7th - 10th July At St. Valery with train rides to Le Crotoy and Cayeux.

Walking part way round the bay, it is a good view across the Baie de la Somme to Le Crotoy.

The old town gates are still there, way up above the main town of St Valery.

This part of town is renowned for these hollyhocks which line the streets.

There are many attractive nooks and crannys in the town.

It gives the impression of being a very well cared for town.

There is a large harbour for sea going boats at St Valery.

We are taking the steam train round the Baie de la Somme to Le Crotoy.

Off we go!

The carriages are really historic, with wooden seats. No home comforts here!

Our route takes us across the salt marsh where sheep obviously find it palatable.

The tide was out at Le Crotoy but Shannon was not even allowed on the beach on her lead, which seemed a bit harsh.

We went in the front carriage on the way back, right behind our steam train.

On Saturday we took the diesel train to go the other way round the bay to Cayeux.

Shannon was allowed on the beach here, so had a wonderful time in the sea.

There is a large breakwater of big pebbles here to protect the town.

Again a front seat gives a good view of the poppies in the corn.

1st - 6th July. From Peronne down the river Somme to Abbeville, then on to St. Valery at the seaside

We sailed on to Peronne, where Hotelboat Elodie arrived while we were in town. Today is the 100 year commemoration of the first day of the Battle of the Somme, but it is very quiet in town. The barge which is passing us is a double Freycinet length one, so it is very long.

On board Elodie are a cycling group of 16 New Zealanders, who spent the evening playing petanque. The girls won!

The Somme is running quite fast, but here at Cappy we have found it flowing through a pretty park, as we are in a lock cut nearby.

The sun is out and perhaps summer is here at last.

The Somme is a lovely river, with many meanders. Let us hope that no-one is coming!

Just before Amiens, there is a section where these special gardens and small properties can only be reached across these arched bridges. Each garden has its own bridge, and each one is different.

This mill village reminds us of the village of Saltaire in Yorkshire.

Henson horses are an indigenous breed in this region.

At Samara we walked up behind the centre to Camp Cesar, which was a Roman encampment. We have not visited the battlefields of the Somme, but these wheat fields are like those in that area, and are a reminder of that terrible time.

We shared several locks with Dennis on Lutécia. As our television was not working at Abbeyville, he kindly invited us aboard to watch the Wales/ Portugal match of Euro 16.

Alongside the canal, the river Somme divides into many channels and lakes, created by the original peat workings.

Above Pont- Remy lock the water is calm as we approach the lock across the top of the weir. Last night the water was storming through this section, making the passage look impossible, but when a boat is using the lock, they just close off the weir!

We reached Abbeyville on Wednesday, and were glad to find some room on the jetty.

Abbeville was a much bigger town than we were expecting, and was an attractive place. The square church behind the square is St. Vulfram Collegiate church. It looks very short, but this is deceptive, as it is a very tall church.

The front facade of St Vulfram church is really impressive.

From Abbeyville the Somme goes quite straight for 13 kilometres and, as The Puzzler is low enough, we do not need the bridges to be opened for us.

In St Valery there is not a great deal of mooring available, but Chantel and Claude kindly invited us alongside their boat, Peridot. Next morning a boat left, so there was then room for us on the jetty.

18th - 30th June 2016. On up the river Oise. So many barges – we counted 32 on one day. Moving on to the Canal du Nord, we shared locks with a double barge.

We continued on up the River Oise to L'Isle Adam, and were invited alongside this Dutch cruiser, Festina Lente. These were very friendly people, who are heading for Paris. The small seagoing yacht in front of them told us that we were too long, and our boat was not suitable for these waterways. They were heading for the Bourgogne canal, so we refrained from saying that their boat was possibly too deep, and they could get stuck there, as we thought that this would sound unfriendly. Their difficulty could be in mooring – well, they could stay in the middle of the canal all the time, where they can't offend anyone – possibly the best place for them!

The town of L'Isle Adam is very pretty.

This unusual coloured coypu spent an evening just beside our mooring. We saw him the next day under a bush, eating some bread, while fending off two swans who also wanted some. Obviously he was quite a character.

There are a lot of barges about, with several of them being double headers, with one barge pushing another. When they are fully laden, as these two are, they do not look so impressive.

There are not so many moorings on the Oise, but this one at Boran-sur-Oise was lovely. The white writing says No Mooring, but we were allowed to stay here for a couple of days. Thirty two barges passed us today!

This is our first real sunset this year.

The next section of the Oise is completely lined with trees, with few moorings. We moored below lock 2 at Verberie. A single barge arrived behind us, to be followed later by a barge and pusher, which moored outside the first one.

From inside The Puzzler, Simba looks enormous! Moving on the next morning, our VHF radio would not work, so Andy phoned Madame Eclusiere to arrange for us to come on into the lock. A barge exited the lock, so we entered it, and tied up. After about ten minutes Madame came out to complain that Andy had not waited for the green light, and denied all knowledge of his phone call. She then eventually let us ascend her lock! What a fuss!

The next night we moored above lock 1, and heard noises outside, so went to investigate. A man was there, and asked the way to the station. It was not until the next morning that we found that he had actually been trying to steal the bicycles off our roof! Fortunately, they were locked securely. We shared the next two locks with a barge and pusher, tying on to the barge in the lock.

Further on, we found a better mooring near to Ribecourt. The barges just keep on coming!

Shannon is doing her meerkat impression, to get a better view of things.

Moving on to the Canal du Nord, commercial traffic has priority, so we must wait.

These locks were built to take two freycinette size barges, or one with a pusher, and are very long and thin, with a guillotine bottom gate. There is no room for anyone alongside here!

The Canal du Nord was started in 1907, and two-thirds finished by 1914, but it was then destroyed during the First World War. Construction work began again after the second World War, to be finished by 1965. It has sloping sides, so mooring has to be at recognised sites.

At Panneterie tunnel there was a red light, but a touch on the intercom changed it to green, without Andy having to say a word!

This tunnel was 1.058 kilometres long. It is always good to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Sadly the upper Canal de la Somme is now permanently closed, but we will join the Canal de la Somme tomorrow at Peronne.