After the overnight rain, it was a cool morning that greeted us, so we stayed in bed just that little bit longer. Eventually, we could justify it no longer and rose to greet the new day. After Rita’s expedition into the canal last week and her attempt to use the rope ladder to get back on board, I realised that I had to replace the rope in the ladder because it had deteriorated badly over the past few years. So it was a quick trip out to Weldoms to check out their rope supplies. While we were there, I looked for some plywood to repair the gangplank, but it seems that marine plywood is an unknown commodity in France (or at least at Weldoms) so I looked around and then remembered that they had an outside area with more timber supplies. So I went out there, and found some recycled-plastic planks which looked like they would be very suitable for outdoor use on a gangplank. So I then found the same model ladder I had bought a few years ago at Weldoms to check the width between the sides, and found that it was fractionally larger (30cm) and the width of two of the planks (29.5cm). So it looks like we have a goer.

Since we were on that side of Moissac we decided to continue on towards La Francaise and see if we could find the new house of Nico and Miyu at Puycornet. We followed a variety of backroads and eventually found the town and a large map outside the Mairie.

We then realised that even this small commune had lots of roads, and finding their house could take a lot of random searching. So on the off-chance, Rita sent Nico an SMS and a few minutes later he rang back. As we were waiting I said that he must live near Nicou (at C7 on the map), and when he phoned he told us to go to La Poujade (at C7, just across from Nicou!). So we drove over there, and as we neared the address we saw Nico talking to someone at Nicou. We continued onto La Poujade, and as we came down the driveway we were greeted by two people and a large dog. The people happened to be Nadine and Dominic, Nico’s parents, who we had been meaning to catch up with in Brittany for several years, and who had come to Puycornet to help Nico settle in, and bring a car load of “stuff”.

We inspected the portable house that Nico installed yesterday, for them to live in while he does the renovation/restoration of the old house, and were impressed with the view from the living room window.

We then inspected the “jewel in the crown”, the 400 year old house in which Nico and family will eventually live. It needs a lot of restoration and repair, but given Nico’s skills and stamina, I’m sure he will do a grand job over the coming years. I look forward to visiting again as the work progresses, to see what changes occur. Given the quality of Nico’s work on our house in Moissac, I am very confident of the outcome here.

We were then invited to stay for dinner, and Nico, Dominic and Nadine rustled up whatever food they could lay their hands on, while Nico brought out some beer that a friend of his had brewed in Brittany. It was delicious.

As darkness fell, we continued talking in the back garden, but as midnight approached we felt we should leave and let Nadine and Dominic get some sleep before their drive home to Brittany tomorrow. We will catch up with Miyu, Massa and newborn Ïoli next week when they all arrive in Puycornet.