We've now been here in the port of Roanne for 5 months and have absolutely LOVED every day of it. This has come as a huge surprise to both of us as we've never spent much time in ports or marinas before, in fact when we were in the UK we much preferred to continuously cruise throughout the winter. The town of Roanne has every facility you could ever need and the social life amongst the live-aboard boaters has been brilliant. Roger joined a band and really enjoyed the weekly jamming sessions on one of the other boats. Their performance at one of the Happy Hours was very well received and the bar was packed.
We play darts on a Monday, go 10 pin bowling every other Tuesday and have Happy Hour in the local bar every Thursday evening. There's an assortment of nationalities here, French, Belgians, Americans, Australians, Swiss, Irish, Dutch and quite a few other Brits. Everyone is very friendly and we've been to so many dinner parties on other boats that I seriously need to go on a diet!
Now that the canals are starting to re-open again after the winter we're all getting itchy feet and are raring to go off cruising again. The first 2 boats left this morning amid much waving, cheering and blaring horns. I still can't get used to seeing British narrowboats over here. The French are absolutely fascinated by them too.
Bye for now, see you soon X
