Since the last blog we have travelled a further kilometres and negotiated with 8 locks, the smallest one being 91 meters long. As we passed under the main bridge we could hear shrill horns, see hordes of people gathering and marching, banners yellow and red flying and as we headed towards the fuel barge we could also see red smoke flares.
Little did we know that coming up will be bigger demonstrations including blockading fuel refineries. Once we had totally filled our fuel tanks luckily before the worry about supply we could go merrily on our way, a little bit oblivious to the plight of the French people hence their demonstrations : the planned rise in the age to 62 before receiving their pension.
The same is being proposed in Britain.. Beavers at l'Isle Adam, usually get more food than the ducks and show it. It was very pretty and even had beavers which swam alongside and competed with ducks and swans for scraps of food thrown by tourists strolling along the river bank.
Stewart spotted them first.. Endellion moored at Isle Adam between the dolphins used by tourist boats in season. So after half-an-hour or so of being watched by the audience along the river banks, enjoying the beautiful late afternoon sun, we had one of the best access points for the wheelchair for some time. We called in at the local Office de Tourisme Tourist Office who were extremely helpful and it was accessible handing us four or five booklets, three of them specifically about wheelchair access.
We struggled to find a wheelchair accessible Tabac or cafe to sit down in to read these brochures. It was a perfect sunny evening and in the end we chose to sit on a bench outside Endellion very nice and drink our own beer! Endellion moored at Pontoise, just ahead of El Dorado, the not French restaurant. We were now very close to the River Seine with our next stop at Pontoise, a lovely place and with a good wheelchair accessible pontoon from which we could also fit and test our Blue Board.
