Back in Alaska. First bear of the year.
We had our first boo-boo of the year come through the yard tonight. A very healthy looking boar. Low light, so the photos aren’t the best, but it’s always fun to see the first one.
France 2023, Day 11. And that's a wrap on the canal boat portion of the trip.
Woke to an absolutely gorgeous day in Lumes so we took advantage of the weather and did a long bike ride along the river up to Charleville-Mezieres and then back to the boat for one final stretch back to the rental base at Pont-à-Bar. We will turn in the boat in the morning and then hop the train to Paris for a couple of days visiting old haunts. Thanks for coming along with us.
France 2023, Day 10. Mouzon to Lumes. The sun, and warmth, are back!
We woke up in Lumes to fog coming off the canal after a chilly night, but the sun is out and there’s no rain in the forecast! It ended up being a beautiful day, only interrupted by a couple of locks that weren’t working correctly, but the canal tech was jumping ahead of us in his car and we didn’t have any major delays. We pulled into the village dock at Lumes around 3pm and took the opportunity for a long bike ride along the canal in the sun and warmth.
France 2023. Day 9. Dun-sur-Meuse to Mouzon.
It rained all night, and it rained again most of the day as we headed towards Mouzon. We ran into another non-functioning lock and had to call a technician who was there within 20 minutes. Just as we got to Mouzon the rain stopped and it turned into a beautiful late afternoon.
Mouzon was at one time the center of felt production, so of course we had to visit the felt museum, which honestly, was pretty fascinating. We did a walk-about around the village and ended the day with a gorgeous sunset.
France 2023, Day 8. We turn around and head back to Dun-sur-Meuse
We have begun our return journey by leaving Verdun and heading downstream now, back through the 9 manually operated locks and some increasingly heavy downpours at times. It’s interesting to return on the same river and see all things you missed behind you on the way upstream.
Some of the heaviest rain so far on this leg of the journey, but it was nice enough to turn into a light drizzle at most of the locks and it quit raining completely just long enough for us to dock for the night back in Dun-sur-Meuse. Time to dry out.
