One of our favorite trips where we learned the truth of " Il dolce far niente". It took a week to cover 59 kilometers. It was also the pivotal trip in an evolution in our travel lives. We had been doing incredible glamorous trips to Europe. The Orient Express, luxury cruises, Private balls in elegant palaces, a dinner on HMS Britannia. Each one more fabulous than the next but increasingly we had been going off on our own. Doing things more local and leaving more opportunities for serendipitous things to come our way. A week after we were manning the lines as we sailed our own barge up the Nivernais canal we were at a private ball at Hampton Court. That is when we realized we would rather be on a barge than at a ball. Sounds strange but for the next years we have been travellers not tourists. The following year we went around the world for the first time on our own. More of that later. Here is the glory of the French coutryside.
I WAS CREW AND DISHWASHER. LOWEST OF THE LOW.
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| JON WAS NEXT RANK UP |
ON BOARD DINING LUNCH AND SUN DOWNERS
David was the Captain and Jen first mate
Early morning, wrapped in a warm sweater, a cup of steaming hot coffee, stepping out on the deck. The canal covered in mist as sunbeans shot through the air. Completely peaceful, the sounds of birds and then roosters wake the day. A reason to get up early every morning.
The locks as they started fo fill and slowly we would rise up to the next level and the next vista. Nothing hurried. Each day was the routine of making our few miles and exploring the picture perfect villages that lined the canal.
FRENCH DRIVERS
We fly the flag and we made friends with locals
The trip ends in Paris and Jen and I go to Notre Dame for Mass on Sunday
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