Coudray, Melun, Samois-sur-Seine, Thomery, Moret-sur-Loing 27 April - 2 May 2023 Officically Spring starts in France on 21 March, so we were expecting the weather to warm up. The forecast kept telling of mid-20s C next week, but next week never seemed to arrive. However we have now had a couple of days where the central heating hasn't come on in the morning so we are getting there. We were cruising on the Seine down to Moret sur Loing. The furthest south we got on our cruise last year. After our overnight stay at Ablon, we set off the next day for Coudray which was just over 4 hours away. We did washing on the way and when we arrived the sun came out at last and were able to not only have lunch on the back deck, but also dry our washing on the line. The next day was also just over 4 hours and we cruised into Melun. We moored up alongside Gustav, owned by Peter who we had met previously at a rally. Howard was able to catch up with him in the afternoon while I went for a swim. In the evening a commercial tied up behind us without us even noticing. There is something, I think, about Melun - the angle of the river maybe, but I always seem to get a sunset shot here. On Saturday morning, Howard wanted to go to a store about 7kms away so we saddled up the bikes and headed off. My e-bike handled the hills well and I didn't have to make much effort at all. Howard, of course had a good work out up those hills. Part of the trip was along a busy road with one lane each way and no bike lane so we decided to take another route through the suburban streets, but google didn't know the roads in the new estate so it was quite a bit longer than it would have been on the straight road. We did manage to finally get there and did our shopping, and came back on the busy road which turned out to be fine. In the afternoon we took another ride around the end of the island at Melun, around the prison. We watched the fishermen off shore and onshore, including one who though he had a big fish, but it turned out to be a rock. Then we did a small detour through town on the way home. On Sunday we headed off for Samois-sur-Seine and arrived soon after 12 noon. We have passed this way before but it is always an interesting stretch of the river. The boat which had been moored behind us at Melun, joined us in one of the locks. The next day was a national holiday - Labour Day - so the locks were closed and the river was quiet. We took our bikes down to Thommery for a look around. On the way there was quite a big hill which gave Howard a good workout, but I cruised up on my new e-bike. Nothing was open in Thommery, so we crossed the river to Champagne-sur-Seine where we able to pick up a drink and snack at a boulangerie, which we ate down by the lock. The ride home along the river was sometimes just a track, but no hills. We did 27.5 kms altogether, the longest ride I've done for ages. Samois is a pretty town and I took a couple of photos on our way back to Moondance. On Tuesday morning we cycled up to the centre of town, to have a look around and visit the boulangerie. Then we prepared to cruise down to Moret-sur-Loing. We had a little delay as we had a leak in the pump that refills the toilet from the canal, which had been cleaned the day before. But that was soon fixed and the water cleaned up, so we set off to Moret-sur-Loing. As usual we passed lots of lovely houses, and a huge property which is slowly being renovated. As we had seen in many French towns, the houses along the seaside street in Thommery often had a small patch of land on the river side of the road opposite them, which they used as a terrace. It was also good to see the quay from the river side. At the Champagne lock we had to wait and ended up sharing with 2 commercials. Finally we turned off the Seine and headed to our mooring in Moret.
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