Sunday July 2, 2017 Labastide d’Armagnac

Cycles for rent at the marina

Still very grey this morning, but no sign of rain thankfully. The batteries on our eBikes need charging and although we usually only use about 30 – 40% of their capacity we like to set off with them full. Up till now it has been no problem as with all the sun our solar panels have been managing fine, but with quite a few grey days, it has been a bit of a juggling act to charge them along with the laptop. We very seldom hook up to electricity and need to use the invertor, so keeping everything charged is a high priority, but thankfully haven’t been caught out…yet!

Bikes out again this morning, popped into the village for the daily baguette before heading along the canal in the opposite direction to yesterday.  Unlike yesterday when the trees overhung the canal, today it was much more open and at one stage we were biking beside the motorway. Passed a number of boats and stopped at one of the locks and spoke to an English couple, their boat was registered in Plymouth. They had brought it across the channel about 10 years ago, and now spend 6 months of the year meandering around the waterways of Europe.

Loved this outdoor cupboard where
people share their books. All in French!

Spotted some deer along the canal.

Interesting when the canal crossed the river. Those
stones were really rough.

Playing with the camera..again!

It was mid-afternoon when we got back to Ruakiwi and time for a very late lunch. Decided to utilise the laundry at the marina so quickly stripped the bed and set it going while we ate. I did a bit of research and found an old medieval village about an hour’s drive away that looked really interesting, and not only did it have a free Aire to stay at close to the village but there was a bike trail close by. And it is also on the way back to the coast we were planning to head. Job done, so after the laundry had finished we set off. The road took us through some very flat, sandy country which only seems good to grow very stunted pine trees. Arrived at the Aire which was a large open paddock beside a river/stream and about 10 other campers were parked across the grass area. Just perfect.

A huge field of kiwifruit, all covered. We have seen large fields
of apple trees covered in the same way. Maybe for hale prevention.