This morning brought a welcome change to our lives—the sun! We quickly uprooted our tent and belongings from the spot we'd chosen last night under the trees (hiding from the rain) and moved into one under the blaze of the morning sun. We happily spread ourselves and our sodden gear out to dry under the life-giving rays and took our sweet time in leaving.

I spent a good bit of the the morning 'fixing' the lens for our camera (a Nikon D60—people ask frequently!). It had developed some serious condensation issues and I was relieved when holding it up towards the sun, the light and warmth slowly burned the foggy optics clear. While I was working on drying all of our damp electronics Tara prepared a tasty crepe breakfast which we devoured hungrily before setting out on what will likely be our last day of canal riding for a few weeks.

I think we're both ready to be done with the canal and we're probably looking a gift horse in the mouth by feeling that way. The flat routes and simple navigation are wonderful and they make for easy traveling. The scenery, on the other hand, leaves a bit to be desired after so many days. It is pretty, but it never changes. We're both eager to move into the next French scene on our journey.

Our ride along the canal was swift and uneventful save for a minor accident towards the end of the day. Tara lost her balance in some deep mud and tipped over. This event wouldn't have warranted a mention in our journal had it not been for the adjustable mounts on our fenders. As the wheel turned and Tara headed towards the ground the extra length of wire cut into her shin.

This was not the first time our legs had fallen victim to the violent gouging of our fenders. I grabbed our vise grips and cut them as short as I could, no longer caring if they wouldn't have enough room to adjust for slightly bigger tires at some point. Following that I wrapped them in electrical tape to defang them.

Just before camp we saw a tiny menagerie in the front yard of a rather opulent looking house. Here is a photo of one of the (many!) bunnies with a single, evil looking, eyelined eye: