Merville to Aire-sur-la-Lys

First of all a pic from yesterday: sewing 

21 kms, 4 locks, 1 lift bridge

The weather wasn’t too bad today.  Cold, for sure, 5^o when we went through the lock at 10.00, but someone said to us once “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes.”  Too right, with new jackets, etc, we were warm as toast.

It was heavily overcast, but no wind and no rain (till later).

Bye bye telecommand, from now on we have a "mobile equipe" (itinerant lock keeper)

First lock and I'm getting all agitated because the line was stuck in a crack in the lock wall.  The lockie freed it and apologised for the bad state of the lock edge.

We had our own personal lock keeper who took us through all 4 locks and a lift bridge.  The locks are supposed to close from 12.30 to 13.30 but he said he would take us to the end without stopping.  How kind.

Before we left I made a dash to the boulangerie for a couple of pastries.  I am not getting any thinner!

 Riverside scenes:

Irises in bloom - so early

The free mooring at St Venant, with free water and electicity, and two British barges.  I wonder if they have been there all winter!

Our friendly and accomodating lockie, checking his canal

At the end of the Lys River we turned onto the Canal d'Aire, part of the Grand Gabarit between Dunkirk and the Belgian border on the Escaut River

We tied up at the funny little port in Aire-sur-la-Lys at 13.00.  

The pontoon is right alongside a noisy factory...

but proceed a little further (it does get quite shallow) and you find a very peaceful mooring with bollards hidden in the grass.

Ian has been looking for a Bricolage (DIY store) to buy a piece of wood for the new battery installation and off he went by bike.  He got back with a strip of wood and the information that they had carpeting and flooring – should we go take a look?  We have already gone shopping for carpeting twice and come home empty handed.  We really don’t like the blue carpets in the boat and I really, really don’t like having carpeting in the galley.

So, yes, we set off with no gloves or beanies because the sun was coming out fitfully and it was not that cold.  As we finished our purchases we heard a loud a drumming on the roof of the big warehouse – it was hailing!  We waited till it stopped before we set off, Ian with the carpet roll under his arm, but before we were half way home it came down again.  I can tell you riding into hail hurts!

And now we have lots of work to do!

The new carpet!