It was meant to be to Commercy but we spotted this lovely rural mooring just two locks and 10k up River. Much more our cup of tea than a large town mooring. I spotted the pontoon and then realised that all was not right with it. There is no way to get onto the pontoon; it’s all folded onto itself and has been semi towed away and tied to a tree. The area immediately beyond is a lovely bank (and no plank) mooring with our own picnic area, picnic table and private wood. It took us quite some time to remove all the weed we’d collected en route: but hey ho, anything round the bow is not round the prop!

As you can see, a delightful spot for all of us; it’s lovely to let all the gang run free without bothering anyone so we stayed today; G filled the fuel tank, washed the starboard side down and did some work on the chimney. I cleaned the windows and worked up the designs for the starboard side hatches (I wasn’t happy with the first set of designs) which now involve Red Kite, Owls, poppies and sheep.

At 5pm we wandered into the bar/tabac/epicerie for the day’s French Lesson – the locals certainly worked us quite hard as we were, clearly, a bit of a novelty – I don’t think many people stop here as they jump St. Mihiel to Commercy and Sampigny rather sits in the middle – too short a cruise for most boaters. Like the menagerie, I love it and am in no rush to move on but we’ll see what tomorrow brings. I’ll leave you tonight with some photos of the village.

I am so glad we did this – I don’t want, ‘if only’ on my headstone.

Written Friday 29th August