A fanastic day

Seascapes Travel Log
Michael Grew
Mon 19 Jul 2010 08:03
18/07/2010 Halte Nautique Cuisery .

A fantastic day: Probably the best of the holiday. At 07:00hrs the Capitainerie delivered the bread to the boat. After breakfast we cycled up to the town of Brienne’ s annual country show. Very good, lots of traditional costumes and people engaging in country crafts. One in particular was very unusual, they were shredding reeds into long fibrous strings then thinning them again and again until they were able to be spun into yarn on a spinning wheel. This yarn is then used to make cloth. Ongoing all the time were pony and trap rides for the kids, demonstrations of sheepdog use, and a farrier shoeing large working horses. Then three elderly guys turned up pushing what looked like modified wheel chairs on to which were fitted musical instruments. They were playing the instruments very much like the old one-man bands (if you are old enough to remember them!). They were very good and kept everyone entertained. After spending a couple of hours there we cycled on to the town of Cuisery and had a look in the old church. It must have been beautiful once, with huge frescoes on the walls and a painted wooden ceiling. Sadly the whole place was flaking and fading away. While we were there, there was a christening going on. Back on the boat we had lunch then went for a cycle along the path beside the river. The path didn’t stay close to the river for very long before it shot off across the fields and in a very short time we were lost amongst acres and acres (sorry hectares) of crops. After travelling what seemed like ages we came across a road. We were then caught up by another couple on cycles who fortunately had a map with them. Once back on track we returned to Cuisery and saw an advert for a Rhythm and Blues concert to be held in the square as part of the town’s celebrations. So after dinner we cycled back up the hill to the square to listen to it. What a good decision that was. The 9 piece band, an old boy (probably the same age as us!) leading and a young girl singer were absolutely brilliant. Not only good as a band but fantastic individual musicians. They played all sixties and seventies songs for two and a half hour solid. They had a very appreciative audience that would not let them go until they played two encores. The whole event was completely FREE. We had quite an interesting ride back to the campsite in the pitch dark; neither bike has any lights on it.