My Trip is Over...

My trip is over...but its memories linger! And I'll continue to share stories here from my month in France. This is a photo that Laury took of Jean-Luc and me as we walked the tow path alongside the Lot River one afternoon. The tow path was carved/blasted out of the cliff before motorized travel made navigating upstream on the Lot feasible. Mules and horses would literally pull boats and barges against the current to places upstream where they would be filled with goods to move downstream to markets. These days the tow path has been taken over by walkers and boaters. While motors make upstream travel do-able, the shallow waters of the Lot prohibit boat travel except through a series of locks.

In this photo that I took, you can see a boat in one of the locks. Its crew will manually turn the big wheels that open the gates...the first to fill the lock with water...then it must be cranked closed. Then the second gate will be cranked open so the boat can motor into the deeper water beyond it. Lots of work for these river enthusiasts!

Laury walking the path. Laury and Jean-Luc from a vantage point above the tow path overlooking the Lot River valley.

My trip home was relatively uneventful. It felt good to sleep in my own bed and I was thrilled to see my Lucie. She, by the way, learned a new trick while I was gone. She attempted to go to school with the Jones kids. She would follow them to the school bus and then hop on herself! The kids had to retrieve her from under the seats. Once they even started down the road before someone noticed she was on the bus...bet the bus driver loved that!