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With the boats settled for the weekend Lawrence took the opportunity to take the train back to Erquelinnes and pick up the car. We could then drive to Tupigny to take a walk and see the other boats. Just as we arrived we heard the sound of bagpipes and saw a man playing Scottish music on Flemish bagpipes! He was a local music teacher who would lead the march to the weakened aqueduct at Vadencourt on Sunday.
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| Here was Walter doing the bread deliveries at Tupigny on the Saturday morning. Walter, whose boat is normally moored in Erquelinnes, worked really hard to organise the daily logistics of 23 boats moving up the Sambre and mooring anew every afternoon. He did a fine job and put in a lot of time and effort. | |
"No Canal – No Tupigny!"
On the Saturday night (21st April), Tupigny and the Canal S.E.T. organisation put on a special evening with fine local foods, drinks and speeches. Late in the evening the microphone was passed to each boat skipper in turn, to introduce their boat. One boat owner simply said "Tupigny is here because of the canal. No canal – No Tupigny" ("Pas de canal – pas de Tupigny!") which raised cheers and was then repeated in both languages. Not the grandest speech but it struck a chord and was understood by French and English alike. Once again we learnt that the French can take a very long time to serve an evening meal (we arrived at 7:30, first course was at 21:00 and dessert was served just after midnight!) while socialising louder and louder through liberal amounts of wine and champagne, a lovely evening.
On Sunday was the march to the blockage at Vadencourt. We probably numbered 50 people for the march but were disappointed that more people hadn't turned up from the local towns. The canal goes through this beautiful countryside but with no boats to enjoy it. If this stretch of canal stays closed it will be a real loss to the boating world.
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