Friday 1st July – pinch punch, first of the month – it was time to move on. We went onto to Méricourt. A massive 6kms and 1 lock!
We had each stopped here in 2019 and remembered it as a quiet, rural spot. There is only one small pontoon so we rafted up and settled down for a peaceful weekend.
The area is designated a nature reserve and there are variously sized lakes which fishermen can book to use. A real fisherman’s delight. Lots were busy fishing and picnicking and generally enjoying the weather and the area. The only noisy group were the youths who came to jump into the canal by the lock and into the lock and even from the bridge at the end of the lock. I always fear that there will be a nasty accident for someone’s child. I saw enough in my time as an OT. Thank goodness there were no accidents &, to give them their due, they left no rubbish lying about afterwards.
At night it is really quiet and very dark. As there is no light pollution you can really see the stars.
We have decided to alternate the cooking so that we each cook for all one night and go to the ‘resto’ next door the next. The views from ‘Chez Piedaleau’ were just lovely! We had a couple of uninvited guests after dinner. Two ‘conjoined’ butterflies. Google informed us that they were bonking! and could stay like this for anything up to 12 hours! Fascinating but they didn’t stay that long.
Lots of birdsong but we still cannot identify who’s who. My RSPB book of birds with its infamous CD is no help. The 100 ish bird song recordings play without any explanation of which bird or even which number so that you can link it to the paper list provided. As Mary and I have remarked many times you can’t tell your number 37 from your number 63. No help.
We walked around the nature reserve. I had an early morning walk through the fields where I saw a fox jogging along the hedgerow and listened to the bees buzzing in the poppies beside the ripening wheat.
We each managed to do a couple of little jobs on our boats. Chris and Helen watched the Grandprix, we watched the tennis.
A real slow news and very relaxing weekend at Méricourt.
Piedaleau 