Luciole Blog

24th - 30th July 2016

It is the final week of this beautifully warm July in Burgundy, another week in which we've been blessed by the sun's presence. Not only that but by the presence of our honoured guests from the land of the rising sun itself, the ever happy Murakami family. Joining us on the Luciole for the second time since 2012, long before most of this young crew had stepped foot into barging, but not too long ago for Captain Francisco to remember them and remember them well.

This was one of those weeks you can't forget, even with at times a bit of a communication difficulty, but it didn't cast the slightest of shadows on everyone's enjoyment of the week. None of that mattered in the slightest, all was brushed aside with laughter, good spirit, hand signals and red wine.

The family opted for an adventurous week with us, going horse riding and kayaking as well as walking through Auxerre, visiting pretty Noyers and stopping off at the Chartreuse de Basseville as we cruised beside it. Grandparents Yoshiniko and Kazuko joining the family even for the more adventurous visits, Yoshi never failing to get a photograph or 3 of all the action, and getting involved enough themselves! The 3 youngsters Taro, Toko and Sara spent half the week replacing the Captain, steering every day, otherwise showing off their boundless energy running and cycling around, usually off out to play badminton. Taro in particular showed us the reasons why he is Japan's number 1 youth tennis player, thrashing Francisco at badminton, the closest thing we have to tennis on the boat.

Captain's dinner was a very warm, touching and emotional affair, family and crew starting to get blurry eyed or more as we exchanged words and gifts after dinner. The youngsters created a delightful floral thank you and the Captain offered the youngest, Sara a photograph he took back in 2012 as the much smaller Sara and Toko steered the boat from the wheel house, huge smiles on their little faces. Much like the smiles we've seen all week with this very gracious, friendly and eternally welcome family.