Well, it's amazing how rapidly life changes - I had been flip flopping whether to go to Verdun or not because I may have to be in Paris in about 7 weeks and the ?? best way to Verdun was - give or take probably 750km and a lot of locks on the Verdun Paris leg.
So, overnight, I came up with the stunningly brilliant plan to go to Verdun - but, to return by the same route - this had several huge advantages -- I got a look at the canals and made sure I could handle any weed (weed is a really big deal this year), I would know the best places to stop on the way back and, it's about 250 km shorter - good plan -----------
Plan A -- snooping towards Verdun via the Ardennes -
after seeing a neighbour off this morning - some french apparently do get out of bed early - so rare - it's worth a video
actually, it showed me just how maneuverable my little boat is because it took him must have been 15 minutes after letting go and reversing out so he could head up that canal to the left of screen -- I would have taken a minute at the most and squeezed in a quick wizz at the same time - my boat backs as straight as a gun barrel
here's a quick pics of that night stop area
Busy as usual
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Must be some refugees camping ---
(look close)
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anyway ----------- moving up towards the Ardennes -
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But, alas -- life has stepped in and the route is closed ---------- so, life plan A -- kaput
go to life plan B (which wasn't really made yet - but, lets call is option 2 - which involves 'somewhere' meeting family of some people I met here ----------- so --
change direction --- instead of the leafy canals of the Ardennes - we go to flat sort of country and lots of grains by the looks of it -
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