It’s three days since we’ve seen another boat and that was the empty barge we watched going through the lock at Tréveray.
The photo itself does much to explain what words cannot. The canals and locks were designed to accommodate vessels thirty-nine metres long and five wide. This does not leave a lot of room for passing and we sometimes wonder how the big ships resist the temptation simply swat us like an annoying little gnat as they occasionally lumber past, with us taking a precious four or so metres of the width of their waterway as we do.
We can’t help but think that we are watching the end of an era, trucks have taken over from barges as a form of inland transport, and apart from the few months of summer each year it seems that few pleasure boats are moving. We can’t help but wondering how long the waterways can be kept open for traffic.
We do a lot of wondering when we are alone.
And then this morning our wondering was shattered by the phone’s shriek.
Iris and Graham were on their way! Our planned day of recovery from yesterday’s marathon was in disarray.
So we untied and motored on to civilisation, wondering if the strain of having travelled five kilometres will show on our faces when they arrive.
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