Autumn in Haute Marne

The last ten days have been a blur. We'd no sooner returned to our home harbour with our Hennie Ha than Koos was collected by his son and daughter-in-law to go to France and visit the Crumbly Cottage Mk 2. Still needing time to clear up and come down, I stayed home in the Netherlands to sort out the boat and clean up before travelling down to France myself last Sunday. Crazy, isn't it? I can't keep up with myself, let alone our lives. 

Anyway, it's been a fine week here after being deluged on my journey down. Below are photos of the view from CC Mk 2 when I arrived. I'm very happy to say the weather improved substantially the following days.

That storm was heading our way

So far this week, we've been working on the house, performing an effective demolition of the chimney breast in the upstairs room which had suffered from water ingress. The plaster was bulging and crumbling so it's all coming off before we re-plaster the whole thing. In between, my daughter introduced me to the lovely church at Vignory, a village halfway between the two of us. This church dates back to the 11th century and isn’t even the first one on the site, the original being Carolingian although nothing remains of that earlier version now. Here’s the Wiki page about the church. If you use Chrome, Google will translate it for you. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89glise_Saint-%C3%89tienne_de_Vignory

The whole village is a treasure trove of wonderful nooks and crannies, pretty walks around its ancient earthen ramparts and longer walks into the forest. I love it there. The there are some real gems among the houses too. Below are some examples of what you would typically find in the area.

 As usual, we've had some lovely encounters with the locals and Koos and I have taken the odd trip into the countryside, which is looking glorious now. The trees are in the process of changing colour and the rich golden of autumn is beginning to add incredible richness to the scenery.

Sadly, we have to leave on Sunday due to commitments on the home front, but that's okay too. I love my Dutch village and being near the big sea canal...which reminds me, the canal here is filling up again. According to the waterways workers (they of the VNF), 'normalement' it will re-open on the 16th of this month. That's great news although sad for all those, like us, who wanted to fare this way in the summer. The season is over and it's a bit late now. Never mind, let's hope they keep it open next year!

Earlier in the year before the canal was emptied

Have a good weekend allemaal, and I'll catch up with you back in the Flatlands.