Postcards from the Road

Thursday, 19 November 2009

Winter Green

In Wales, the trees are green even in winter.

Green and soft.

© postcards from the road

One of the great things about going home, is that we'll miss the depth of winter. One of the sad things about not coming back until mid year, is that we'll miss the spring. We'll just have to leave that for another time!

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Barge

Even the barges think it's autumn.

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Winter Arrives

Time to pack the boat away till next year I think. Two days till the next round of airport xrays and body searches begins!

In three days time it will be summer.

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Silo

From our mooring on the Bourgogne even the grain silos looked lush against the autumn sky.

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Autumn Arrives
7 of 7

Sure, I could have shown you the reds, the oranges, the cars and the kiddies frolicking in the leaves, but I ididn't!

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Autumn Arrives
6 of 7

We could just tell that soon it would be cold enough to go home for a time!

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Autumn Arrives
5 of 7

By the third day, the water was paved with leaves.

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Autumn Arrives
4 of 7

Then the trees started to fluoresce.

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Autumn Arrives
3 of 7

Two days after the frost, the water started to glow.

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Autumn Arrives
2 of 7

Then we had a frost. Well we had two days of waking to ice on the boat and within hours the trees seemed to understand what was expected of them.

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Autumn Arrives
1 of 7

We were bemoaning the fact that it was nearly winter and we hadn't seen Autumn. We wanted a proper autumn, the sort that one sees in the picture books, all we had thus far was the odd dark foggy morning.

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Surprise!

Yep, you can even buy the teeshirt and the dinner plate.

"If you eat all of your potatoes Sebastian, you'll see his date!"

What WERE they thinking?

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Colours

The fog isn't just about trees disappearing into the horizon, colours become strangely muted. Vibrant yellows become pastels, the sky becomes... err... soft blue?

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Reflections

Tired of reflections?

Oh well.

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Mist

Sometimes the feeling of moving through the reflections is almost surreal, it's truly living in a postcard, without having to buy a stamp.

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Ibis

The MV Ibis glides under a bridge before squeezing into a lock.

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Fisherman

It's cold, it's foggy, and the sun isn't quite over the horizon.

People do this for fun.

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Evening near the lock

If one arrives at a lock too late in the evening to go through, well one may as well moor for the night and make the most of the sunset one supposes.

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Ducks

As we potter along, the ducks are a source of constant amazement. Why they don't simply swim out of the way rather than going to all the effort of flying is something they aren't prepared to explain.

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Cows

How do they see where they need to go early in the morning?

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Cool

She didn't need a sign, she oozed cool anyway. An ancient iron steam tug wonders about this new poly-something stuff they build boats from these days.

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Chinese

In the early morning stillness, when one squints, this lock on the Canal du Centre looks for all the world like a piece of ancient Chinese architecture.

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Waiting to go fishing.

Lying in wait. © postcards from the road

Reflections, not of water!

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In Montceau it was difficult to miss this wonderful building disguised as a cube of polished stainless steel. To be fair, not all of us thought it was as beautiful as the one with the camera thought it to be.

Village

Somewhere in France.

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Auxerre

Downtown Auxerre. © postcards from the road

Sunset

Sunset on the Nivernaise above Auxerre.

Jetstreams and all.

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Sunrise downtown.

No one gets up early enough to catch the sunrise.

Ever.

Except the blokes in the Boulangerie.

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Snow White

When one is coming up out of a lock, one must be prepared to see anything.

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Shutters

Somewhere in France.

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Renault Four

Froth and Bubble

Life on the canals isn't all pretty views and froth and bubble you know. Sometimes I have to get out and winch up a lifting bridge.

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Manatee

Fog

Fender

We'd just secured our mooring at Briennon when I looked out of the window and saw the fender on the boat next door.

Surely I don't need to explain myself further!

Escargot?

Fog in Digoin

Hawaii, France

Evidence

My bike rests against an Eclusier's cottage somewhere on the Nivernaise. The morning light is proof positive that I've been up at sunrise at least once this year.

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Autumn Approaches

It may be difficult for those who come from a place where there are actual seasons to understand that for those of us who don't, the onset of autumn is a novelty worth writing home about.

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Aquaduct at dawn

Back in France!

I'm probably not quite telling the truth about the dawn thing, it's about an hour after dawn really, but this fog stuff is such a novelty when one has grown up with it appearing every third winter for about fifteen minutes.

Yesterday we loaded some more holiday snaps from last month on Flickr! Don't click this link if you are bored by fog or reflections on water.

Digoin© postcards from the road

The Nappy Changers

When it's cold and blustery and you are somewhere in the wilds of Scotland with a new baby, there are only so many places one can go to feed and change the wee thing.

And it's brand new, so a team effort effort is definitely required!

Yesterday we loaded some more holiday snaps from last month on Flickr! Don't click this link if you are bored by fog or reflections on water.

© postcards from the road

View from a B and B

Just the right amount of smudge to hide the waterfront industry beyond.

The delightful RobRoy guest house and restaurant.
Berwick on Sea.

Today we've loaded some more holiday snaps from last month on Flickr! Don't click this link if you are bored by fog or reflections on water.

© postcards from the road