Friday 10th August Port sur Soane to Ray sur Soane

Trip 42 Kms. Departure 11.45. Locks 7 of 349

We let the guys sleep reasonably late before breakfasting on savoury egg and ham and cheese crepes so it was quite a late start considering we wanted to cover some 40 odd Kms today. With a speed limits of 15 Kms per hour and not too many locks this would be no hardship.

It was a stonker of a day and Carla and dan settled into some serious grill work. One wag suggested their bleached bodies may blind oncoming traffic, I felt this a tad harsh. We insisted they creamed heavily however.

 

With some summery sounds on, the trip was a delight. At the first lock of the day, a lady from the lock keepers cottage offering hot tarts du pomme. We could not resist a couple for tea and added a cucumber to the bill.

At lock number two we had caught up with a total lunatic. A chubby chap who sat at the helm drinking glasses of rose wine leaving two teenage children to cope with the ropework in the lock. His helming skills were absolutely atrocious and his steel boat was given a damn good bashing on entering and exiting the lock. More disconcerting was the behaviour of the young crew who clearly knew as much about boats as the pickled skipper. I was delighted to see a vnf man arrive to witness the antics and assumed he had a word as the after a chat the skipper got a little more involved. The kids were genuinely at risk as far as i could see! He careered out of the lock taking another chunk of steel off of the stern corner and i gave him plenty of room before following. The river was growing in size all the time. It is a mixture of river and canal cuts, 1 or 2 km stretches often saving 3kms of winding unnavigable river. Unusual for a river, we soon approached a short 687m tunnel. We waited a few minutes for green lights and giving the pickled idiot a good start, through we went. It was actually a lovely relief from the heat to be truthful as much as a nice experience for the jeunes.

 

The last lock of the day produced a managerie for an audience. The lock side was fenced behind which lived, chickens,sheep, dogs, ducks, and an ass. (That was two what with dipstick in front) we declined the offer to purchase wine and honey.

There was a nasty rumour that badgers also habitated here hence,

 

We exited the lock and were dismayed to see the prat turn off the main river down the short reach to Ray sur Soane. We were headed there too!

I followed and watched him churn up mud as he inevitably drifted outside of the narrow channel markers. depth here was critical. It was late afternoon and we were delighted to see just one hire boat at the moorings. I waited for the twit to smash into one of the old wooden mooring stages expected it to splinter but his bow actually missed it and slid up and into the bank to one side of it. The hire boat people came and helped the two kids haul him round and somehow he was in. It was not even funny!

I slipped up to the farthest stage keeping loads of distance between me and him and edged alongside wary of the very shallow water. I was also very aware of how beautiful this spot was. Up on the hill overlooking the village, I spied the castellated chateau. We settled in and struck up conversation with the young boy fishing right alongside us. His name was clementon and he became a bit of a chum. He gave us all sorts of info about boulangerie delivery vans and bars in the town. I rewarded him with some lollipops which he was delighted to accept having not had a bite all day.

We did some sunbathing and set up on shore where we all had a snooze. Allegedly I snored but clearly that would need verification. Pre dinner we strolled the town.

Our aparatif was a non starter as the bars in the town were all closed despite it being a Friday. We discovered the old town baths, wash house. A very special building. The water was very cold and crystal clear.

One hooligan could not resist!

We climbed the hill and came across a massive colony of bright orange slugs. It was practically impossible to take a step without the squish of a squelching slug between your toes. Lovely! A dinner party was being held in one stunning garden. The table set under an arbour or trees and candles dotted all over the garden. The attendees were in for a super evening, hope the food was as good as the setting.

A sign stating private passage did not detain us and we came to the back of the chateau. The gardens in front are open to the public but the chateau is privately owned. I took a picture whilst waiting expectantly for the loud threatening barking of charging snarling guard dogs which thankfully never materialised and we made a hasty retreat having spooked ourselves down the rapidly darkening forest path.

Dinner was our staple opening night for guests roast pork and haricot with the apple tarts for dessert.The setting was sublime and we ate and drank late into the night.

 

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