ABOVE: On the river

Three Men And A Boat

There were four of us – Angus, Wil, Barry and me. It was a cold January evening in Trie-sur-Baïse and we had taken shelter in the Bar des Sports. After a couple of beers we all decided we needed something to look forward to other than dark winter days. All except Barry, that is. Barry was tied to a chair leg and spent most of his time trying to tug the chair towards a nervous looking Yorkshire terrier on the other side of the bar.

“How about a river trip?” suggested Wil. He said we would have fresh air, exercise and quietude.

“And there would be a constant change of scene,” chipped in Angus.

“I know the perfect river, the Charente,” I said, “in fact King Henry pronounced it the most beautiful river in France”.

It was decided. We would take to the river and I was charged with planning the trip. I would write about our experiences, Angus would take photographs and Wil was to be our chef and wine guide.

“What about Barry?” asked Angus. “Too aggressive, too territorial and too noisy.” said Wil. We put it to the vote and all three of us voted against Barry coming aboard, so we said nothing more of the dog.

Elemental fun
So it was that three of us turned up at the Locaboat centre in Cognac one sunny morning in late May to pick up our river cruiser – Angoulême. We had given little advance thought to practicalities knowing that logic and reason might ride roughshod over the fun elements of our trip.

While Wil stored away his chef ’s knives, skillet and essential provisions, and Angus shipped his camera equipment, I filled in reams of paperwork in the quay master’s office. The check-in process and initiation on how to handle our 38-foot pénichette took a couple of hours and then we were on our way. Nervously negotiating the centre arch of Cognac’s Pont Saint- Jacques we nudged into our first écluse (lock) alongside the île des Poulies.

Read the full article on pages 42-48 of this months issue.

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