N 50.93554°, E 02.26121°
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=loc:50.93554%2C02.26121
Back at the canal where I spent the first night. It seems in age ago and I'm a bit surprised that at least one cuckoo is still here. They should really be heading off back to Africa having done their dirty deed: no parental responsibility means no need to hang about. The turtle doves are here as well, jolly nice of the French not to shoot them in my absence. It seems a distant pleasure that you could more or less guarantee them every summer to the east of the New Junction canal and Thorne moors; at some point maybe our species will collectively care that you can only kill so much of anything before things become unsustainable.
I had a steady drive up through France and purposefully stuck to winding D roads for the first 50K or so. It's so much nicer if time isn't pressing and I saw some pretty countryside and villages (typified by the pic), I also spotted a couple of 'bits o' summat' that might be worth a casual visit sometime future.
It's been a good trip, highlight was the couple of days spent around the Eagle's Nest area and all the scenery and wildlife that brought.
Not that other places haven't been brilliant, they have. The back-waters of France always bring a feeling of massive well being and I've been lucky with the wildlife.
The Rhine too has been hugely memorable.
Just wish the race had gone better...
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