Wednesday 30th May. Rethel

Got a New bread today. Called simply, pain, it is a big version of the baguette. Enjoyed it with a freshly picked mushroom, omelette. We decided to make use of the facilities! Rethel halte was unusually not free but at 5 € per night hardly a rip off and Collette wanted to do a big wash before our visitors arrive in a few days. I was not overly happy as the boat was transformed with washing lines everywhere. The crew seems to love the washing machine more than me.

Got chatting to Mike and Denise on a fabulous barge next door. Really nice people they had been on the waterways for 10 years and invited us for drinks later to give us some advice regarding the midi where they had spent 4 years and also owned a property on the river lot.

I messed with my satellite dish with the jubilee weekend and the euros approaching fast. Just couldn't get a signal again. Hamburg next door was also having trouble but when he got his sorted, I decided a bigger dish was called for.

We sort of drifted into drinks with mike and Denise about 5 ish. They were lovely. Mike had suffered heart trouble for 30 years and had a fibrillator fitted. He had to go to Perpignan every 3 months for check ups and the battery needed replacement. If it stopped so did he so seemed pretty serious but he was cool about it. He had once had a heart attack on a train station and turned to Denise and just said well that's it. He was brought back at the 4th defrib charge. Denise had just had a benign,as it turned out,tumour removed from her neck whilst wintering in Spain 3 months ago and she had to fly back there next week for checks. They were quite a pair. They had loved the last 10years but had just put there barge on the market and were buying a farmhouse in the south of France where mike could have cows and establish a shooting estate. His health issues were forcing the reluctant decision. The barge was 8 years old, it had taken 3 yrs to be built for them and so quite emotional about selling. They gave us loads of tips about all things French waterways and we established a nice friendship in a very short space of time. it had been a very pleasant few hours.

Could not believe it was suddenly 9.30 we had planned on a Chinese restaurant for dinner. Denise invited us to share their now very well cooked meal but i was determined to try a french chinese resto as had heard great things about how much better they were than ours so we strolled into town despite fully expecting the Chinese to be closed. Empty of people of course but open, bloody well open. Lacked atmosphere so we grabbed emporter and scoffed very late again. Oh and a Load of nonsense about quality based on this experience. Bland and certainly not up to Kam too standards!

Weather. Hot hot hot! Excellent drying day!