July 28th
Another new canal and another new blog. This one will complete our Spring and Summer circuit for 2011, although we will be doing some short cruises in September and October.
So, where were we at the end of the Fourth Movement ... ah yes, in Vitry le Francois.
We consulted with the (new) lockkeeper who told us that it was only 'a good kilometer' to the market, so we elected to go on foot, rather than to try to find a taxi at the station.
Not to worry. we have plenty of food and drink on board and are more than ready to receive Lulu, Cosmo, Jude, Vlad and Gilly the dog tomorrow.
So we left Vitry behind at about 11.00 am and travelled some 15 kms (and 5 locks) to the little village of Orconte where we have planned to meet Lulu and crew tomorrow. This is a nice mooring with electricity and (some) water. Some means that the tap (to which we cannot connect) delivers a timed amount of water, probably about 1 minute, whereas we need to fill for several hours to repenish our ballast and cooking/washing water. We also found a baker and a butcher in the village, both of which I will visit tomorrow.
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| The mooring at Orconte |
July 29th
Busy day at Orconte. The butcher should have opened at 8.30 am, but didn't until nearly nine, so spent some time sitting on doorstep. Once in, I had a fascinating discussion with the (lady) butcher on the subject of Jambonneau - what we would call ham hocks. I had bought two at the market in Vitry to prepare one of our favourite dishes for the kids (Ham hocks in an apricot, stock and wine sauce, served with rice) only to find that they were just pork and not ham at all. Madame and I agreed that the definition of a jambonneau was that it should have been prepared as ham. Anyway she advised me that I could make just as good a dish just using thick cut ham instead - so I bought a couple of slices, along with rognons de veau, a nice smelly sausage, some bacon and a veal roast. We will continue to eat well!
I also picked up a baguette from the baker so the morning started pretty well.
A certain amount of domestics followed and then painting the side nearest to the bank, which we had not been able to get at for some time.
Lulu, Cosmo, Jude, his friend Vlad and Gilly the dog eventially aqrrived at 7.15 pm, having at one stage visited the wrong country(Luxembourg) and nearly run out of diesel in their new Volvo. It was great to see them. We celebrated with a bottle of Champagne and gave them Ham Hocks in apricot sauce for supper.
July 30th
A whole day with the visiting team. Everybody seeemed to have slept well - the boys on the day bed and an air mattress - in fact so well that we did not set off until 9.40 am. This canal is VERY shallow at the edges, which we discovered to our cost when trying to pass a commercial barge. He was OK but we got stuck on the mud 6ft from the bank. A lot of wriggling set us free, but lesson learned. We will scrape by the big barges in future and hope not to impact!
Cosmo, Jude and Vlad all tooka turn to drive JC, but none of them stuck at the task very long. At least this gave me the chance of a long chat with Lulu as we went along.
We had aimed to stop along the way for lunch, but the only bollards on the way were hidden by some fishermen and by the time we spotted them it was too late to stop. So we telephoned Mike and Jane who had left well before us to enquire about the mooring in St Dizier. They reported lots of room so we covered the whole 15 kms and seven locks without stopping. Lunch was a little late!
Lulu and Cosmo were determined to retrieve their car in the evening, which they eventually did, but not before Cosmo had taken Charlyn's bike apart to put a new tube in the back wheel and, with some difficulty and not much help from me, put it all together again. Once on the road they covered the 15kms that had taken us 5 hours and 20 minutes to cover in 50 minutes. The strange thing was that it took them 25 minutes to get back by car? While they were away Charlyn taught the boys to play SPOONS, which she had learned from Sonje.
All in all a thoroughly enjoyable day. we wre thrilled to have them with us and to show them our lifestyle, and hopefully they enjoyed themselves as much
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| Lulu |
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| Cosmo |
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| Jude and Vlad |
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| The whole team |
July 31st
Time to say goodbye. Lulu and I went out in the car early on to get some diesel for JC and also the daily supply of bread. I think they eventually left at about 10.00 am faced with a seven hour drive to their house in the Luberon - Le Grand Banc. We cleared up - not too bad - and went out for a very good lunch in the only restaurant that we could find open in St Dizier. Duck foie gras and filet steak in green peppercorn sauce for me and Calamares followed by spaghetti carbonara for Charlyn. I thought that a siesta would round off the day nicely, but having had that I couldn't resist the temptation to put the second coat of paint on the side of the boat, while Charlyn did the washing and vacuuming After all, who knows when we will be tied up on this side next?
