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.

to Chátillon Coligny on the Briare

May 14

A bit surprised at all the free moorings with electricity, we expected the Loire to be 'fashionable' meaning expensive. So far (6 weeks) we have spent about €30 on moorings in total.  Our cruising pattern has deteriorated so we are only moving on the dry days!

After leaving Ménetreol we tied up on a rough bank so we could shop at the adjacent Colruyt supermarché (and put 60 litres of diesel in the tank) dodging cars on the road - then on to Léré a nice town and just enough mod cons eg a pharmacy for Angie's sun rash (not sure how she got that)!  The two things you can guarantee in a French village are a Pharmacy and a Hairdresser - Alimentation or Boulangerie nowadays not so certain.

Léré washhouse (first good one since the Midi)

Beaulieu well

We were running parallel with the Loire all the way. We wanted to stop in Chatillon sur Loire but it was a hire boat base and a few hotel boats were taking all the other spaces so we temporarily green banked and went exploring. A lot of the lockside buildings en route had had large paintings of insects on the side eg cicadas but never a camera to hand, but quite a lot in Chatillon of medieval figures.

Chatillon sur Loire is where the canal originally crossed the River Loire into the old Canal de Briare so dodging rain drops..

small lock down to the Loire

the Loire was semi canalised so the barges could cross

there is a lock entrance there somewhere!

up to the old Briare canal - note the small entrance and no boat engine!

Then it was off to Briare in the rain where we green banked (nothing stingy about us).

Briare aqueduct (new canal)

Briare

Briare Port

Trapped in a Bar by rain we drank a few Leffé Grande before giving up the sightseeing.  We were now on the Canal de Briare - very pretty - lift bridges at a lot of the ecluses and we green banked at the 'top' of the canal by the water storage lakes (etangs)

requiring some renovation equals £200k in England

We were paralleling the old (pre Freycinet) canal so lots of derelict ecluses.

Rogney les Sept Ecluses

Les Bruhle Muhle  (canals side by side)

Then into Chátillon Coligny, a thriving town and nice mooring and good market. Lots of cleaning , some gardening (lots of pots of marigolds) and Angie finally got some sunbathing in (and Arsenal won the Cup)!!! Kes enjoyed the stop too.

Did someone call?

to Nevers plus a bit

1 May 14

We couldn't wait for the carpenter (in France getting an agreed date for a job depends on the weather, the hangover from the weekend and whether the moon is waning) so we cast off on 7 Apr.  Pottered off through Briennon to Artaix a nice little green bank mooring in an inlet half way down the Roanne canal.

Briennon

First proper ecluse of 2014

Two nights later we were in Beaulon where we met up with Terry and Terry off Renaissance.  It was good weather so off with the wheelhouse roof, a loan of tarpaulins from Terry B and three days later the roof was back on looking immaculate.  A few evening BBQs for social life and Terry (female) made a cake each time to ruin the waistline further. Gladys the pointer added some hilarity by going walkabout each morning sans Terry (ever seen the 'Fenton' You Tube clip)?

Beaulon

Hard labour

Off to Entente Marine in Gannay sur Loire for some minor jobs (?) - the carpentry was done in quick time by Mark, but the rudder indicator problem turned into a right pain. Trying to trace wires/'in line' fuses etc through the conduits and in the dogs breakfast under the control panels. In the end we found Peter had purchased the wrong 'bit' over winter (a £200 mistake to go in the spares box) and so back off to Beaulon for a week waiting for the right bit to get posted from UK (half the price of French Vetus suppliers).

Gannay sunrise

Back to Gannay and the work finally sorted in a few hours, On our last night 'Unique' (Tony and Heidi) pulled in with a suspect starter motor, which led loan of a workshop manual, battery charger and spares tracking on our internet. A new Perkins Starter was £500 plus carriage so to soften the shock we all ended up in the village bar till very late (the best turnover the barman had had since New Year). The next morning off towards the West, first a major supermarket shop at Decizé then we stopped at a nice little feudal village (Chateau, manor farm and church) called Avril sur Loire for the night. The next morning a short run into Nevers down the embranchement..

Avril

Very lucky in Nevers as we got the only barge sized mooring (and the Capitainerie was on holiday).  We spent a morning doing the usual sights, but the Palace was shut and the Cathedral had been bombed out in 1944 (some nice new stained glass though).

Ducal Palace

Cathedral

The canal from the Nevers bassin to the Loire had been filled with a (now derelict) swimming pool - - rip it out and reinstate the canal we say!

Modified canal

Ecluse to Loire (only a little silt)

We passed over the Guetin aqueduct and through the deep Guetin double lock and tied up at the new mooring - a few nice restaurants in the village but we were being good!.

The weather was turning miserable so a short run to the pretty Cours les Barre mooring where there were 3 other barges squabbling over the 16A electricity supply! Then the next day on to Beffes still in the rain, not so pretty but all mod cons to sit out 1 May when all the canals close to celebrate labour Day. Roll on some better May weather (please).

Last of the Winter

Apr 14

Where did the Winter go?  A handful of frosts, one light snow sprinkle in Dec and that was it.  Angie could have been out sunbathing in March as it got well over 20 degC some days. Well she could have, but she spent eight weeks in Germany getting her knees sorted - thanks to the miracles of German orthopaedic science - no ops, no more pain and the NHS apparently got it wrong :)

Peter semi hibernated, lost 24lbs (again) and tried to come terms with bachelordom.  Angie has been away 6 months in total over the last 12 months and he is sick of his own cooking. Angie is now back with lots of German food for the larder and clothes for the wardrobe - what is the french for Oxfam (for the overflow).

Propaganda

The bassin is full of cormorants doing whatever they do - surprisingly no pécheurs in the bassin (other than cormorants) so perhaps it is against 'the rules'.

Friends have bought a section (building plot) in the Bay of Islands, on the waters edge, and are about to build a house  We really don't need that kind of temptation though we think we have at least one more 'project' in us :)

The usual run of minor maint jobs - the immersion heater developed a leak (now fixed at the 2nd attempt) surprising how much water the calorifier holds. Varnished the window frames, cleaned the bilges etc the usual bargee life - as one job gets cleared another appears. The old TV flickered a few times, so Peter used that as an excuse to buy a new all singing and dancing one (on the grounds it must be failing)??

Chris (son) and Jackie came for five days also carrying lots of goodies (like Tesco shopping) - a good time was had by all - tried a local restaurant and Peter is expanding like a desert plant given water (in his case red wine). Used their car to do lots of admin as well, plus a sightseeing/shopping trip to Lyon so Peter is all set to cast off (Angie has hidden the mooring chain padlock key).

Kes had his annual bath

Easter is the magic date and Beaulon (on the Canal Lateral de Loire) the first stop - free elec and water and Peter wants to paint the wheelhouse roof (free of Port Capitaine restrictions).