Finishing the Cruising Season

We have left Peter and Helen at the train in Luxembourg to commence their trip back to Australia. We will now make our way up the Moselle to Nancy and settle in there for the winter. We departed Remich at about 1100 hours on Monday 20^th October and plan to arrive in Nancy the following Thursday. The forecast was for unpleasant weather, strong winds and heavy rain over the next few days so we were going to take our time and be careful.

We had noted that in Remich there was an increase in the sculptures appearing around the town.

This was one we had seen before but as we wandered around, we found more:

Complete with model!!!

And going out of port, this double sized armchair – mosaic covered concrete.

 

Also this one, appropriate in the lead up to Halloween.

We were reminded of our friend Rhossie, collecting pictures of the sculptures in the streets of Melbourne.

On Tuesday, the weather closed in and we were finding travel difficult. Matilda does not like the wind and was being blown about and uncomfortable to steer. We arrived in Metz and took shelter on the end of the commercial grain terminal wharf where we wanted to stay until the weather settled.

We were concerned as even in this foul weather, the wharf was being used by commercials loading grain.

Empty Big Ben  swapped places with a loaded barge in a cross-over movement that we admired in the confines of the harbour.

There is a low bridge in the port and when empty, these ships have to drop their driving cabin to get under it.

We watched as this 110 metre barge coupled to its dumb barge making a vessel 170 metres long.

The vessel is so long that it had to back up under the bridge to line up for the lock. Note the crewman watching the clearance over the coach house,

We were sitting at dinner that evening while the storm raged when, outside we heard a heavy metal on metal noise followed by loud revving of a big motor. Looking out we saw that an empty freighter had tried to come under the bridge. (They work 24 hours.) He had wiped out his front mast and radar scanner and fortunately had stopped about 5 metres before his coach house hit the edge of the steel girders.

He was stuck

An hour later after flooding his cargo hold he was able to get out and continue. 

Sorry, no pictures. Too dark, wet and windy.

Next morning, after an exciting evening and with the weather eased, we continued, once again sharing with these large ships. The Moselle is a busy river but with a little understanding of how things work and some skill, using it is not too frightening.

We arrived in Nancy on the 23^rd  and set about bedding Matilda down for winter. There are a number of things that must be done at this time, including servicing the motor, the pumps and all those other bits of equipment on board as well as organising firewood and fuel to add to our comfort through the winter.

During the season the engine has been hard to start in the morning and had begun to “make smoke” in true battleship fashion. Peter has always been pleased the way the motor would always start on its first revolution. Investigation pointed to problems with the diesel injectors and metering pump so these were removed and we looked for a suitable service agent. We could not find anyone in France willing to take it on but searching the internet we found a Bosch service agent in Nuremburg who was willing.  

So, on Monday 17^th Nov. we hired a car and headed to Germany.

We were in Nuremburg about 6 hours later and headed straight for the workshops. We found they were actually part of the Bosch group of companies and had access to archival material on all the companies' products. Our contact turned out to be the Bosch Company’s specialist in vintage cars and motors. A great start!

Next day we saw some of the town which has great significance with the end of World War II. A lot of the city was destroyed during the war but most of the “Old City” behind the ancient city walls has been preserved.

The day was wet, cold and generally miserable so we did not go far. We walked to the Old City and looked around and were impressed by the massive city walls and the old buildings. The old town hall was completed in 1340.

The post war rebuild includes a subway system and many of the stations have an artistic touch. This is Rathenauplatz and the mosaic pictures in the tiles are best seen from just one point.

Our plans included stops at some other towns of historical importance and we next visited Bamburg.

This lovely old town has been here since the 7^th century. It has always been a religious centre of the area and has suffered very little from invasion and wars. Many buildings date from the 17^th century and earlier.

Unfortunately the weather was not very pleasant and Marg was suffering from a bad cough and chest infection so we cut our touring short and returned to Nancy to get her to a doctor. No great problem but with medication she will be right in no time.

We soon head back to Australia – for a holiday. There will be more to tell, so we will keep in touch.