Lagarde to Einville au Jard

18 km, 5 locks

I spent the morning route planning.  Today we start our homeward journey and we need to know how far we must go each day and have a rough idea of where we are going to stop.  It took a good few hours and it works out that we will be on the move for minimum 25 days and have max 7 rest days.  I was worried that we would have to keep moving every day in order to get back to our marina in time so I’m pleased we have some leeway in case of unforeseen delays.

We had lunch with Lynn and Shaun at the KP 209 restaurant in Lagarde.  Their treat for all Ian’s hard work yesterday.  It was an excellent meal, (a warm goat’s cheese salad starter followed by roast leg of lamb), although the service is a little slow (reminiscent of Azorean restaurants!).

When lunch was over we went to look a 33 foot boat for sale in the marina.  It is a Pedro design and we wanted to see what they are like inside. At 33 feet it is just the ideal size for us.   We love Njord but she is only 9m long (about 29 feet) and has no room for a permanent shower, which we would dearly love to have (of course). It had a really nice interior layout and when we eventually get round to buying a bigger boat we will definitely consider a Pedro.

At 15.00 we said goodbye to Lynn and Shaun and set off on back down the Canal de la Marne au Rhin towards the west.  For the first few days we will be backtracking over water that we have already cruised on our outward journey. We left in warm sunshine but big black clouds boiled up again. Luckily the heavy rain showers missed us and we tied up at the quay in Einville at 18.15.

Pretty, isn't it?

Yet another charter boat

A pretty village on a hillside

Not blue sky but purple clouds, dumping rain

A fisherman catching a fish, a really big one, so big he could not lift the net for a photo

Brunel is the lovely barge behind us