Peronne

I write on day 3 from Peronne's port du plaisance as, after the recent lock series in the wet weather we realised that we needed a little more r&r than we thought.  We've been away for just over 4 weeks and when we look back at what we've been up to it's no wonder we were shattered!  And Peronne is an OK place to stay with a town nearby, a supermarket even closer and has power, water and showers so why not?!

We have had a couple of walks into town which is steeped in WW1 history as we're in the Somme region.  There is a museum here dedicated to WW1 and there are coachloads of visitors that come to pay their respects throughout the year.  It's hard to imagine the scale of what happened here as you walk around the town today as it is quite tranquil and you can't help but be touched by how awful life must have been for those soldiers - it puts any troubles you feel you have into perspective.

Skipper at the Gate of England, Peronne

First Mate at the moat inside the Gate of England, Peronne

We had drinks with Alan & Carol on board "Reward" which was fun - in fact, they are our first guests as, don't forget, this is Reward's maiden voyage and we only bought her 6 months ago. 

We've also met Ken & Katie of "Stardust" - they are doing a similar journey to us so no doubt we'll be travelling with them.  They have given me some ideas as they winter in Spain ... now that's the way to do it!  All the people we've met so far are wondering what's going on with the weather and think that, even this late in the year, we're still too early.  It seems that this region of France is still in their Spring season with Summer yet to start.

So, nothing much more to report at present.  We're well and feeling rested so we'll update you when we're on the move again.  Our next stops are Noyon and Pont l'Eveque en route to Compiegne where we hope to arrive - weather permitting! - sometime over the weekend.

Over & out for now!