Today was a gorgeous day, and a perfect way to end our training camp. In the morning, after our daily intake of baguettes and Nutella, we set off in the VIII alongside another VIII put together by the veteran rowers of our host boat club (Club Nautique Libos-Fumel), in view of having a short race. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a cox of their own, so Pauline kindly agreed to step up to the challenge of coxing in French. The race, approximately 1k long, ended up being slightly haphazard : firstly, because Mark seemed intent on calling the start with a French accent, and his rendition of “Attention, allez !” was quite entertaining. So much so that we were all still giggling when we realised that we were meant to have started. Luckily the other team were also a bit startled, so both our start sequences were imperfect in some way. Then, a few strokes in, Pauline lost control of the steering and started veering into our VIII, Bumps-style, but all was fine and we managed to win by a length.
Lunch was a mixture of leftover food made into a rice salad with gazpacho as a starter, and plenty of cheese and bread.
Our afternoon outing was one of the most enjoyable ones we all had this week. Not only was it sunny and warm, but we went out in a flotilla of small boats, from single sculls to coxless quad and coxed IV. We all got a bit sunburnt, and showed off the recently purchased red and white kit from our host club.
Later in the afternoon, most of us chose to visit a second vineyard, and were treated to a guided tour of the cellars, with a detailed explanation of the process of wine-making, followed by some tasting.
For our last dinner in Fumel, we all went to a Creperie for some well-deserved pancakes and duck-based salads.
We have all concluded that this has been a successful and truly enjoyable experience, not only because the weather was relatively good all through the week, or because there was cheese and Nutella in abundance, but also and especially because of the incredible hospitality of all the people we met, whom we cannot thank enough.
Merci et au revoir !