Fitting in with the natives. Tuesday 7th May - Sint-Idesbald

Not for the first time this week we were welcomed home, this time into our Belgian family where things were so relaxed that we didn’t feel the need to make any progress on the boat at all.  In fact if it weren’t for the fact that it was due to be reunited with the river tomorrow, we may well have settled in for a lot longer.

We did manage to assuage any potential guilt by completing our Belgian boat paperwork between conversations, and a relaxed wander to the laundromat saw our quilts ready to go for another year, but that was it really, apart from a sneaky afternoon snooze to fill in a perfect indoors kind of day.

It was a little chilly out there after all, and the town itself has not yet woken from its winter slumber so it seemed only reasonable that we should to try to fit in as best we could.

It begins!. Monday 6th May - Lens to Diksmuide

We’ve had such a good time during the past week that it’s been easy to forget that at the end of our journey lay the promise of hours of cleaning and sorting our gear ready for a new summer.

When we arrived in Diksmuide this morning we were somewhere between pleasantly surprised and astonished at just how little work appeared to be necessary to have our Joyeux in cruise-ready condition.   Oh there was a bit of dust around to be sure, but due to a combination of bright sunlight, indoor storage and the diligence of the chaps at Buitenbeentje he positively sparkled!

This of course meant that we’d have to pace ourselves if we were going to manage our customary procrastination around the start of our cruising season.  Therefore we fiddled for an hour or two until things inside were far untidier than they were when we arrived, told ourselves that we were almost finished and disappeared to spend an evening or two with Dave and Ria, an infinitely more pleasurable alternative.

The Loop in the Loo at the Louvre. Sunday 5th May - La Ferte-St-Aubin to Lens

The regional branch of the Louvre Museum in Lens is a stunning piece of architecture housing an equally stunning collection which provides a potted glimpse of 5000 years of history in one large gloriously metallic room.

While the rise of civilisations is cleverly tracked in that wondrous chamber, the smallest room in the building perhaps was indicative of the demise of our modern one.  In a glaring example of things carried just a bit too far, there, engraved on the door of one cubicle was the unmistakable symbol indicating it was specially constructed for the hearing impaired.  Yes folks, we have our own loo.

For those unaware, hearing loops are electronic devices installed in some theatres and public spaces to provide enhanced level of hearing for those who are suitably equipped.  

Just why one needs such enhancement while undertaking the most basic of bodily functions remains a mystery, although the writer must admit that even without the additional enhancement provided by the loop, there is indeed a resounding and quite satisfying clatter arising from those functions which in times pre-auditive assistance he was entirely unaware.

A Day at the Fair. Saturday 4th May - La Ferte-St-Aubin

The temperature in the past week has gone from "a bit chilly" through "quite brisk" to “do we really want to go outside today?”, a simple question, and one to which more sensible people may well have responded with a resounding “NO”!

Perhaps we were over-tired after watching the National Petanque championships on television last night, or perhaps the cold had numbed our brains as well as our toes, but whatever the reason, we decided we were made of sterner stuff, and piled ourselves into the car with as it turned out, entirely inadequate wet weather contingencies, for a visit to the Annual Medieval Fair in Orleans.

After delaying venturing outdoors as best we could, hanging around in warm cafés, browsing in department stores, and generally trying to stay dry, we dashed out during a brief break in the weather, managing to complete a much too rapid circumnavigation of the markets, before retiring to the car with bags of medieval baking no less sodden than we were.  With the car heater raging we noticed the temperature outside had risen too, to an infinitely more comfortable five degrees, but we weren’t tempted by the thought of a re-visit.

The New Steed. Friday 3rd May - La Ferte-St-Aubin

In simpler times, if a girl wanted to get around she borrowed some armour, hijacked a horse and simply took off to rabble-rouse as she was wont.

Apparently unable to find armour to fit, Celine has settled for an aged Kombi which will give both transport and a measure of protection as she sets off to change the world one camping spot at a time.  We joined her on her quest today, between bouts of eating, to find a suitable roof ventilator and a few other bits to complete the conversion.  Satisfyingly, one of us even got to make a small replacement part using nothing but a pocket knife and a couple of plastic milk bottles.

We will go into Orleans tomorrow, to take a photo of that famous statue of Joan of Arc, a fitting metaphor we thought for Celine and her trusty steed Jerome, charging off in search of blue skies and foes to vanquish!

Oh, it’s good to be back home. Thursday 2nd May - Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives to La Ferte-St-Aubin

It’s the weirdest thing.   We left home less than a week ago, and immediately felt as though we were home again in the company of Jacques and Maggie, after all they’ve greeted us every year for the past decade on our arrival in Lagarde.

Today though, after a morning’s worth of motorway we arrived once again in La Ferte-St-Aubin, that little village not far from Orleans which is our actual-official-send all correspondence to-home in France, AND it feels like home too.

It might have been the warmth of Celine’s welcome, or the way her Mum makes a special effort to visit on the night we arrive, or Manu’s huge hugs or it might just be that we like the place a lot, whatever the case, as we were wandering the streets of the village in the late afternoon sunlight, once again we were home.   Home it seems, really is where our hearts happen to be.

The Gardens of the Auge. Wednesday 1st May - Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives

Pretty much everything in France is closed on May Day, and pretty much everyone in France wants to get out and about on their day off.   As a result of this there seems to be an over abundance of people looking for places to go and things to eat and a corresponding shortage of places to do so.

We were no different, and thought we might visit the nearby Château de Vendeuvre, but after phoning them at ten to enquire if they were open to the public today the owners advised that they hadn’t made up their mind yet.  Therefore Jacques declared we would visit the not much further away “Gardens of the Auge District”, which was fully booked, but if we visited early there would be a table for us in their cafe before the luncheon rush.  

Created by one family over a period of not much more than a decade these gardens were nothing short of inspirational.  After just three days away, one of us was so enamoured with what he had seen that had he not been put firmly back in his cage he may well have caught the first plane home to get stuck into an immediate rehash of the Dicky Beach landscape.   Though the site’s restaurant managed to find us a table laden with paper napkins, an absence of suitable pencil ruined any attempt at preliminary planning and wonderful things have thus far failed to happen.

Watch this space.