Utilised the car for a run out today, it was a skinny day for G and it’s nice to have the distraction. He normally has a skinny day when we’re cruising but he’s off to the UK on Wednesday and we need to stay in Lumes until he returns as it is ideal – when we move on we’ll probably find somewhere I would have liked even more, but didn’t want to get into the ‘there might be a better mooring round the corner’ game. I’m tied off (rather than on pins), I have unlimited water, remote park/sports ground which is good for Daisy and early/late dog poos and pees, rubbish/recycling and, of course, Renee’s cafe for beer, food and French lessons. Pleasure boats only stop overnight (if at all) as there is no electric, which we don’t need anyway, and no access by car for the length of a football pitch plus some, so it’s fabulously peaceful. This is my neighbour – the first Stork I’ve ever seen.

So up into the hills this lovely sunny morning, following our noses and crossing back into Belgium before an explore down the Ardennes Canal to try and make a decision which way to go when G gets back. Also managed to pick up proper waterways guides for the areas we’re likely to cover this year from the first chandler we’ve come across since hitting Europe. 22 euros a book and 11 euros for an overall map of the French waterways – ouch.

We came across this memorial to 3 British airmen who crashed and died up in the hills here in 1940, aged 20, 26 and 30, from 88 squadron

When we arrived back at MR the place was heaving and we had a job to find a parking space! Up until now, our car has been the only car in the car park and not a solitary game of foot, or any other kind of, ball has been seen – just the occasional dog walker.

It was a boules knock -out championship going on. They were utilising any bit of gravel that they could find, even the track to the rubbish bins. Each group in this pic is an individual game going on. Despite the fact that it had started raining, we stood and watched for a couple of hours. Now G and I spent a lot of time playing bowls before we moved onto MR, but this is a very different game and these guys were very skilled. It was fascinating working out the rules.

I love the fact that there’s no fancy gear involved and no rinks to maintain – just turn up with a set of 3 (usually battle scarred) boules on a bit of gravel or dirt track and get on with it – brilliant!

We’ve been naughty today, apart from a little bit of numbers practice, we haven’t done French lessons today.