Royal Oak Piste -- Almost There

Brigitte and I stopped by the Royal Oak piste this afternoon with our boules to check out the playing conditions. After such a long, snowy winter, I was expecting it to be still somewhat muddy, but the surface was surprisingly dry enough to walk on without leaving significant footprints. When we played, however, we saw that there was still too much moisture beneath the surface to allow the boules to carry. Anything other than a strict roll tended to dig in or even create a boule crater, depending on the angle of the shot. Great for plombées but not so great for any other type of shot (except for the tir au fer, of course). We'll see next week. It's been a long winter.