Another warm and sunny day dawns so we decide to stay and explore the waterway. The aire is only €5 including use of the campsite facilities so another day is a bargain.
After a leisurely breakfast we head out on the towpath along the banks of the river Somme. Ducks and swans swim in the fast flowing water approaching the barrage. A red brick building beside the barrage is a former hydro-electric power station. Built in 1902, its sluice mechanisms are all still well preserved. At the modern baRrage water thunders and boils over the weir at an alarming rate except for a narrow channel lined with rush matting that serves as an eel-ladder for migrating eels.
On the opposite bank we pass the gardens of Chateau de Long with trees, shrubs and statues. Further along is the chateau itself, an elegant structure of pink bricks and white mortar popular here in the 18thC. Built on the site of a ruined fortress by Honore Charles De Buissy in 1733 and extended by his son, a servant of Louis XV, in 1762, the chateau was deserted after WW2. Restoration began in 2000 and it is now open to visitors in June and July.
Below the chateau are its cast iron framed greenhouses, trellised terrace and wash house.
The village of Long has nothing much of interest except a plaque commemorating a Sherman Tank driver who aided villagers whose houses were on fire.
After stopping to eat our picnic we continue along the river bank surrounded by birdsong from the majestic woods around us, with waterbirds, swallows, butterflies and damselflies all adding to a perfect summer day.
We return to the site, past a bent propeller from a Lancaster which crashed in 1944 mounted near the entrance.
With the temperature at 28C we relax in the shade under the trees.
Somme fine day indeed.