Tournai to Arleux (61 kms cycled)

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The rooster that crowed all yesterday evening started up very early again this morning!! It woke me at about 5.00am unfortunately and I really didn't sleep again after than - just dozed a bit.

With a few locks to get through today the Elodie actually sailed while we were eating breakfast. Sander is the deck hand as well as the chef and he did an excellent job assisting Zac through the locks and feeding us at the same time! After we had cleared two (or was it three?) locks, Zac moored the barge and we all disembarked quickly so that the Elodie could continue on her way. She had a lot more distance to cover today on the river than we had to cycle on the road.

Today we crossed the border into France. If Nina hadn't drawn our attention to it, I think we all would have missed it! With all of the EU country borders being open these days you can cross borders without any checks at all which means that they are just about invisible.

We had a head wind again today as we rode through more picturesque French villages and some idyllic forest. Each village has a church with a steeple. Often the church steeples of two or three villages can be seen at the same time across the fields of wheat, potatoes, canola and other assorted vegetables that we haven't been able to identify!!

This afternoon we must have been near an airforce base as there were jet aircraft flying back and forth overhead carrying out training manoeuvres. Our last stop this afternoon, before rejoining the Elodie in Arleux, was at a mining museum. We didn't stop at the museum to see the museum - just to sneak in and use the toilets!!

It proved to be a rather painful toilet stop for me as I managed to fall off my bike in the gravel car park - OUCH!! I have no idea how I was so clumsy?? I was all ready to dismount to the right side of my bike when all of a sudden I was overbalancing left. Caught unawares, I couldn't get my left cleat out so I ended up falling quite heavily onto some of the largest, roughest gravel in the world!! Not much damage done - a very slight graze just below my right knee and I'm going to have a huge bruise on my left thigh!! Oh, and there is a small tear in my shorts!! That is harder to repair than the slight graze and the bruise!

After another fabulous dinner - I wish I had someone to cook dinner for us at home - the Elodie set off again to negotiate a couple of locks before we moored for the night. With so many locks along this section, it is good for the barge to get a head start and reduce her sailing time tomorrow.

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