We were woken at 6 this morning by a
lot of noise outside on the quay: cars passing by, stopping and starting, car
doors banging, heavy things being moved and people talking. When I stuck my head out the hatch this is
the scene that greeted my eyes
A flea market!
Well, of course we had to take a look
– but only after the grand prix, of course – great race!
The market “stalls” wound all the way
along the canal from the beginning of the little inlet where we are moored,
along the Canal Lateral and around the corner along the Canal du Nord. Mostly second hand clothes, ornaments,
bric-a-brac of all sorts, 2 veggie/seedling stalls, and a saucisson stall.
It was really cold this morning with
a breeze from the north, big black clouds looming and while we out looking at
the flea market some big plops of rain began to fall, and that turned into hail. The stall holders scrambled to cover their
wares and I dashed for home. Ian didn’t care much about getting wet.
In the afternoon we went for a long
walk to the next town to see if there is a supermarket there. Yes, there is and it is close to the canal so
tomorrow we will ride the bikes there along the towpath. We are heading for the Somme River where
there are many places to stop in the middle of nowhere so we want to stock up
with some store cupboard items.
Late this afternoon there was a knock
on the hull and 2 waterways policemen asked if they could see our papers. We
invited them on board and they were very friendly and polite. The wanted to see Ian’s captain’s certificate,
the ICC, his radio licence, boat registration, vignette and safety cetrificate
(like the vistaria we had on Xacara),
but seeing we don't have those as an SSR boat, they asked to see the
extinguishers. One of them was out of date so he said we must attend to that,
and he politely bollocked us for tying a mooring line to a lamp post. When we said we were heading for the Somme he
waxed lyrical about how beautiful it is and got very chatty. Really nice guys, as long as you have the
right paperwork!
This is resume of our trip so far after 18 days:
Stats: 347 km
Mobile bridges : 9 (7 of them in
Belgium, there are very few mobile bridges in France)
Locks: 72
Tunnels: 2
Max altitude: 83m (at the top of the
St Quentin Canal)
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