Whilst tying up to a finger pontoon in...... Jeanette jumped and said "I've been stung...badly!" and hopped back on board with a double puncture on her left bicep which quickly became surrounded by a large bright red rash.
I went onto the jetty to finish tying up and was instantly whacked on each ankle, almost simultaneously, by what felt like a red hot needle driven with some force. Naturally I broke the sound barrier hopping back onto the boat. (me no hero...let me tell you; I was shrieking!).
A load of what appeared to be big brown wasps were building a nest under the pontoon and clearly took exception to the intrusion.
We reported it to the Capitainerie and thought no more of it (except that the stings continue to niggle more than 3 weeks later) until we were told that France is suffering from an invasion of Asian Hornets (see picture) which, although smaller than the UK version, are incredibly aggressive. We can certainly vouch for that!
Worse still, they have killed seven people in France already this year, aren't we the lucky ones. This is definitely the beastie that attacked us.
I suppose next week's ordeal will be the tiger Mosquito's that have been found up the Charente......