Two days without an internet connection - so here are the updates.
Monday 2nd May
Abbeville to Pont Remy
Penny and I walked to a bakery so she
could buy some French pastries for breakfast – croissantes amandes and pains raisins. Delicious. We also stopped to admire the gothic
church.
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| Monday morning - this must be a school lesson: 10 years olds learning water skills |
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| Allotment gardens close to our pontoon |
They left before lunch so they could spend an hour in Amiens before heading home to Dorset, and we set off up the Somme River to Pont Remy.
The river was running
strongly today and at times we could make just 4 km/hour at 1800 revs against
the stream.
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| A chateau - how many rooms does this place have! |
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| I loved the artwork on this house boat, former working barge |
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| The ruined chateau we explored yesterday, from the canal |
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| Approaching the lock at Pont Remy from downstream - quite a wild ride in the turbulance as the water from the weir and river "collide" |
Pont Remy is a pretty little town
with an old ruined castle on an island.
Unfortunately you cannot get close to it.
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| Njord with the ruined caste in the background |
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| A fascinating old ruin, little information available, but I gather a castle has stood sentry over this river crossing for many hundreds of years. |
There is a reconstruction of a gallo-roman
settlement of the Ambiani tribe from the 2nd century. The remains of one of their boats was
discovered near here some years ago and this settlement depicts a typical
house, ironmonger’s forge, the "hall" in which the boat was built and a boat
itself.
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| The "hall" where the boat was constructed |
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| The open side to get the boat out and the stern of a reconstructed boat |
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| The interior of the boat workshop, with some info panels |
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| The interior of the forge |
This evening Ian used the inspection hatch in the "coffer" to have a look at the propeller -just because he could.
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| The coffer in an aft locker |
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| Looking down at the propeller |
Sunday 1st May
Eaucourt
Clear skies, light mist on the river,
-0.5 degrees at 8.00, and a heavy frost that crunched underfoot as I set off to
explore the ruined castle and little village.
The castle is being reconstructed
over a 30 year period, with artisans of the traditional building methods
working on site in the summer months where the public can watch them at
work. Interesting, I’d love to see
that. We returned to Abbeville for
lunch. The day remained clear, calm and
got quite hot.
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| Remains of the old castle - just the entry which housed the portcullis and drawbridge |
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| The interior with some rustic scaffolding |
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| Evidence of reconstruction |
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| Proof that the reconstruction process is in hand |
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| An interesting old house in the village |
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| Looking down the main road in the village towards the canal with mist hanging in the far valley |
Saturday 30th April
Abbeville and Eaucourt
Laundry in the morning, and shopping
for guests. Oliver and Penny arrived at
about 3.30, and also went shopping for bottles of red wine and many cheeses.
After a 1 hour trip up river we
stopped at Eaucourt, a tiny village with
the remains of ruined castle. It was a
beautiful evening; chicken barbecue with Oliver and Penny’s cider (Dorset
Nectar, made on their family farm near Bridport).
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| A "selfie" - self timer |
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| Not sure what "F.T.P." means but a 20 year old local boy was killed on this site buy "the Nazis" in 1944 |
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| Two old buddies shooting the breeze! |
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| Our mooring - now how peaceful is this! |
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| Barbie time! |
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