to Paris

Jun 14

We left the Briare and moved on to the Canal de Loing which parallels the river of the same name, we did a few nice greenbanks (saving money again and the new solar panels are really earning their keep).  Kes enjoys being able to lie out and survey the world.

typical greenbank mooring near Montambert

At Montargis we went on to a commercial quai adjacent to a giant bricolage ((BandQ) almost impossible not to spend money. The town itself was criss crossed with canals and judging by the houses seriously prosperous.

Montargis

I guess straight ahead?

 
At Souppes (sur Loing) Peter settled in to watch assorted rugby finals and Angie went into long walks mode to Kes' delight (Angie is enjoying walking without any pain and no handfuls of painkillers).  The Loing is a nice river and relatively small here,

The Loing at Souppes

The towns were improving as we got closer to Paris (from the South anyway). We arrived in Nemours in time for a large book festival and a giant flea market.

Nemours

Nemours old bassin

The nicest town though was Moret sur Loing where we squeezed onto a pontoon  (well overhung on the pontoon) for 3 nights to the objections of a French boater  - the Capitaine just took the money! All the towns seemed to have bits of canals and river tributary traversing them.

Mill

Francois 1st vintage (NZ history missed that bit)

Then we traversed the last half km of the Loing and turned north onto the River Seine.

End of the River Loing at St Mammes

River Seine

Lots of commercials and back to the big ecluses with Angie practising her VHF procedure.

Please can I help

Not a steeple or bell tower so what is it?

Moorings on the Seine were sparse. We moored at Melun and got seriously shaken up by passing commercials despite springs both ways (and were charged for the privilege) so the next night we tucked in behind rafted commercials at Evry ecluse.  The Canada geese found us irresistible!

A good gaggle

On the way in to the Arsenal we passed the River Marne turnoff (which we will be taking in a week or so) and then had to do lots of 360 deg turns for 20 mins near the Notre Dame (and avoiding day boats) while waiting for the Arsenal ecluse to sort itself out.

River Marne - turn at the Chinese

Well they would see Angie coming

from the River

Our first time in the Arsenal (which butts on to the Place Bastille) - beautiful gardens but lots of people in the sun!

Squeezed in

The exit to the Seine

The Arsenal

Exit to St Martin canal

Place Bastille

We had seen all the Paris sights several times sans bateau, except the inside of Notre Dame so we walked over and the queue stretched four city blocks so we still haven't! A few street markets, a few pavement cafe beers and it was time to leave (Angie couldn't stand the chuntering about mooring costs)! So farewell Paris with the box ticked, hullo River Marne.

Canal St Martin (under the market and through the centre)

Palais de Justice freshly cleaned.