Back to the canal

Before the friends arrived, we were treated to a bit of theatre.  A fellow on the opposite bank was struggling with spomething pretty vigorous on the end of his fishing line, shouting to his friends for help landing it.  After quite a long struggle, they landed a huge fish with a nasty looking set of teeth - a pikeperch (sandre), I think.  I heard someone say that it had been eating the ducks, and can quite believe it.  It was huge: a good metre long.  Glad to say there were plenty of ducks and geese on the canal despite its attentions - one mallard had nine ducklings in tow.  We took out one of the little battery boats for an hour, which was fun as usual, though Martyn took a while to get used to its odd handling characteristics. 

Martin, Patricia and Chota (Photo: Barbara Schiphorst)

Lunch yesterday at the excellent Auberge du Somail.  We'd arranged to meet friends there: they live a similar distance in the opposite direction, so it's a convenient and pleasant meeting point.  We were quite worried when their arrival was delayed by three quarters of an hour, and had in fact ordered our meals by the time they arrived.  (Choice yesterday of melon and ham or gazpacho with what I think was a melon and cucumber sorbet, followed by squid or an onglet of beef with an onion and red wine sauce.  Then a choice of puds (which our friends swapped for a coffee with the willing co-operation of the restaurant).  Pretty good for the basic 22€ menu, and the surroundings are delightful - most tables are on the terrace or the towpath in the partial shade of a fine (and so far healthy) plane tree.

One amusing moment on the way to Le Somail.  The road we use follows the canal for a number of miles, sometimes leaving it for a mile or so, but never far from the canal embankment.  At one point, all we could see was a big blue parasol making its stately progress between the trees.  The rest of the boat it was on was concealed by the vegetation.  Faintly surreal.