May 7th Monday - Pont Remy to Long

May 7th Monday - Pont Remy to Long

Departure 11am. Trip time 1hr 10 min, 3 nautical miles.

Mum woke us 6.30am with news that our first visitors had arrived. Ange, Alex & Dan were asleep in the car having arrived at 4.30am from Dieppe. We warmed them with tea. Pont Remy boulangerie was closed on Mondays so Alex & I drove back to abbeville for croissant & baguettes. After breakfast we set off for a glorious run to Long with Alex at the helm under the watchful eye of an unusually nervous skipper!

 

 

 

The captain had a rare blip having forgotten lock closing times for lunch so we tied up bankside 200 metres short of the lock & strolled into town to check out the halte as like Pont Remy this ecluse was also being modernised also at a cost of 1.8million€. With so little traffic it seems incredulous when the Somme a completely free navigation as to how these enormous sums are justified but in this skippers opinion thank heaven.

Checked out the chateaux, unbelievably was closed for renovation. 2 visits now, twice closed. One day?

As we made our way back Alex slipped on sme stones & having removed once managed to slip again, this time his back slamming down whilst his legs cartwheeled in thin air. A vey nasty & painful fall but nevertheless bloody hilarious.

Pre locking we lunched on bread, cheese, pâté & crudités with a fine bottle of nottage hill cab Sauvignon. Our mooring is opposite the quite magnificent town hall, a stunning spot offering water & electric.

Ange, Alex, Dan & I retraced our route along the towpath on the bikes to collect Alex car. The lovely weather continued & the Ritchies caught up on some much needed slep whilst I roasted an impressive leg of lamb on the cob. 2 hours in the cooking it was a 4 leffe session whilst this scribe was drafted.

I have to say a stunning meal was savoured by the whole boat party.

Weather - early morning cloud gave way to a lovely sunny day

Locks - 1 of 4