Elodie Day 3 Conflans to Creil

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Is it possible to keep having this much fun day after day??

Today, we had an early start when Elodie slipped and proceeded into the L'Oise River and headed upstream to the village of Auvers sur Oise. On arrival, Henry took us on a very interesting walking tour of the village, where Vincent van Gogh spent the last 70 days of his life. He showed us scenes within the village that van Gogh painted, where he lived and where he is buried. Van Gogh painted around 80 pictures in these last 70 days of his life.

Unknown to me was the fact that van Gogh shot himself and, although he didn't die straight away, succumbed to his injuries three days later. His considerable industry before he died made me wonder whether he planned his final days.

Back on the boat and a transit further upstream to our point of disembarkation. Henry has planned a slightly shorter ride which avoids the heavy traffic of Creil at peak hour. We rode through cool and shady forests and residential areas with stately homes on large block with carefully manicured gardens. We rode through small villages and country roads.

The final highlight was the Chateau Chantilly, an extraordinary Palace with a moat and beautiful towers. A definite place to revisit in the future.

We rejoined Elodie at Boran sur Oise and cruised the last few kilometres upstream to the town of Creil.

Another outstanding dinner created by Jantien and an after dinner movie telling the story of van Gogh. Beautiful in that it it put a number of his paintings into context but eerie in that it seemed to suggest that van Gogh knew he was likely to end his own life prematurely.

Another day comes to a close with many great memories and a sense of achievement of the miles we've covered. We are sooo lucky!!

Statistics for the day: 37.5km in 3.5hrs. This included two flat tyres and half hour wasted trying to reunite the group after we got split up..

Note: I've had a problem uploading photos this evening so some of the lovely photos sent to me by others are not yet available. Stay tuned.

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Photos

Kathy and Warwick
Early morning on the L'Oise

Vincent van Gogh and his brother Theo's resting place
Auvers sur Oise

Cathedral at Auvers
With vsn Gogh's impression in the foreground

A happy bunch
Mike, Vicki, Maureen and Kerrie