New waterway; new system. One or two zaps were a bit late. We soon got the hang of pressing the zapper, watching for a green light, and once in the lock, pushing up the blue pole to get things going! Our mooring target was Vic-sur-Aisne โ though we were not so sure as we first approached and saw huge silos with grain being loaded into a big barge. We found we were the only boat on a lovely quiet mooring, just past the silos, and extremely pleasant โ our only company two courting swans.
A walk round the village followed by a Happy Hour aboard created the perfect evening in the sun. We visited the market which occupied a characterful market hall plus a huge space in front of the green tiled cathedral, and found a food bounty awaiting us โ so many traditional charcuteries, forgeries, boulangeries, and of course dew fresh fruit and veg. Our walk round Soissons also provided another for the I-spy bird book โ a gold finch popping in and out of a hole in a tree near the abbey.
More goldfinches appear later in our journey. We had Reims in our sights by now, and all that promised champagne! This was planned as a two day trip, staying just outside Reims in a country mooring at Courcy before tackling the city. Luckily we had a plan B. By later afternoon we were looking to moor up, and chose a quiet mooring near Cys-la-Commune โ very rural โ and between two villages. A walk from one village to the next have us a perfect view of Calliope surfing a field of rape, and the discovery of a pleasing old church.
During a wonderful peaceful evening watching the sun disappear at the end of the lock pound, I was captivated and mystified by a bird call โ black bird like, but a very distinctive different song. I think we have since found out it was a frog.
Next day, knowing we were nowhere near a boulangerie, we studied the map and thought there would be bread, and indeed cake, at Maizy.
