On the canals

20.9.11
As I peered out of the van at around 7am, I saw everything shrouded in thick fog. But what a peaceful scene it looked.
I pottered around the van for some time before noticing Rob coming over with Rosie. He was going to head up to the patisserie-boulangerie, but was stopped a few metres away by a French gentleman who told him that the village was quite a steep climb up the hill (we were near the old village, where there was no longer a patisserie) but that the van would come to deliver in 'une minute'. Rob and I waited...and waited, but enjoyed a chat. I think it was about 9am before the van did come eventually, but a good time to rouse Terry and Bill (who had been lying in bed listening to his music).
This time collaboration with Bill. He felt quite tired and did not feel like riding the bike, so it was decided he and I would head into Dole then walk back a couple of locks to meet Rob and Terry and go back into the village on the canal. This actually worked perfectly, with Bill and I arriving at Ecluse 68 - a little over a canal downstream from Rob and Terry at the same time as they arrived in the boat.
A beautiful, warm morning so a lovely cruise into Dole. Terry felt she needed a bit of downtime, so Bill and I walked up into the village of Dole, where Rob met us - hoping to catch the markets. Unfortunately we had just caught the end of them and other than a piece of cheese, saw nothing else that caught our attention. Rob returned to Terry while Bill and I wandered through the church and old village, before buying some lunch and returning to the van.
We moved it into the shade and decided to have a nap, which was slightly disturbed when about 30 men turned up to play the French equivalent of bocce in the large carpark. This was quite interesting to watch while we had some afternoon tea, before a short walk over to the remains of a Romanesque bridge - one span on each side of the river. The rest had been washed away many years ago due to flooding.
Our last night with Rob and Terry was to be dinner on the boat. We were going to go out, but Terry hasn’t been well and preferred to stay on board. Bill and I decided to celebrate this occasion by dressing for dinner, before strolling over to join them.
We enjoyed some drinks with Rob up on the back deck, before being called down by Terry, who had prepared a lovely dinner. These past few days and evenings spent in their company have really been something special. Tonight was no different. Around 10pm we climbed down the ladder at the stern of the boat and walked back to the van. We had noticed a tap, where we hoped to get water on the other side of the canal to Armida, so drove down but our hose was too short.
Not to worry – we will find some tomorrow.