an effort to identify
the type of snake. Pamela thinks that it was a viper as it was very aggressive
and she was happy that Gromit decided to give it a wide berth.
VIPER?
37 years ago, the 3rd of July 1971 was a special day for us. We got married!
So as there was a good restaurant in the village where we were moored on the
3rd of July this year, we decided to go out and celebrate. No expense spared
and a good time was had by all, as you can see!
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
Gromit of course couldn't attend the festivities but earlier in the day
was quite happy doing what he does best (after sleeping that is).
TAKING THE MICKEY
At Toul our port captain was Brigitte who is very friendly and helpful.
We later found out that her main job is as a member of the local police force.
She just looks after the port on behalf of the Mairie in the evenings. As
you can see she was quite happy to pose in her dress uniform for a photo with
Pamela at the Bastille Day festivities.
BASTILLE DAY
Old friends Ally and Karen turned up soon after we arrived in Toul. This
was the 2nd time we had bumped into them this season and, as always, they
were great company. Having said that we are still waiting to hear Ally play
the guitar and fiddle ….. but not necessarily at the same time!
ALLY and KAREN
We had some great sunsets while we were in Toul and the one in the next
photo was no exception. It even made us wonder if it was going to be the "second
coming".
MON DIEU
False alarm though as nothing happened so life continues as we know it…thank
goodness!
TWO SHADY CHARACTERS
At the time of working on this update we are in the town/city of Nancy.
It is a beautiful place and we will let you see a few photos of it in our
next update.
Our recent visitors have moved on to Switzerland and our next ones arrive
around the 8th of September. So fingers crossed that our next update isn't
quite so long coming!
SO LONG - A BIENTOT!
Bye for now from David and Pamela and more from us soon ......
JUNK IN THE CANAL
