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The beginning of the month was busy in the town of Armentieres with the '23rd Rally of the North'. There were a huge number of cars, all shapes and sizes, music from the loud speakers of the Town Hall and plenty of people with cameras at the ready, an excited atmosphere. From the local newspaper it seems that a Belgian couple were the winners. For us the month started with a buffet lunch, organised by the Armentieres Boating Association, which was held in one of the conference rooms situated in the park Pres du Hem. The port is within the park so we did not have far to travel. It gave us an opportunity to share time with people who come to their boats regularly at weekends during the winter period and others who are less frequent visitors but nevertheless keen boaters. The afternoon was very enjoyable with a good buffet, an accomplished accordion player, dancing and singing and naturally lots of chat and laughter. The company was good and we felt very much part of the gathering enjoying the atmosphere.

A few days later we had our first flurry of snow which reminded us that we could not yet say goodbye to winter despite the leaves and blossom on trees in the park and in the town. The park was opened to the public beginning of March although the activities like the 'Little Train', the trip boat, horses and carriage, farm activities were programmed for Easter, later in the month. Sadly the weather was not brilliant and so the number of visitors was not overwhelming.

Meanwhile, we continued to do a weekly shop in the market and enjoyed the regular chat whilst queuing at the popular stalls for meat, fish and cheese. We were conscious that we would be moving on at the end of the month and keen to make the most of our visits, including receiving 1lb of freshly churned butter in exchange for 80 tickets collected from one of our regular stalls. As we never use butter we now have a bit of a quandary but could not resist being part of the market community! No doubt we will find a solution.

The beginning of March was enjoyably full of encounters with friends and we were delighted to welcome Manou and Jerome for Sunday lunch. They had given us a warm welcome to their home during our early days at Armentieres this winter, introduced us to some Northern French dishes and gave us an informative visit to Lille. The afternoon just fled by. Contact with our fellow boaters in the port during the month continued to give pleasure, it really was like a friendly village community. Francoise spent an afternoon with us whilst Paul did some demonstrations about 'blogs' as she is interested in setting up a system for the boating association. There was regular contact with Carmen, Marco, Valerie and Laurent. It was a good opportunity following lunch with Francoise on her boat that we had the chance to have a 'group photograph', a lovely souvenir of an enjoyable winter mooring. Paul was able to create immediate prints of the photographs so everyone involved had a copy.

In preparation for the move, we filled diesel tanks and the water tank. The fridge and food cupboards were stocked up. Bow thruster and walkie talkies were put on charge. The morning of the 27th, in light rain, we said our farewells to people, ducks, coots and grebes! Valerie presented us with a freshly made sponge cake, still warm when she gave it to us at 09.00. The cake is very tasty, so much for the diet! Laurent was there to help us with ropes. Patrick, the harbourmaster, Phillipe, Laurent and Valerie were there to wave us off. We will be seeing them again next winter.

Our first lock, managed with a 'zapper', worked well and we were back into the swing of things. The Lock keeper was at the ready to help us through the next lock accompanied by two lift bridges. We moored up at St. Venant a pleasant small town with some interesting features, for example an 18th century Town Hall which is a listed historic monument. The town has all the essential shops and folks are very friendly. Where we are moored is opposite a port and it was a lovely surprise to have a knock on the door from Nick. This is someone that we met on a few occasions last summer. He had left his boat at St. Venant for the winter and recently returned to prepare the boat for the season. Spotting us, he came across to say hello and it was enjoyable to be able to catch up with each others boating experiences during 2007. Having said goodbye to ducks, coots and grebes at Armentieres, we now have noisy geese who make every effort to dominate the few ducks in the area.

Now we are ready to move on to Watten to have the maintenance work done on the shell of the boat. Our rendezvous is for the 2nd April and once the work is done we can relax and make the most of the boating months ahead of us. We will be visiting new waters and some favourite stretches too. Whilst moored at St Venant, as ever, there has been interest shown in the boat and the usual questions posed. Did you cross the channel on the boat? Are you cold in winter? Do you eat as English people or like French people? And another question often posed is "Don't you get bored?" The answer to that, is that there is no time to be bored and we are confident that the months ahead will confirm that reply. It is good that people show interest and we welcome it especially as we can chat about life on a boat as well as life in England and France. In the light of recent events in England, Brown and Sarkosy might be proud of us!!!