Charlyn is having terrible problems with her shoulder which now seems to hurt her almost all the time. We don't really know the cause - but even 3 Aleve don't seem to do the trick.
August 1st
What an interesting day on the canal - action packed, I would say.
After picking up today's supply of bread we set off at 7.40 am and encountered a number of adventures on the way. Firstly, it was the first really nice, sunny day that we have had for ages and we attacked our 18 kms , 7 lock journey with gusto and enthusiasm. Then we met:
1. A big barge coming the other way that we only just managed to squeeze past without getting stuck.
2. A lift bridge, where we had to wait some 20-30 minutes for the eclusier to come along. It was not radar controlled.
3. A lock on a very sharp double bend which we literally had to "barge" our way through
4. A broken lock, where we again had a long wait for someone to come to repair
5 A second lift bridge, this time with a very stiff twist controller that meant that we had to back up to make it work.
6. Another broken lock with an even longer wait.
But....
The countryside was very pretty - much nicer than we had had with Lulu and the sun continued to shine.
Eventually we caught up to Drumsarah at Bayard who very kindly moved out and moved on to their next destination to make room for us. This is a REALLY quiet country mooring, but Drumsarah tell us that there are all the necessary shops just a few hundred yards away. We will find out in the morning.
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| Village Fleuri - Bayard |
August 2nd
...and they were quite right. just around the corner, within 200 metres there is a large Intermarche supermarket, complete with gas and propane station, where I was able to exchange my BBQ tank - just in time- as well as a nice looking restaurant (closed for August - how typically french - and a tabac where I was able to but some more minutes for the dongle.
Add to all that a perfectly respectable Boulangerie in the next village (OK it was a bit of a hike but I made it on foot) and streets lined with geraniums ( actually pelargoniums, but who'se counting) and it all adds up to a pretty idyllic stopping place. Need I say that the day was spent painting(me) and cleaning(she) as ever, but all the same a good one, topped off with a very welcome Pimms at 5.30pm after my shower.
We heard from Mike and Jane that th next stopping place , Joinville, has good mooring at La Vinaigerie, so we called ahead to make a booking. it;'s the first booking they have ever had!!
August 3rd
It's such a shame that Lulu and team were not with us a couple of days later. The scenery has changed completely. It is now forest covered hills and pretty farmland, and even the canal has taken on a better shape, with more corners and much more interest (see yesterday). After a bike ride - yes, it really was too far to walk again - to the boulangerie we were greeted by a very friendly lock keeper at tren minutes to eight in the morning to say that he weas ready to open the first lift bridge for us. So we had a nice early start. He kept ace with us through 2 locks and other lift bridge and witnessed a very hairy passing of a HUGE unloaded barge just above a lock. We had clearly kept that barge waiting as all we got from them was a series of invectives in Dutch.
We reached La Vinaigerie in good time and found a space waiting for us ( despite the efforts of a not-very-friendly-at-the-time South African who tried to persuade us that the mooring was just for boats - not barges. The mooring is a good way out of town, so I made a recce by bike. Quite a nice old town, nothing as special as we had been told. However right next to the mooring ( La Vinaigerie is also a gite and a small B&B) there is a huge Super U supermarket, a bricollage, a garden shop and a petrol station - all within 60secods walk.
The mooring also has water and electricity - a nice saving for our generators and a much needed opportunity to fill water which had been getting rather (but not dangerously) low. Now I think I have put so much in that we may be stuck on the mud. Time will tell.
August 4th
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| Mooring at La Vinaigerie |
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| Taken from the mooring at La Vinaigerie |
August 5th
We were concerned about the availability of mooring further on so went only as far as Dongeaux where we found an almost empty mooring place. Nice mooring, but not surprised it was not full - the village has a restaurant (closed for sumer holidays) and nothing else. The sign for thevillage the other way (800 metres) advertised a tabac, epicerie and bread depot, but when we got there after a walk of at least 2 kms we found that it had been shut for at least 2 years. never mind, we had a supply of "long term" bread which just neede 10 minutes baking so we thought we would be OK. not much luck there either - it was pretty disgusting. Plenty of time for work on the boat in a sunny afternoon after a drizzly morning.
