Everything in France is closed on Bastille day – restaurants are open but otherwise there is a complete shut down. This is a welcome rest day – the past week has been quite strenuous both physically and mentally. It is sometimes quite difficult to imagine that we will be doing this for another 3 weeks – not that it hasn’t been enjoyable. It is just a strange sensation gliding along the canals with occasional bursts of activity – the days have melted into one another and my “real world” seems a long way a way. I am getting used to the boat and we are now referring to it as the "flat" – it seems like another home already. I feel settled but otherworldly.
Wherever possible I have helped the lockkeepers with the locks. Running up ladders, throwing ropes and walking up and down the lock edges has been great exercise. I feel really good doing this “manual labour”. Helping at the locks speeds up getting through the process and it only takes about 10 minutes to get through.
After a long laze in bed Steve rode to the village to pick up the bread that was ordered for us – we had our usual breakfast of parma ham and melon, orange juice, bread, croissants, honey, jam and coffee. I managed to get rid of all the left over bread to the local ducks. They learn very quickly where the best places are to hang out. It is a wonder they didn’t sink from the amount of bread they ate.
We set off for the village at about 11 – hoping to see some parades, bunting, people. But alas – this was not to be. The mayor had put large flags on either side of the WW1 memorial and that was it! The war memorial was impressive – huge and on reflection one of the most emotive I saw. For such a small village there were a lot of deaths during the war. We had a good look around the village – this seems to be a weekend or holiday place now – the houses have been restored and renovated and the place is very well kept. Apart from the little shop and restaurant there are no other stores.
The locals were in the restaurant – Le Martin Pecher. The owners had put out bowls of crisps and nibbles and we were given a little table by the bar. Kir was being served and it was a good mix. On a hot day these drinks go down extremely well. Tables had been set outside – there was a large table for about 20 people and one for Steve and I. The group that arrived belonged to a vintage motor cycle club.
The old bikes were fantastic – beautifully maintained and obviously very loved! They were all French and a nice bunch of people. Not all were on bikes – some of the party arrived in cars and they were also responsible for carting cans of petrol – the bikes had dinky petrol tanks. One of the bikes was a postal delivery bike and had beautifully tooled leather pouches on the carrier – the pouches were about the same size as a normal envelope – I can only imagine that this form of delivery was for special mail only.Everyone had steak and chips or hamburgers and chips today – again huge portions of chips. Be wary if you order anything in France that comes with chips – there are enough to feed a starving third world country. We had excellent wine – and a lovely pear liqueur. After a 4-hour lunch and another walk around the village we got on our bikes and headed for the marina at Baye.
It has been a super day and really nice to be on land again – We had dinner on board and after nightcaps, an early night.
Baye is an area for action type sports. I picked up a pamphlet in the restaurant and there are a variety of sports one can do here from some white water rafting to orienteering. There is a permanent orienteering course set up and you buy a ticket and the map and off you go. Lisa will be delighted. Fishing is very popular and there are many people on the banks of the lakes and canals this evening.
I have finally managed to work out how to use the Suunto watch! The watch, in addition to telling the time, has a barometer, compass, altimeter and thermometer.
So, today we are at 350m altitude and the temperature is 33c at about 17h30. When we started at Migennes we were at 119m.
The air con in the bedrooms is going full blast to cool things down before we go to bed.
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