Moret - sur - Loing

Leaving Paris we cruised south on the Seine. After a day the suburbs are behind, the river widens and forest rises from the banks. A bit of a millionaires row this judging by the mansions.

There was quite a lot of commercial traffic on this stretch so you really have to tag along with one (or two or five) in order to pass through the enormous locks. The keepers generally won't work the lock until a commercial barge wants to pass through. At the final lock of this stretch we caught up with Graham and Iris, two  Australians we had met a few weeks ago on the River Marne. They have been cruising in France for years and are a mine of information. 'Follow us,' they said. 'We know a lovely place to moor.' And they did.

Moret is a lovely medieval, fortified town. Alfred Sisley, the impressionist painter, some of whose work I saw in the Musee d' Orsay lived and painted here and Napoleon slept here a night on his return to Paris from Elba. I know because there's a plaque on a wall to tell me. Another claim to fame is the butterscotch made by the nuns and once favoured by the French royals.

The bridge at Moret-sur-Loing.  Sisley painted this scene many times.

There are half timbered buildings, a waterwheel, fortifications, a lovely gothic church, the river and the canal. We had intended stopping only one night but instead have stayed for 3!
pics later just discovered I'm about to miss the market - yet again!
Missed again. I am becoming expert at this. Managed to miss the Sunday market at the Bastille in Paris - reportedly the biggest market in the city - I didn't know it was on and waited until the afternoon to go out thinking the rain might go off. It didn't.
Never mind - you'll have noticed that from the pictures that the sun is shining and the sky is my favourite colour once again!