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I have been a bit slack in keeping up to date... Sorry. Too busy having a great time. We joined the McCubbin-Quinlan family again for 5 days aboard the canal boat Penichette 1550r, called "villeneuve-sur-lot" but we just called her " the boat".
Recovering from our night at the hotel Astoria, out in the suburbs, we loaded up our trolley at the local "Hyper Casino" supermarket. Smaller outlets are called Petite Casino and really big ones are appropriately named "Super Casino".
These days are probably the highlight of our trip, yet I am not going to write too much about them. It was so much fun, navigating the canal, managing the locks, exploring little towns along the way, visiting local markets, pairing up to cook fabulous meals for the others enjoyed with many, many bottles of local French wine. We think the youngest pair - Alex and Jasper finished off the trip superbly with a delicious pasta and sorbet with berries and melted chocolate, although all the meals were terrific including the 2 Dads, who not only captained the boat, could cook as well!
We had turns jumping ashore to ride, or jog ( ok so only Karen jogged, for about 9 km on the last day) or walk alongside the canal whilst the crew forged ahead at a blistering 8 km/ hr. We also did a 5 km walk up to the beautiful village of Auvillar, south of Pommevic, where we found a picturesque and quiet mooring spot.
Even the weather was perfect so we could laze up on the deck and bask in the sun. We only had one wet sailor, David bravely offered to check the suitability of a mooring spot on the banks of the Garrone river, but the muddy river bed set him off balance. It would have been hilarious except for a few moments we were worried that the would be crushed by the boat!
We played charades in the evening, impressed by Ruby and Jasper's diverse knowledge of film and music.
It was over all too soon as we returned on the Friday morning. We were lucky that Stan could be there with us. A lot of time was spent arranging his return to Melbourne, tough for him being so far away from his folks at this time.
Thank you to the Valentine family who gave us the idea for this adventure. We want to do it again sometime from Agen to Toulouse.
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Jenny We're glad that you had such a great time. Keep up the great work with your blog.