Turning North
We chugged on along the Aisne on marvelously peaceful waters. We had almost looped Paris and were headed back towards Reims. But we turned north before that and headed uphill into Picardy to start our journey home. The Canal de l'Oise a Aisne has just a few commercial boats and not many of us pleasure boats. We climbed a flight of locks and chugged through a tunnel in splendid isolation. It was a lazy few days. Then we turned onto the St Quentin Canal and continued our climb. One night we moored on an island and then we had this beautiful little 'Halte Nautique' all to ourselves. We found ourselves back on the western front. The St Quentin was an important barrier and there are plenty of British cemeteries along the way. We try to visit as many as we can because they are so moving. We were also moved to find many New Zealand graves, a country that is special to us. We moored in Marcoing right by the bridge that Henry ...