Canal des Ardennes

The French seem to keep their wifi locked up more than the Belgians and so we haven’t been able to log on for a while. It’s Sunday 15th and pouring with rain, so I’m writing this off-line to upload when I can.
Charleville-Mezières was a great town. It was all built to design in the 17th century and has a fabulous town square based on the Place des Vosges in Paris. From there, we turned onto the Canal des Ardennes and found a quiet mooring at La Cassine. The landscape is much more open than on the Meuse – rolling farmland studded with yellow-stone buildings and woodland. We’ve been doing lots of cycling, exploring the countryside and villages and burning up the calories from all the pain au chocolates!
We are getting used to French life. Everything is shut on Mondays and all the shops shut between 12 and 2 for lunch – even the big department store in Charleville-Mezières. The food is delicious and all seems to taste so much better than at home. There are lots of fruit trees along the canal and we have foraged apples, blackberries and plums so far. I made a crumble and managed to burn it by placing it too near the burner at the bottom of the oven!