Lagarde

Last night as I was trying to get to sleep I couldn’t help thinking how I missed not having a bible in our room like they always used to. It was a nice old hotel and our room was adequate but it wasn’t until I lay down that I realised the floor was sloping considerably. I couldn’t put up with it any longer so I jumped out of bed ( well crawled out maybe ) and searched for something to prop one side up. All I could find were my sandles which although improved things ,still weren’t enough. A book would have been perfect ( uplifting)

Breakfast in the hotel this morning. On the way out of town we passed this house with some really neat stuff hanging off it

The canal winds itself around hills with big drops down the other side into the valley. It must have been a constant battle to get the canal to keep rising up into the Vosges ranges. It’s been so pretty ever since Nancy

Ex cargo barges are often used as homes . This one had about 50mm clearance on each side. The lady made the classic era of tying off the mooring line and within seconds the rope went as tight as a steel cable and she couldn’t loosen it. Luckily her husband at the stern managed to loosen his . They’re over 70 tons so could have caused serious damage 😳

At Einville au Jard we caught up with our Australian friends Robert and Anna ( from yesterday)and had coffee on board their boat. They’re going to the same place as us later so we’ll see them there.

Lagarde is where the French /German border was when The Lorraine and Alsace were part of the German empire. In August 1914 it was the site of the first battle of WW1

It’s now the site of a huge cruise boat industry with at least 50 hire boats in the marina and this massive cruise ship.

I don’t know what’s going on with the French tourist industry though. This is high summer when they should all be hired out but there’s no one here . DEAD!. Restaurant is closed ! the only tourists are on bikes. We’ve been seeing lots of them today

We can’t get into our Chambre Dote for 2 hours so we sit beside the port building in the shade drinking cold beer. The silence is spooky

Ahhh .The owner lets us in at 4.00 and I throw open the window for some breeze. Clever bells in that tower. Every time you start to talk to someone they start clanging. Glad we don’t have that culture in NZ. It soon loses its novelty

Our friends have arrived in the harbour, and we’ve arranged to meet up for dinner here.

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Published by Wallis Don