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European Adventure 2017
Today was the day of great expectation when we picked up our boat from Agen and started investigating the Garonne Canal and eventually we will sail along the Baise River. Mona our GPS became Mona Lisa as she got us out of another tricky situation. All three of us have different GPS systems and it really pays off at times. Most often they lead us differing ways but eventually though all three sing from the same song book. Today however the others had put GPS co ordinates into theirs while we put an address and ours came up trumps. At times we travelled extremely narrow lanes and one of us left a little white kiss on the bumper of a Reynault parked on the roadside. We loaded up the boat with clothes and the odd bottle or two and after what seemed like endless instructions we were off. We had bought black NZ flags and an All Black one and while we were only a few metres down the canal there was a whistle and a couple of Kiwis were jumping up and down on the bank waving out to us! It was a magical day and as we set off slowly we all had to pinch ourselves we were really here. The lock system is automatic and so nothing like the hard work it was years ago when we did a similar thing in the UK although that was really enjoyable too. The first locks were a series of four and we had to get through all of them by 6pm. Just as we got going Lidka presented us all with hats. Geoff was given Captain, I was 1st Mate, Mandy Kiwi Crew, Lidka CZ crew, Leicester Deckie and Charlie Lockie. We all looked a great team in our black caps. Part of the first series of locks was an amazing Aquaduct which took us high over a road and the river. Quite an amazing experience. Some young French boys were jumping off a bridge along the canal although why you would in that water I have no idea. When they saw the All Black flag they first praised us for having the best rugby team then as we past yelled out " Le Bleu "at the tops of their voices to which we of course chanted " All Blacks". They thought it was great fun. Our first meal was to be at a little restaurant in the very small village of Signorac or something similar (I don't have the map with me at present) but when we walked into town unfortunately it was chocker and we had to make do with takeaway pizzas which were rather nice but not quite what we had in mind. Anyway we found where the patisserie is for the bike ride in to the village for the fresh croissants in the morning so that is the main thing. It is so hot and muggy it will be difficult to sleep but we are hoping that we will not have a thunder storm for the third night in a row, we had another one last night which was very spectacular and brought with it a great dumping of hail and rain. Let's hope it's a quiet one tonight.
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Alison Wilton Wow narrow roads. What happens if someone comes in opposite direction or are they one way? I see that all vans looks slightly different. Is yours the one with the low line Jo? A xx
Jo Kidd They sure are narrow. I think that one was one way as it was quite long but most aren't and so you just have to look to see if it's clear and then just go! They are all low line vans but ours is a bit longer and has 'platinum' aka Grey sides. It has a black patch on the front like a windows. I think there is a picture of it at the very beginning of the blog. The other two are driving Swifts while ours is an Auto sleeper. Luv, Jo x