Summer in a mouthful While we certainly loved the open ocean cuising we did aboard Fallado, our custom built

cruising catamaran, our change to inland waterways cruising on a single hulled motorboat in the last few years has brought with it a wealth of new experiences . There are plenty of new delights to try in the galley too. A huge advantage of inland cruising on the European waterways we cruise is that you are never far from a re supplying point, be it a small village shop or a large supermarket when you are near bigger towns. Excursions by foot or astride our bicycles to well stocked victualling points are one of the highlights of being on the French waterways in particular , as we know it will always mean a tasty and satisfying repas will follow. And even outside of the towns and villages, the old system of lock keepers growing an excess of some kind of fresh produce that they are happy to sell to the boating traffic passing through, or keen local farmers setting up temporary stands along the waterway still operates In areas though where many the locks have now become automated, a lot of former lock keepers houses are lying empty, (or are rented out by people who commute to towns to work) and the vegetable gardens and chicken runs that once were tended by the the lock keepers are no more in evidence. But the fruit trees that were planted to supply fresh fruit still bear fruit, and we are always on the lookout for trees which show signs of a ripening harvest. Provided there is no one living in the lock house, the fruit is available for the taking. This summer we were lucky enough to be in the far south of France on the historic Canal du Midi, Europes oldest continually operating canal. The weather was warm (incredibly warm ,in fact we were constantly on the lockout for shady trees to park the boat under) and the fruits of high summer were for sale in large quantities in the local markets. Luscious melons, golden peaches and nectarines, bunches of juicy grapes, and the first tender figs. Nothing tastes more like summer to me than a perfectly ripened fig, biting into one is like a burst of sunshine in your mouth. One afternoon as we returned from a bike ride along the banks of the canal, we stopped to watch another couple take their boat through a series of three locks, one behind one another. While we were watching them, I noticed a car parked by a large tree just to one side of the former lock keepers house. There was clearly no one living in the house as one section of the old tiled roof was sagging down , and the front door hung crookedly on a twisted hinge. The car drove off as the boat we were watching finished locking through. We picked up our bikes and wandered over to the tree. It was a huge tree, and it was loaded with masses of rapidly ripening figs .We stuffed what we could into a plastic bag I happened to have with me, and rode back to , where our boat was moored Friends were due to catch up with us in the next day or so, and I was very happy about being able to share some of the figs with them. Barbara was delighted, coming from the colder climate of England meant they seldomn enjoyed the exotic taste of sun ripened figs. Some days later, we cast off our lines together and moved along the section of the canal with the fig tree, and just as we had hoped, more had ripened and we wasted no time in filling up a couple more bags. Not to be thwarted by those too high to reach on our tip toes, we came off our boats armed with our boat hooks and buckets to stand on as well. After a bit of experimenting with some different ingredients,I discovered that as well as tasting fantastic just au naturel, figs combine beautifully with goats cheese, especially if both is just gently warmed through. Your taste buds will be even more tantalised if you wrap the whole fig first in a thin slice of proscuito. Our friends on our companion boat were more tempted by combining them with a buttery honey and lemon glaze. We sat up on their poop deck and enjoyed this simple yet mouthwatering, and extremely attractive looking dessert with them one evening as the sun set over the still waters of the canal Gratin de Figues.

Simple and foolproof. The exact proportions and temperature don't really matter. Can be eaten with crisp almondy biscuits and cream or creme fraiche. The lemon juice is necessary to cut through the richness of the honey and butter. Take 12 fresh figs 6 teaspoons of Honey Half a lemon 6 tablespoons of ground almonds (can be omitted) 6 tablespoons butter Heat oven to moderate. Cut figs almost into quarters through the stem, without cutting right through the base. Squeeze each gently at the bottom so that the fig quarters open out like flower petals. Arrange in an ovenproof dish and dollop a half teaspoon of honey in each flower. Squeeze some lemon juice over, scatter almonds on top if using and put a small knob of butter in each fig. Bake for about 15 minutes , or until bubbling. Figs wrapped in proscuito , with goats cheese and rocket salad Wrap whole figs in thinly sliced proscuito so the whole fig is enclosed. Place on an ovenproof dish and warm through in a moderate oven until the proscuito starts to crisp around the edges. Serve on a bed of rocket leaves, and garnish with slices of goats cheese. Drizzle a vingarette dressing made from equal quantities of olive oil and white wine vinegar. To eat it, cut open the fig and place the goats cheese against the warm fig flesh to heat it through slightly. Heavenly bliss! Meryle Thomson