Heading North.

We are waiting for Helen and Lynda to join us, They have been on a tour in Spain and Southern France. We understand they have had a hectic time and it appears that they may be joining us just to rest. Helen is becoming a seasoned traveller but this is Lynda’s first trip out of Australia for some time. Helen will be a good guide.

With a day or so to wait for them we decided to take in a little of Paris. We will check the river levels, stock the boat and generally prepare for the next episode in our travels.

The gardens above are the Jardin des Tuileries, only a stone’s throw from the hotel that the girls will stay in. Beautifully manicured lawns but don’t walk on them!

Marg took a train in on Saturday morning and met them and accompanied them to the boat. Next morning, Sunday June 12, as the Seine had returned to almost normal flow and level we departed our mooring downstream. The Seine still had a mind of its own and when entering our first lock, Matilda was caught in a heavy cross current and hit a retaining wall.

Doesn’t look much but the impact was frightening and we were all a bit shaken. Fortunately no major problems and after putting things back in place in the boat we returned to normal. The boat is safe but the gunnel and railing will have to be repaired.

We continued on into the Oise river, going upstream, against the current this time. Later, