We were to make the traverse entirely 'a pied' and given the sand and mud underfoot, we were to do it in bare paws. The distance was only about 6 kms but we had 3 hours to complete the crossing, to allow for terra non firma underfoot, and lots of intelligent commentary from our guide.
While George & Yorkie and Chelmer & Rocco, in true English style, love wallowing around in the mud, I am something of a chic French bear, so when the going got exceptionally wet and muddy underfoot, I opted for travelling rucksack class.
I did have a good excuse though. It was important I kept up with the guide as I had an important translating role to do. When we booked the trip we had realised that there was unlikely to be a commentary in English, but we all expected there would only be a few sentences, from time to time, for me to need to translate.
This was far from the case. Our very learned and enthusiastic guide, discoursed for up to 10 minutes at a time, about the history, economy, flora and fauna of the Somme Bay. It was all very interesting stuff for me, but not for my friends who understood only about one word in twenty. I was therefore kept very busy listening and translating.
Even so I think I failed to hold the attention of George & Chelmer. They found playing with a decoy duck more interesting than my translation! Mind you, the hide used by the wildfowlers was very interesting, as it was designed to move up and down with the tide.
We all had to do a double take to work out whether the ducks shown in this photos were real or not ...
It's probably even harder for you, our readers, than it was for us, as the ducks are rather small blobs in our photo. I can reliably inform you, however, that these authentic looking ducks were not real, but decoys.
Lots of love Gilbert and the Somme Bay promenaders xxx
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