Low Bridge, Everybody Down: Barging in Europe: Chasing Dandelions

What a beautiful day! We tied up the other night by a pond filled with happily croaking frogs. We woke up to birds singing, blue skies and white cows lazily grazing in bright green pastures. I painted and cooked all day. Finally when all my work was done, I got off the boat for a gorgeous walk along the Canal des Ardennes. We did 27 locks and travelled only 32 kilometers. The locks were so close together that we literally did one after another after another. For the person steering it takes tremendous concentration. For the person up front handling the lines it is physically exhausting work. It was a long, hard, hot day for Tom and Wilco.

It is definitely Spring here in France. The wildflowers carpet the fields and line the canals. There are baby ducks, geese and swans everywhere. Young animals are following their mommies. We hear the sounds of waves gently lapping against the sides of the canals, while watching gnatcatchers gracefully diving back and forth across the water chasing their next meal. A soft breeze caresses Rabelo helping to keep us comfortable. Dandelions are floating everywhere, rising and falling thru the air, swirling their way down into Rabelo to drift across our floors.

I saw a bright light coming thru our hatch and thought a light had been left on outside. I got out of bed to investigate. The moon was brilliant and the sky looked like someone had thrown huge fists full of stars up into the air to wink at us. No light pollution here in the countryside of France.

It turns out that our 2 ½ week late start in leaving Holland was ok. Because of the flooding we would have faced delays along the way because the locks were closed. One cruiser said they had been waiting 8 days for that particular lock to reopen. The water was flowing OVER locks instead of through them. We saw evidence of how high the river and canals had been just before our arrival. Many summer boaters turned around. This may make it easier for us to find places to tie up along the way.