Watersteps Through France

Bill and Laurel Cooper have lived on boats of various kinds for more than fifteen years. One year they decided to spend the winter in the South of France, so they left England with the Dutch barge Hosanna, seaworthy but only half finished, and entered the French canals via the river Somme, looking for a warmer climate. Their philosophy of travel is easygoing, not expecting too much of either themselves or the people they meet and the land they travel through. This means that they have time to explore out-of-the-way places and make friends with a variety of people, from the old man who invited them to a cock-fight in Picardie to the bargewife who spent all day gossiping on VHF radio in her lace-curtained wheelhouse. We see the French, their folklore, customs and - above all - their food through the eyes of two seasoned travellers who are always ready to take a fresh view of the unexpected. After many adventures - including being trapped in the Haute Marne when the canal system was drained, and narrowly surviving a winter mistral in the Rhone Valley - Bill and Laurel arrive in time to spend Christmas in the peace and warmth of the Camargue. This is an account of a journey through the waterways of France.