August 6th
After consulting with the local VNF man, who was ver helpful and found out about availability of moorings further up canal, we decided to go just as far as Froncles where he told us we would find space. Just as well we didn't go further as soon after we got in (this time with willing help from Ray, the South African on Minou, the heavens opened and we underwent a real cloud burst which lasted most of the afternoon. Mind you, I just had time to bicycle up to the village where I found not one, but two, boulangeries, both of them open, so was able to restore our bread supplies.
In the pouring rain we spent the afternoon catching up with photographs, so I am now ready to put more on to this blog (tomorrow??). A nice drink in the evening with Ray and Pam, then supper and Tudors.
August 7th
Here we are still at Froncles and due to go out to lunch at what looks like a nice restaurant just a 5 minute walk away. Spent the morning catching up with all the Marina accounts, more blog and composing a boat card, which I should have done a long time ago. Lunch at the restaurant "Au Chateau" was excellent. Just two other tables occupied. We chose the 27 euro lunch, which meant a starter (interesting tomato stuffed with cream cheese and LOTS of herbs for Charlyn; a Lamb kidney and sweetbread terrine for me), followed by a main course - we both had braised beef with morilles and an aubergine "caviar", a litle bit grissly in parts but very tasty, then the cheese course which was hot brie inside a wonton wrap and finally dessert - mine was excellent but Charlyn's seemed to be mostly green sludge - she didn't like it. However before the starter we had two courses of Bonne Bouche; the first tiny melon balls with a wafer of parma ham, and the second an eggcup size bowl of clear soup. A glass each of Champagne, a lite of "Pichet" red and a coffee mad a very good outing. Not much done during the rest of the day.
August 8th
We set off at 8.00 am, knowing that after the first lock we would be in the hands of the employees of VNF, as all the remaining locks (at least as far as Chaumont) have not yet been converted to automatic and need the attendance of a lock keeper. Ours was a pretty young girl who kept us company for the rest of the morning - accepting a bottle of Cremant Rose as a mark of our appreciation of her service. We aimed to stop at Vieville but, according to the information obtained by our young lady on her cellphone, there would not be enough space for us there (she was quite right) and we were advised to push on as far as Riaucourt. Here there is a tiny mooring, without elecrtricity or water - but with a very slippery dock which tipped Charly right on to her back as she stepped off, fortunately with no lasting damage.
We will only stay tonight as there doesn't seem to be much here (which doesn't matter) and we are moored within 20 metres of the lock (which does). We will explore what there is of the vallage this afternoon and go on to Chaumont tomorrow, where we hear rumour of a "small" market on Wednesday.
August 9th
As I thought, there was not much in the village - no boulangerie, no tabac, no nothing - but quite pretty all the same. So the decision to go on to Chaumont, where Pam tells us there is space seems to be the right one.
Excitingly, we heard this morning from David and Juliet on Jubilant that they,too, will be in Chaumont "by the weekend". We will almost certainly stay there to wait for them as I think there are very few other places with room enough for us both.
Arrived at Chaumont approx 1.00pm after an exciting and scary trip. In spite of being accompanied from lock to lock by our own "private" eclusier, we nevertheless met a huge commercial barge coming the other way, right on a steep bend. One of the charming characteristics of JC is that when we go into reverse the bow swings to the left. On this occasion we had to make an emergency stop with engine flat out in reverse with the consequence that the bow swung out fiercely, right into the path of the oncoming commercial. Fortunately he stopped too and I was able to extricate us from a nasty situation without actully hitting anything (other than the bank), by passing him on ther wrong side. The only damage being to our ears, absorbing the curses of the bargee and his wife. I certainly can't put any blame on him, and not a lot on myself - it was just bad luck to meet in such a awkward spot in a narrow canal!
The Chaumont mooring, the "Relais Nautique" is large and well equipped with both water and electricity. The town is some 2 kms away - up hill - but we understand that we can arrange a bus/taxi to get us there for very little money. Also bread is delivered each morning which saves me a lot of pedalling.
The weather is still pretty mucky with lots of rain showers and COLD. We (that is to say Charlyn as I hide in the wheelhouse when we are moving) got a bit wet and very cold, but we are assured that it will be a nice day tomorrow. We live in hope as we will be here for a few days. We now undersand that David and Juliet will get here Thursday. We expect them to supper that evening.
