32 km, 3
locks
Today was a public holiday –
Pentecost – which, it seems, the French take very seriously. I hoped to find a supermarket open for a few
hours in the morning to buy fresh bread and milk but, no, not a soul was
stirring at 8.30 this morning. So we had
to make do with Saturday’s bread and I do have enough milk to last us till
mid-day tomorrow, I hope.
We set off at about 8.45. It has been surprisingly chilly the last 3
days, this morning it was only 8 degrees when we set off: caps and jackets had
to be dug out from the back of the cupboard!
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| A tight squeeze to get out through the exit onto the big canal |
At the first lock we had to wait
while a big “double trouble” barge came down and exited before we could enter
to go up.
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| A busy lock |
Same story at the second lock, and
the third had to be emptied before we could enter, but on the whole the canal
was very quiet today. This is the main
commercial canal across the north of France, but we saw very few barges working
today. For a major “highway” it is very
attractive.
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| A riding school - what a lovely place to learn to ride |
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| Elle behind us |
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| Elle in front of us |
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| Swan and cygnets - how cute! |
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| A family of ducks plus hanger-on |
5 hours after leaving Douai we
arrived at the Halte de Bouchain in the Bassin Ronde. Ian and Shaun got out their drones – boys and
their toys!
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| Shaun doing his stuff |
From Ian's eye in the sky:
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