Ow. Again. A slow start to the day, but then freezing
cold inhospitable swimming pool sorts us all out. Jon nearly breaks his coccyx
on the slide, but all is well with the world. We arrange to convene after lunch
and go and have a wander round Soissons. There is some talk about going
Karting, but on arrival we find that the track is being dominated by a mini Schumacher,
whose got a massive zoom on and refuses to stop (mind the last bend!), so we
abandon that plan.
Soissons is small and pretty, we can’t go into the
Cathedral as there’s a wedding on the go. Amelia sees the bride in all her
finery and asks if this is a princess castle? Sweet. It did all look very fairy
tale.
Spot the teeny bride
We have a brief mooch around (most of the town is
closed due to a fire) and nip to a bar for the most expensive pint of Heineken
ever. 4 drinks were nearly €20. The Bar was absolutely packed. Recession
anyone?
Sunday sees us leave the campsite and travel the grand
distance of 5kms to Jaulzy. Jon knows the area from a previous fishing trip.
The week of fishing, (which has gone down in local legend with the lake owner
and local bar) was 2 years ago and unbelievably is situated in the next village
down the road from the campsite. Fate is definitely on side in this instance.
The lake owner (Matt) has kindly agreed to spend some time with us to educate
us in the intricacies that make up French bureaucracy and the pitfalls of
buying a business in France. We spend a very pleasant hour with him and come
away armed with much useful information. We adjourn to the local bar, La Rose
de Sables (with which Jon is astonishingly familiar) for some thinking time. The
local brew Bavik is somewhat savage and should only be consumed in small and manageable
amounts. This was not factored into the equation on Jon’s previous fishing trip
here and the results where somewhat catastrophic. Let’s just say that four
collapses into the lake, a broken leg, broken ribs and one wheel chair accounted
for a somewhat legendary status amongst the locals. Jon pleads innocence which
is borne out by the welcome we receive upon entering the bar.
Moma and her Grand Garcon...
After much attempting to chat with Momma at 100mph French we retire to Onzo, all happy and looked after. Tomorrow sees us heading further north towards the Normandy coast. A week of hard work lies ahead as we embark on the the next phase of this journey.