Arelaune-en-Seine

For the afficionados of the work of Eugene Boudin, here is the original inspiration for his 1889 portrait of Caudebec-en-Crux, painted somewhat mistily after the death of his wife.
The river Saone here is tidal and high tide occurred at about 11pm as I was tucked up half asleep on the side of the river in an Air-de-motor caravan provided by the local village. I know this because I nearly died when a mighty foghorn blasted seemingly in my ear and I turned to see an impossibly large coastal container ship passing 3 inches from my head. Well, maybe it was in the centre channel but it completely blocked out my view. Later I saw a small pilot boat flitting up and down to shadow the big boys: nice to know they had someone on board who knew the local waters intimately. If anything happened those ships would form a natural damn.Read more