Summertime...

...and the living is easy...

...at last!

It's Sunday and we are moored at Rolampont, a small village between Chaumont and Langres on the Canal between Champagne and Burgundy (formerly known as the Marne to Saone Canal). The mooring spot here is idyllic: a small, hard quay at a perfect height for our boat (level with the gunwales) with trees for shade, picnic tables, and free water and electricity. Our boat is one of three on the quay and her nose is nestled into a small hazelnut tree. We arrived here yesterday and will leave tomorrow – a navigation-free day, which means that we can do everything to our own rhythm. We slept in and had a late breakfast. There's a very good boulangerie within easy cycling distance and it isn't closed for the summer holidays as so many are during the month of August.

If we haven't wriiten anything here lately it's for two reasons; we've been enjoying the company of Erica, our last guest for the season (and possibly our last guest on the boat) and we have been relishing the belated arrival of some true summer weather. For the last two weeks we have had one glorious, hot, sunny day after another – and we are loving it. Yes, it can get too hot but we have ways of cooling ourselves down – a change into our togs and a hose down or a bucket of water will do the trick in an instant. The weather hasn't been this good for this long a period for the last two years, so you'll understand that we don't want to spend too much of it inside the boat writing on the computer.

In fact, I'm not inside the boat now – I'm writing at conveniently placed picnic table under a shelter next to the ablution block. I can see well enough to write and am enjoying the effects of a cooling breeze at the same time.

Lunchtime - after completion of the blog post.

Those of us who know us well will have worked out that free water + free electric + sun + breeze = laundry day. It's (nearly) lunchtime and the washing has been done and hung out... and mostly it's as dry as a chip already. We'll bring it in when we can find the energy. And then we'll start with Sunday lunch. * It may be too hot for us to enjoy any wine with it today (a rare event), although that's certainly not the case for the French people on board Serenity, one of our two neighbours. They are enjoying their aperitif as I write. The entree will be pâté de campagne with cornichons (small gherkins) and bread, and dessert was bought at the boulangerie this morning. The planned main course is turkey fillet with green beans and potatoes but the heat might mean that we omit the turkey – or the entire course. Time will tell.

The company here on the quay is pleasant. We met Chris on board Nicole in Tonnere in our first season (he remembers the theft of our bikes) and this time his wife, Chris, is with him as well. We have been travelling at the same pace as them for the last few days. The Frenchman on board Serenity is a cheerful and friendly type. He has had his fair share of health problems (cancer and a hip replacement) over the last two – three years but is making up for it now. He's determinedly catching up with work on his lovely boat and seems to be enjoying life to the full. He has a particular affinity for NZ and was proud to show us a NZ cap and All Blacks flag that friends had sent him from NZ. He and his wife (who has hardly been seen) are spending time here with friends who are travelling by camper van and are parked nearby. The men are keen petanque players and their “friendly” banter during games is most entertaining – at least to those who can follow it.

We are now on the homeward stretch with about a week or 10 days of navigation to take us back to St Jean de Losne. The fact that we are in familiar territory now adds an extra element of relaxation to our travelling. We've forgotten a lot but notes in our guide book tell us what to expect of the moorings and once there, we usually remember where to find shops and supermarkets. Beyond Langres, we know that there won't be too many opportunities to stock up on fresh food, so we'll make sure we get enough supplies there to last us a week. The lettuces growing on the roof will make storage just that little bit easier than last time we did this route – as will the fact that we have a working fridge (it broke down at Langres last time) and there are only two of us on board.

Once back at base in St Jean de Losne, we'll have to put all our efforts into selling the boat and C will have to concentrate on getting work back in NZ... But that's another story and too much thinking about it might interfere with our enjoyment of these moments, so we'll worry about that when we get there.

* At this point in the writing, a Scottish barge with one man and two dogs came in to land... There was quite a pause in proceedings while we helped him moor up to the bank in a way that would enable him and the dogs to come and go from the boat. There are now four boats here – one French, one English, one Scottish and us. The balance of nationalities has certainly shifted since Toul, where Dutch and German boats dominated the numbers.