Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Mayenne River

On Sunday we took a little boat ride down the Mayenne River.  It was unbelievable.  Mike captained our massive 6 hp "ship" down the river and thru the locks.  The locks are an interesting story.  In France the river systems have a series of locks to control the water flow.  So, you have to go into the locks, pump up or down and out the other side.  The locks are administered by people who live in cookie cutter houses along the waterways and have the task of opening and closing as boats come thru.   As in all of France, only open from 8-12 and reopen at 2 until 5.  I spoke with one of the keepers and found out they get the house at no charge and a small amount of compensation.  All in all a pretty cool lifestyle.

We boated down the pristine River Mayenne to Entrammes and had lunch at a small restaurant on the shore.  The owner, who was a mom type lady, spoke French, English and Spanish.  We tried to find out the meal for the day and were not having much luck understanding.  Finally she said, "don't worry, you will eat" and proceeded to bring out a wonderful lunch.










It was a great day.

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