L'Avenir - cruising Europe's inland waterways

Wildlife at Aviemore, Scotland 'Due to industrial action by French air traffic controllers it is vital that we make our scheduled take off slot. Would passengers quickly make their way to their seats- and please move out of the aisle to let others past.' Our pilot was clearly anxious to be off and perhaps slightly irritated at those clogging up the boarding process by slowly removing and stowing the entire contents of their home wardrobe which they are wearing in order to avoid paying for checked baggage. It's a bit like a lengthy strip show performed by a chorus line of not particularly attractive people - thankfully they stop whilst still wearing a couple of layers. As our pilot reminded us, we were lucky to be flying. Many flights to France had been cancelled. The train disruption is apparently ongoing. We read in the English language newspaper  'Connexion' that the rail employees are attempting to retain their generous conditions including retiremnent...

Clydesdales striking out at the Royal Highland Show, Edinburgh A couple of weeks ago we departed France mightily ticked off at striking French rail employees. Tomorrow we are booked to return and now it is the turn of the air traffic controllers. 'But you come here every year.' said a friend today. 'Surely you expected this? Summer strikes are an annual occurrence.' Well, actually, no we didn't. We don't really pay attention to life in the fast lane.We're normally pretty unfazed by strikes of lock keepers. The travel is slow and the inconvenince slight. Just tie up for a day and enjoy a sympathetic glass of wine in the sun. The faster the travel the more annoying, disruptive and expensive things become.Working around a striking train cost us plenty but now it has come to aeroplanes we're talking serious money. Heaven help those in the future if they face intergalactic or even time travel strikes. Today I have been fixated on our airline's fligh...

From the ferry - crossing the Firth of Clyde to Dunoon  Scotland is as beautiful as ever. That final descent of the plane as it sweeps around the Pentland Hills, over the Firth of Forth and into Edinburgh never fails to make my spirits soar as we eagerly gaze out of the window searching for those familiar and much loved landmarks. Look! there's the Forth Bridge, Leith, Arthur's Seat, the Castle. Well of course they're there. Where else would they be? And then we're down and waiting to clamber down the steps onto the tarmac. The sun is shining, which is lucky, but we still don jackets and brace ourselves for the usual blast of cold wind as we step through the plane's door. What hits us instead is a wave of warm air heavy with humidity. Everyone is peeling off their jackets and cardigans and looking at each other with surprised expressions. There are many extraordinary things happening in Scotland this year and the weather seems to have decided to join in.

Word(s) for the day - 'mouvement social'. I hadn't come across this expression until yesterday. I think it literally means labour movement but in fact, should you see those words, there will be little of either going on. In short it means 'strike'. There was (and still is) quite a bit of striking happening  in France. About 2/3 of the trains weren't running and taxis were blockading the airport. The disputes were different but the combined effect made for a frustrating day for us. Sadly that was the day we had organised to travel from Briare to Paris in order to catch our flight to Edinburgh. In an unusual burst of organisation, I had walked to the station the day before and bought the tickets from the machine. Perhaps if I'd gone into the staton and purchased them from the human in the ticket office I might have been given a clue that there was trouble brewing. As it was, I did look at all the notices up on the window detailing 'travaux' (works...

Crossing the Loire on the Pont de Briare Aqueduct As some of you may already know, we are not ones for making grand plans - we're more of the 'vague notion' school of thought. We decide the general direction, set off and make decisions on the way, sometimes at the toss of a coin. This year's vague notion, probably encouraged by the WW1 commemorations, was to head north, perhaps drop into Paris for a week and then head towards the Somme. Well, we've been aboard over a week now and our current location, at Briare, is about 6km from our starting point. A Bourgogne escargot could make better time.We have come to know this particular stretch of canal very well though. We're on first name terms with the lock keepers between here and Ouzouer and we can't speak highly enough of the Briare harbourmaster - she has been helpful, sympathetic, considerate and kind. Things began well. The winter in this area of France was mild - 'just like summer' accordin...

Remontee du Saumon  A step back in time. The annual re-enactment of the old working sailing boats travelling (at high speed due to the fierce current) on the Loire. In the old days the boats had sails. These intrepid re-enactors have cleverly concealed outboards. 'Les Valeureux Mariniers' exiting the ancient Mantelot lock onto the River Loire at Chatillon Until such time as 'Tardis Travel' eventuates, getting from here to there, when 'there' is on the other side of the planet, is never going to be anywhere near the top of my list of fun things to do. I recognise, however, that we are lucky to be able to travel at all and to whinge about its drawbacks seems churlish in the extreme. So, I am not complaining. Just making some observations on what I learned/was reminded of on our latest long haul in the hope that it makes your next journey more pleasant. when you book, look at the plane as well as the price. We had 2 legs on a 777 and one on an A3...