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| Attack!!! |
At Chaumont. Well not exactly as the town is some 2 kms away up a VERY STEEP HILL. We tried to book the taxi/bus but the earliest trip they could offer was 11.40. Way too late for the market. So we hired a regular taxi with a delightful driver to take us to the (almost non existant) market, where we bought nothing. At least Charlyn had her hair cut.
A second call to our friendly taxi driver took us to the big Leclerc supermarket which was excellent and we managed to get everything we needed - and probably much cheaper than at the market. We overloaded our pull trolley, back packs and carry bags to such a extent that we had to call the taxi one more time to get us back to JC. However we should now be well stocked for at least the next week. Lunch, more painting and the day was about done.
August 11th
A lovely day! Not only nice weather which was a very pleasant change, but also David and Juliet arrived at lunch time on Jubilant. It was so good to see them again and to catch up on their lives. They are on their way to Belgium to leave Jubilant with the original builder for the winter, who is allegedly going to use her as a floating B&B. So Jubilant's days as a charter barge are now officially finished after 7 years. Otherwise David and Juliet are well, although he had a scare with the possible return of his prostate cancer last winter. However it seems to have come to nothing. Now their future plans include driving a RV around Britain and Europe (once J is sold).
Thet joined us for dinner on JC and we celebrated by breaking open a bottle of Jean Claude and Anna's Cremant de Bourgogne - just for old times sake. Such good company!
August 12th
The continuation of a very social"weekend" although of course it wasn't weekend at all. But who cares on a barge? The weather continued mixed. good sunshinen in the morning and I was all set to make a whole day of work, but by lunch time the clouds had come up again and it started to rain quite hard. can't sanpaper in the rain so that idea had to be dropped.
An English boat came in to harbour and rafted up to us. the owners seemmed very nice, but we were commited to go to David and Juliet for drinks, which we did, and where we met our other neighbours, Paul and Val who have a very pretty narrow boat that was moored right next to us. Val is a talker and we spent a reasoably enjoyable hour and a half not being able to get a word in edgeways, let alone have any meaningful converation with the Webbs!
Back to JC for supper of sausages and bacon and an invitation issued to our rafted up neighbours to join us for dessert (left over from dinner with D&J the night before. this was most enjoyable. David and Wendy have a very nice riverboat that hey showed us around - and one way or another it was suddenly 10.30 pm and long past our bed time.
Altogethet another good day!
August 13th
Not a Friday, although for some parts of the day it certainly felt like Friday 13th. We had booked to go through the lock at Chaumont at 9.00 am - but in the end agreed to let two other boats go before us as they would travel faster. Unfortunately the VNF had got all their reservations muddled up and we had to wait for over an hour while they rustled up an eclusier to look after us - claiming of course that "no reservation had been made" Never mind, we eventually got through the lock at 10.15 and had no other hold ups on our journey of 12 kms and 8 locks, completing the trip at 2.00 pm. We knew about a mooring at Foulain and had been told by our eclusier than it was free and was situated just below the bridge in the village.
It turned out to be two rather short pontoons, to which we had the greatest difficulty (and much cursing) in tying up. Just as soon as we had finally, at the 10th attempt, made it and were making our lines fast, a German river boat came in, shouting to us that we had no business to tie up there and that there was a place for barges "just around the corner". This I did not in fact believe as we were on the only 'Halte Nautique' in the village and had been instructed by the eclusier to moor here. All became plain when the German's buddies came around the corner, clearly wanting to moor in our spot. I dug in my heels, to the accompaniment of much swearing in german and french. We later learned from an English couple who came to raft up to us later that the'place for barges' was two dolphins placed exclusively for the use of the commercial barges and which were in any case too widely spaced for us to make use of.
It is a shame that some people (mostly Germans) have no manners and no appreciation of others, when far and away the majority of people on the canals are delightful, friendly and charming. Must we fight thr 2nd world war all over again???
The rafted up couple, Nick and Sandy later came aboard for a drink and fortunately proved that the majority of people on the canals are extremely nice.
August 14th
An early morning (but not so early as I didn't wake up until 6.45) walk to the baker in the village, followed by breakfast and goodbye to Nick and Sandy, allowed me, as I thought, a whole day to get on with the sanding. Alas, the weather had other plans and I was driven inside for a time in the morning (which gave me the time to prepare the Boeuf Bourgignone for this evening, and once again at 3.30pm, this time it seems terminally. I will get this job done sometime!
