I replied in the middle of the night - I guess I should expand somewhat - because there's actually more to the story which may interest people who might be thinking about this kind of lifestyle - and, lifestyle it is
below is a video of a group of reprobates who probably stretched the outside assembly laws in place during lockdown the other day - only saved by the legal technicality that the guy speaking is the marina manager delivering a lecture about safety - and, me - who was merely there to take names in case the gendarmes appeared
this is the sort of grouping you find when boating in some normal times - or in breakout days in these dark times
and - the groups are very interesting - always filled with interesting people - you are never far from boating or cruising advice - nor advice on living the life - visas, health, the normal procurement issues - water etc.
nor on where to go and what to do -
there's a couple of classics in this video -
the first guy in shot on the left - his boat is named Vitruvius (it's in the video as well - another Piper from memory) - it's named that for a very good reason - his life work has been around the engineer Vitruvius - who basically gave us all we see about us over here - way after he was dead - his books - when eventually found - provided the plans for building the rest of what we see today - so -- the bloke in the shot is an engineer who really is an historian in disguise as an engineer - so, I will get from him all the points of interest in the area - the plan is to spend a couple of hours going through his notes and marking on my mapping - the points ------- indeed - from what he tells me - one could spend half a lifetime in Auxerre alone.
There's another guy in the pic - on the far side - with a deprived hair stock - next to the blonde -- he's been trudging over these areas for years - and knows so much about the areas it's crazy - his friend has just gone off for some weeks, so he's going to take me to Morvan - which he had told me about - but, it's too far to ride or walk - so, I had decided to go by car - he offered to go back there and take me - so, the boys will be out on the lam for a day at least.
My next longer planned trip is to the site of the Battle of Fontenoy - which might be too much for me on the bike - it's a bit more than double what I easily do for a day trip (that's no problem) - but, it's 4 times the altitude (the climb) - and, I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet - so, I might car that one - but, it's a no miss because basically - that's where Europe was decided after Charlemagne's sons fought it out over the inheritance - I'd already been to the cathedral where they were upgraded from Lords to Kings (in Soissons)
