Hi everyone, I delivered the sample for carbon dating last Monday, and directly to the company owner, so I know it's in the right hands. The bill is paid and I have personally very much thanked each of those who contributed to the cost.
We should know the results in about a month's time. I know it will be very disappointing for Tommy's family if a result cannot be obtained but the owner was hopeful that a result could be obtained.
So I am going to take a breather for the month, (unless any news warrants something different). Next blog scheduled for Friday 20th November 2026.
I continue to talk to and to think about Some Mother's Son and his story. Maybe I wasn't very clever in how I dealt with my relationship with Locate International. They are all in no doubt very decent people, and I'll have to deal with my appraisal of the situation myself.
I cycled as far as Nantes and then got the bus to the laboratory just South of Bordeaux. I then got the train back to Nantes, and flicked a coin as to whether to head North and back to the UK, or South. Heads North. Tails South. It was tails.
I am now, like you in the UK, shielding myself from Storm Austen, on the coast at a place called Saint Jean de Monts, another 80 kms further South and I will reach Les Sables de L'Onne. Les Sable de L'Onne has a train station, so I get the chance to think again on whether to head North, or continue South. There has to be a point to cycling South, and I haven't really found a good reason for it yet. It's satisfying putting the miles in, but whose that helping?
I enclose a few photos and a short video from the trip so far. Catch up in a month!
Morning start on the Nantes Brest Canal Towpath.
Still on the Nantes Brest Canal Towpath.
Smart bridge at the mouth of the Loire river, Saint Nazaire.
The Loire river, France's longest river at 629 miles, from its source in the Massif Central mountains of Southern France which then drains into the Bay of Biscay at Saint Nazaire.
Final photo, a piece of artwork entitled "Misconceivable" by Austrian artist Erwin Wurm. A blue and white sailboat that appears to bend and tip precariously over the edge of a lock. The upper lock of the Canal de Martiniere in Le Pellerin, Loire-Atlantique, France.
Video time. Along the Nantes/Brest Canal, France. (I hope you can access it. Turn the sound on. There is music with it).