August 15th
On the move again. Just. It rained so hard in the early morning that I seriously though about cancelling our arragement with the VNF to pass through the locks, but Charlyn showed considerable determination and optimism, so we set off as planned at 9.00 am. With great relief I can report a day without incident. In fact our only worry was whether or not there would be space for us at our chosen destination, Rolampont which we had heard was very small and generally full. The VNF guide/eclusier assured us that all would be well, and indeed when we arrived we found an empty mooring in a nice stuation and complete with electricity and water. Just a lucky day.
So lucky, that by the time we had eaten lunch and enjoyed the obligatory siesta, the sun was shining and I was able to get outside and do some work.
Those of you who are following this blog on a reasonably regular basis will have noted that we left the River Marne some considerable time ago, to take the Canal Lateral a la Marne and more recently the Canal entre Champagne et Bourgogne. What you may not know is that the Marne has yet to leave us. We still travel alongside it - but the mighty river has now shrunk to little more than a country stream and will be with us for a day or two yet.
August 16th
A quiet day at Rolampont. Work in the morning then a stroll up to the village at lunchtime, where we found a little restaurant. On enquiring for 'La carte' we were told that there was only le plat du jour. OK, so we had that and it was delicious. A starter of hard boiled eggs and tomatoes with mayonnaise and chumped up tuna. then turkey leg with (lots of ) tinned peas - very good if you consider them to be quite unrelated to real peas, then a very generous cheese plate complete with a speciality cheese from Lngres (our next destination) a plum tart and coffe - all washed down with a lite of 'garge' red. The bill was 24.50 - a ral bargain.
Thye afternoon saw us invaded by 3 other boats, all of whom had the same time of booking the next lock as us. Despite our explanation that we had made the reservation the previous day there were those (one guess as to nationality) who were determined to go ahead of us. That was not such a good end to the day, but a couple of episodes of The Tudors put us in a better frame of mind to go to bed.
August 17th
Off we go to Langres - naturally behind the "pushers" who had apparently made a special arrangement with the VNF to leave at 8.30 rather than the official first time of 9.00. I thinke we were out-manoeuvred. Otherwaise a very pleasant journey to Langres, through wonderful sunshine, where we found plenty of space to moor in a really nice spot. The countryside here is utterly beautiful and it is a priviledge to be here.
There is a market in Langres on Friday, and we are in no hurry, so we will stay here until Saturday morning, spending our time doing... guess what!
August 18th - 19th
At Langres. What a nice mooring, plenty of space plus water, but no electrivity. Apparently somebody mucked it up and the town has not seen fit to mend it - large signs saying 'hors de service' - not difficult to translate.
The town itself, some 3kms away up a very steep hill, is reachable by bus from the (reasonably) nearby railway station. We were somewhat misled on the first day and came over the river bridge on foot, only to see the bus pulling away and leaving us behind. A long conversation with the very friendly lady at the ticket counter gave me 6 telephone numbers for taxis. They were either on holiday, busy or in Dijon, so we waited another half hour plus for the next bus.
Langres is an absolutely delightful town, full of history, surrounded by ramparts, with a cathedral that was built in about 1000 AD. It has been beautifully and carefully preserved and is listed as one of the fifty most beautiful towns in France. Personally I would put it very close to the top.
We took the tourist train which wound its way around the town and up on to the ramparts and got a very good idea of the place. After that it was time for lunch. We avoided the (somewhat) expensive "Le Cheval Blanc", which had a delicious looking menu, without a single dish that Charlyn could enjoy, and settled for "Bananas" where our friends Roger and Kathleen had eaten the previous day. It was very good.
Then back to JC for a little more sanding, super, a movie (Chocolat - very suitable) and bed
On Friday we were in good time for the bus to take us up to the town again for the market. Not one of the best, but with the combination of that and a small supermarket in town as well as a quick visit to both the
patissier and the baker, we were able to get all we wanted.
August 20th
A somewhat daunting challenge today. Not only did we have to pass through the 4.8 km long Tunnel de Beleseme, but also negotiate a "staircase" of 8 locks immediately after that, making a total of 13 locks in the day and an unsure mooring at the end. As it was, all went quite well. We did a certain amount of side scraping in the tunnel. (Anybody tried driving a barge in a dead straight line for that far - and in dim light?) The staircase was no problem at all with each lock being automatically linked to the next giving us no hold up at all.
