A few pictures of the lovely nature reserve in the sunshine

And the following morning I set off on foot with Muttley and, putting a wriggle on, beat the boats to Ailly lock by 15 minutes. Unfortunately that meant I was engaged in French conversation by the lockeeper, man talking to lockeeper, two elderly gentleman cyclists and the builder working on the lock building and I began to think the boats were never going to arrive and rescue me …… all too much before breakfast but the walk was lovely (the advantages of going uphill mean I can keep pace and am, therefore, allowed to walk occasionally).

We reached the lock downstream of Amiens at lunchtime and moored at a nice parkland where there was only one boat space which was occupied by a fisherman. He upsticks with out a murmur and helped me pull the boat in against the wind and the current. The revered lunchtime can be used for you – every Frenchman accepts the apology that you need to moor somewhere for lunch. Imagine the response I would have received by the majority of English fishermen! Mike rewarded him with a couple of beers and he was impressed by the gesture. A nice tranquil mooring for visiting Amiens if you’re not afraid of walking or have bikes. We moved on through the deep and lively lock into the centre after lunch.

Passing through Amiens centre I was looking out for a British boat, Casey May Too, whose crew were picking up visiting friends from the station. Sure enough we found Paul and Dawn (Facebook ‘friends’) on the city moorings and pulled across for a quick word before continuing on to our out of town moorings where they later joined us pulling up behind Temujin. Once we realised they were there, we gate crashed their boat and guests for a glass of wine – it would have been rude not too!

Three in a row on the quiet and pleasant mooring