When the cold winter of 2004/5 had passed Ruda made her way west along the French coast, and at St. Valery-sur-Somme entered the canalised Somme river; her first experience of the French canal system.
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Her crew learned at the end of the canal that it was recommended for boats with a draft of less than one metre – Ruda had spent a lot of time with her keel in the mud! Though it winds through a region heavy with the history of the Great War the canalised river calms with lovely vistas, avenues lined with Poplar and London Plane, plenty of birdlife and the fabulous cathedral at Amiens.