All the same we were relieved, and quite tired, when we reached our chosen destination of Piepape. This is a tiny village with a mooring large enough for just two barges, We were so pleased to find it empty!
I tried to visit the baker/ grocer in the afternoon, but despite the posted opening times clearly including saturday afternoons there was no sign of life other than a dog barking somewhere at the back of the building. No matter.
Later in the afternoon we were joined by the new Zealand barge that had been following us for some time. We helped them to moor, but no socialising.
August 21st - August 24th
I should have noted yesterday that by passing through the tunnel we crossed the watershed between the English Channel/ North Sea, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. We have now therefore at last said goodbye to the Marne and are back in the valley of the Saone/Rhone - almost in home territory, or perhaps I should say waters.
Piepape gives us an ideal opportunity to do some serious sanding work (sorry to bang on aboout this but it is my major occupation) and we are in no hurry as we have only one further stop before we pick up Robin and Di at Villeneuve on 29th. So today was spent exclusively on that, as will be tomorrow and possibly Tuesday as well.
Rather annoyingly we will have to take a taxi at some time back to Langres as there is nowhere that we can stock up with food, drink etc before Robin and Di get here. Of course there is no taxi to be had in the village, so I will have to try to persuade one to come out from Langres. Fingers crossed.
We actually had success with the taxi.A nice young man came out from Langres (and later brought us back) so we had time for teh Bricolage - lots of sheets of sanpaper - a major shop at Intermarche, which will take care of our needs for Robin and Di, apart from vegetables and fruit which we will ask them to bring, and lunch at the local fast food (but very good) restaurant. We now seem to be slightly overstocked with wine, but that can be put right quite easily.
Wednesday was meant to be another whole day sanding, but I was interrupted once by a major thunderstorm and then later by a Dutchman who arrived at the mooring during lunch time and objected to my machine. Intervention by the VNF showed clearly that I had the right to do the work (even tho' the Dutchman had tried to prevent me by first throwing stones at JC and then by throwing buckets of water at me. Fortunately my command of French was a lot better than his and a comprpmise was reached whereby I continued to work, but agreed to stop at 4.00pm. Life on the canals is full of joy and surprises.
We also spent a lot of the day thinking about Bob, the Marina and Lily May, all of whom were today much too close to Hurricane Irene for anybody's comfort.
Just when we thought the day's excitements were finished, we spotted a barge obviously wanting to come in to moor. No great surprise. However when a voice called "Hello Simon" we discovered that it was our next door raft up neighbours from St Symphorien, Manfred and Petra. Such a surprise to see them, and a very good end to a somewhat mixed day - celebrated in style with a bottle of Champagne.
August 25th
Off on our travels again, this time somew 11 locks and 15kms to what we had heard was a good mooring at Cusey. Nice morning cruise, interrupted by various telephone calls from Robin wanting to finalize arrangements for meeting. Interrupted because on the first occasion I was deep in a lock and couldn't hear him, and on the second because in the middle of our converstion a huge barge suddenly came into view and I had to concentrate on avoiding that. In the end we made our arrangements and somewhat later (due to a stuck lock) we arrived at Cusey. An excellent mooring with electricity and water AND a tiny trailer being a "restauran rapide". Manfred and Petra joined us later and during drinks with them on their barge we agreed to try the restaurant tomorrow.
August 26th
We finally heard direct from Bob that the Marina had excaped Irene relatively unscathed, but that Lily May had lost her mainsail. Could have been a lot worse! However I have little doubt that this will cause the loss of the sale to Steve. Such is life.
After a morning of sanding we all repaired to "Le Petit David" where we had an excellent and very cheap lunch. With wine at $5.00 per bottle we did not have to hold back and will return again tomorrow.
August 27th
Still at Cusey. having been joinrd there yesterday evening by an Australian couple. We had "Movie Night on Joli Coeur". Despite manfred relative lack of English we all managed to enjoy (again) Mama Mia. A good day's work on the sanding, broken only by lunch at Le Petit David, and Tudors in the evening.
