Belleville–the one that got away
Posted by contentedsouls on 24/08/2016
We cruised through Belleville on our way to Briare – we cruised through it and back again with Lesley, Sarah and Andy when they came to stay; then we cruised back through again when we left, but not once have I mentioned it and it’s a shame to ‘waste’ the photos.
The official moorings are nice and close to a (very rare) decent sized supermarche; unfortunately they are too close to the road for me to let Daisy out with any kind of peace of mind, so we eschewed the free water and electric and put pins in a bit further up in a pretty spot by some ponds.
Unfortunately, whilst our back was turned putting in said pins, Baxter decided he was hot and would take a paddle. He came out looking immensely pleased with himself and stinking to high heaven!
The pond had many other occupants too
As you can surmise from the blown out cheeks, we were smack bang in the middle of the mating season and the noise level throughout the night and early morning was horrendous – sufficient to drown out G’s snoring!
Before we left, I cycled to the supermarche and somewhat overloaded my rucksack (note to self: must get panniers for the bike). Returning to the boat, I pulled into the centre of the road ready to turn left at the traffic lights when they turned green. As I slowed to a halt I became aware that my dismount was not going according to plan as the saddle got caught up the leg of my shorts and the weight of the rucksack on my back finished off the job as gravity took over and I hit the middle of the road face down. Normally on a week day afternoon in France there is hardly a soul to be seen but, much to my embarrassment, people materialised out of cars, houses and bars to enquire as to my well being. There was hardly a mark on me as I’d toppled off in slow motion but, due to the weight of the rucksack, I couldn’t get up and had to be helped to my feet by two young men who got out of their car. I was mortified and pushed the bike the rest of the way back to the boat.
I don’t know if I put these photos up of the power station either; if I did, I apologise but it has been a very hectic summer and my memory is not what it used to be. Besides, it’s my blog and I like them!!!
contentedsouls 
andywindy said
Ye Gawds Jill, those amphibious friends must have been loud ‘cos if Graham is anything like me he’ll drown out almost anything (Apparently)!
Sorry to hear about your Tumble, I apologise and am really sorry but all I could think of whilst reading about your predicament was a Tortoise stranded on Her back, arms and legs flailing in the air to no avail!
Don’t remember seeing the Cooling tower photos before, they have quite straight sides compared to the British design, and so to my eyes are not as elegant, in fact from the distance I think they look quite squat! Maybe that’s the idea? (The British ones have more of a waist to encourage a Venturi effect to speed up the natural upward flow of cooling air through the waterfall. Whoops, Anorak mode again.)
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contentedsouls said
Your Anorak mode is always informative and, therefore, to be encouraged.
I was only grateful that nobody took photos of my stranded tortoise position – it must have looked so funny
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Kevin TOO said
What excellent photos, yet again 🙂
However I most sincerely apologise for laughing so loudly at both Baxter with his smelly feet
along with your comedy bike ride (glad you weren’t hurt, upset that there’s no video though) 😉 🙂
I’m not going to comment on the frogs though, might be a
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contentedsouls said
Baxter was rather proud of himself, whereas I was merely embarrassed!
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suenp said
Ha, When I get a minute I am going to scan YouTube. With all those people around someone must have taken a video!!
Glad you survived OK unscathed though Jill!! xx
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vallypee said
Oh poor you, Jill. I can so well imagine how embarrassing your bicycular collapse must have been. It’s murphy’s law isn’t it? That a crowd of people will witness your demise like that. I’m very glad you weren’t hurt though. I just love the photos of the frogs on the lilies. It still amazes me that they really do like sitting on them. I always thought that was just a Disney thing, but I saw one sitting on a lily leaf in Kortrijk and was thrilled. Your power stations are wonderful too!
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contentedsouls said
Thanks Val – I had always intended to paint a frog on a Lilly pond on the narrowboat’s side shutters but couldn’t get it right or find a suitable pic to copy – these would have been perfect! Too late now as I stuck with the birds.
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contentedsouls said
Thanks Val – I had always intended to paint a frog on a Lilly pond on the narrowboat’s side shutters but couldn’t get it right or find a suitable pic to copy – these would have been perfect! Too late now as I stuck with the birds.
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paul macey said
Where are you guys at the moment, I will be going through France heading to Spain. Im in no hurry this time. It would be nice to have a rendezvous, I will be in the motorhome. My email is pomsinaus@gmail.com
Paul, Bombo and Sammie xx
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contentedsouls said
Brilliant. e-mailed you
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