We got cycling on a very cloudy cool day with our jumpers and raincoats on. We cycled up the bank of the Seine seeing lots of lovely houses. At one point there was a water and refreshment stand. We then saw some runners going in the opposite direction with numbers on their shirts. Everyone else got off to the side and applauded. We found out it was part of a big triathlon race.

After the runners had gone we continued up the river bank seeing restaurants closed – many for the season.

We came to the big barrage – a large weir across the Seine that generates hydro electric.

We locked up the bikes and walked across. We saw the water pounding through generating enough electricity for 22,000 homes in the area. It has a fish ladder to let the fish through.

At the other end were 2 huge locks – much bigger than the ones we were dealing with on the canal. Large commercial boats sitting just upstream yse this.

We spotted a guingette – an outdoor cafe – that was open across the other side so we headed there.

The view from the guingette shows the little island before the weir on the other side.

In the cafe a simple lunch of local cold cuts was on offer. It consisted of cheeses, hams, radishes and salad vegetables – so that’s what we had washed down with a couple of local IPA beers. It was a great way to sample the local produce. Quite a few locals arrived meeting their friends and family for Sunday lunch.

We had a chat with Arnauld opposite who was by himself with a black Labrador. He is an arborist/ tree planter who enjoys the countryside. He told us the deer were rutting in a forest nearby. He seems to like his freedom but said he was getting too old to do such physical work. Glenn told him about deer in Scotland – and they became friends on Facebook.

A large boat arrived in the nearest lock – a large river cruise boat. We headed off to get up on the bridge and watch it going through the lock.

It looked like quite a luxurious boat with the chess and backgammon games on the roof. There were hardly any passengers visible.

We watched the lock closing and the filling up very quickly.

We then made our way back across the bridge to find our bikes. We decided to cycle onwards around the lakes used for water sports – I planned to take the shortcut back across towards the campsite while Glenn would continue onwards to the bird reserve. We couldn’t use the cycle paths as the race competitors were running on them. The roads were also closed to cars for the bike racing. We could only use the side pavement.

Arriving at my planned shortcut – it was barred off to everyone so we had to continue to as far as the bird lake. Glenn stopped for a look while I kept going the final 4km to get back to the campsite – it was quite a long bike ride in the end!

Glenn came back soon and we had a cheese omelette for dinner helping to tidy up the contents of the fridge – there was only 1 more night in the motorhome before arriving in the UK.