August 28th
A very misty morning. We set out with visibilty at about 100 yards, but it got worse, so we were really creeping along. In spite of that we arrived at the first lock well before 9.00am, only to find that on Sundays they don't open unti 9.00 am. Even so we made quite good time with the visibility gradually improving and the temperature rising. Toards the end of the day's jouney we passed a very large free range pheasant and duck farm, all enclosed and roofed with wire netting - and guarded by a large coypu sitting on the bank. Do coypu eat meat? I don't know. Perhaps he was looking for supper and was far too intenet to pay any attention to us even though we passed within 20ft of him.
The journey was only 11kms and 7 locks, so we were done long before the lunchtime closure.
Here at Villeneuve sur Vingeanne there is just a tiny country mooring under a disused grain silo against a grssy bank. Luckily tweo friendly fishermen were on hand to help us tie up which made life a lot easier. A bottle of beer each was much appreciated.
I made a quick bicycle trip to the village to find out what, if anything was going on. The answer... nothing! No tabac, no epicerie, no boulangerie, one little resaurant (closed). I did discover that bread will be delivered "between 1030 and 11.00 tomorrow morning", but it all sounds a bit wooly, so we will ask Robin ansd Di to put some on their shopping list for tomorrow.
Anyway, here we are, ready and waiting for our guests. We are in for a busy time over the next few weeks.
August 29th
Apologies to those of you who are following on a regular basis. The internet signal has been so bad over the past few days (I am writing this on August 31st) that I have been unable to log on at all. Oh, the joys of the French countryside. The morning to day was spent giving JC a thorough spring clean inside aand out to make her spick and span for Robin and Di. Quite a task.
They duly arrived at about 5.30 pm laden down with vegetables, fruit bread and wine, so we are now in very good shape to face the next day or two even though we confidently expect to find no shops alaong the way. Robin abd Di are in great form and have had a very busy summer what with her production of "The Producers " and the refurbishment of their little sail boat that they later took down to Greece. We also discussed the possibility of visiting them there next year,and hope to do so out of season in October, which will fit in really well with our cruising plans.
August 30th
Despite having gusts on board we still managed to get away just before 9.00 am and had a very pleasant day on the canal in excellent weather, arriving at Oiselle mid afternoon, having taken a break for lunch along the way. The mooring was tiny and in the middle of nowhere, but suited very well. Robin got out his guitar and we much enjoyed hearing him play and sing again. After supper we watched "The Kig's Speech" which they had not seen, but enjoyed.
August 31st
Another glorious day which saw us finish the Champagne - Saone canal and return to the River Saone. very strange to be on a big waterway again after so long on the canal. We had to push on a bit as we had taken a mutula decision to get back to St Jean de Losne a day early with the intention of going to Montrachet on their last day to enjoy the lunch and wine tasting that we had enjoyed so much on our Jubilant adventure last year. So, we stopped for lunch at Pontailler sur Saone and then carried on for another hour or so down to Lamarche sur Saone, where we found a small restaurant to eat at this evening. That will give me a break from cooking.
The restaurant was a HUGE success and we had a delicious dinner - thank you very much Robin.
September 1st
We have done it! We have completed the circuit and are back in St Jean de Losne. A feeling of great contentment to be back in a familiar spot - in fact on the steps of the town quay - and of achievement to have made the circuit and got back in one piece. Our last day was really quite simple - just two locks on the river and then charging down at a great rate to arrive in time for Pimms and lunch.
Made a call to Peter and retrieved the car, so we are now ready for almost anything.
I know that we are back as we were greeted on the quay by ribald remarks concerning the painting, or rather lack of finishing it!
It's all certainly a strange feeling and will take a day or two to settle in.
Tomorrow I will publish details of what we have done, consumed, achieved etc, but for now I will just relax and enjoy!
September 3rd
Here are a few details of what we have done, achieved or consumed - make of them what you will.....
Our round trip was 1036 kilometres
We passed through 308 locks
We travelled on 62 days out of the 127 days that we were away
We put in 1580 litres of diesel (and have a bit left)
We and our guests consumed 229 bottles of wine; being:
15 bottles of Bubbly, Cremant de Bourgogne and Champagne
42 bottles of red Bordeaux
69 bottles of white Burgundy
89 bottles of Cotes de Rhone red
6 bottles of Cotes de Provence pink (it was not a very warm summer)
8 bottles of various
and
3 boxes of red (probably a mistake)
The blog will return for 3 small afterludes starting in a few days time
Fin
