We met our visitors at the mooring in Ailly and spent a couple of days out and about exploring some of the WW1 battlefields and memorials.
We eventually tracked down the red dragon memorial to the 38th Welsh Division, now such a peaceful setting at Mametz, but where 100 years ago there had been eight days of fierce combat and heavy losses, reflected by pieces of barbed wire in its claws.
Midweek we set off cruising again continuing our journey downstream on the Somme. It was great to be moving after sitting in one place for a while. Granddaughter Harriet, now 8 months old, seemed to love being on the back of the boat, ringing the ships bell, fascinated by the water rushing by. The flow was still really strong. Full concentration was required by the skipper and son in law Mark who took his turn at driving the boat.
Grandma loved pointing out the wildlife to Harriet
We had been warned about the current pulling boats towards the weir at Long but managed to moor up without problems there and fortunately there were no other boats. Long was once a very wealthy little town due to the success of peat extraction in the area. It's beautiful buildings seem very grand for the size of the place.
Next day we cruised on to Abbeville, not without incident! No one had warned us about the bridge on the approach to Abbeville ( oh no you didn't Terry!). I am just glad that Mark was on the bow and not me. A sharp left hand turn to go under the bridge but with a strong current behind us made the turn practically impossible without colliding with the bridge support, despite best efforts of the crew to fend off with the barge pole. We smacked it on the bow first then the stern. Unbelievably there was not a mark on the paintwork, just a couple of scuffs to the rubbing strake fender. No damage done inside either although a few things fell out on opening the cupboards later!
Abbeville is a lively market town very welcoming to passing boaters as everything you need is close by.
The Saint Vulfran Collegiate Church looks more like a cathedral, a masterpiece of gothic art.
Abbeville also has an impressive railway station originally built in 1912, used in WW1 to transport soldiers to and from the front line, subsequently bombed in WW2 in 1940, then rebuilt to the original design after the war.
Good shops here too and Harriet returned home with some very nice little french outfits bought in the sales.
It was a shame that we could not get right down to the coast whilst our family were with us but there were too many boats moored there at the time so we went for the day in the car instead.
We stayed on at Abbeville after our visitors left, joined by new friends and old. The two Terry's on Renaissance returned from their trip up the Roubaix canal. Steve and Megan on Wavedancer arrived having sailed their cruiser from Portsmouth into Saint Valery and onto the canal network. The weather turned sultry and we enjoyed a lovely afternoon of boules followed by a barbecue.
Our French friends Chantal and Claude who were moored down at the coast at Saint Valery telephoned to tell us that 5 boats were leaving in the morning so it was now or never if we wanted to get down there. So we were off at 9am passing all 5 boats on their way back up. Should be room for us now!
The Somme waterways guys are great, so friendly and helpful. At their main control centre at Amiens they have a map on the wall with the positions of all the boats shown by name on it. The long straight stretch of canal to Saint Valery is tidal with several swing bridges some of which have to be opened depending on the height of your vessel. They accompanied us all the way to ensure our safe passage and even helped us moor up.
So here we are having a couple of weeks at the seaside. Saint Valery on the Bay of the Somme is a charming place, a sort of French version of Saint Ives in Cornwall. Cobbled winding streets, lots of interesting little shops, a long waterfront promenade. Lots of people come here for the trips around the bay on the old steam train, which we have done ourselves. Very atmospheric, we see and hear it several times a day as it chuffs along past our mooring blowing its whistle.
There is a night market on Fridays and a weekly market on Sundays selling all sorts of produce and products. Salicorne or samphire as we know it is harvested from the bay. Sheep graze on the salt meadows here and salt meadow lamb is another speciality.
It's great for cycling here, there are numerous velo routes all around the bay. It's a shame we don't have them in the UK so you don't have to go on the busy roads. It's great to see families out with the little ones with no worries about traffic.On Tuesday we cycled 20 miles return to Cayeux sur Mer, part way on a cycle track through the sand dunes.
We went by car though to the elegant resort of Mers les Bains as it was a bit further around the coast. When bathing first became popular in the late 19th century the resort attracted the wealthy from Paris and Europe who built these crazy houses of the Belle Époque era which can be seen throughout the town and are protected today. Every one is different, wonderful.
Walking along the cliff top path we came across this astonishing sight. An old WW2 German bunker had been painted overnight anonymously and rumours say it is a Banksy. A powerful statement, a symbol of peace on a symbol of war.
Boats are coming and going most days here and later next week we will start moving back up the canal stopping at the moorings we missed on the way down. In the meantime we will linger a while longer here enjoying the sea air.
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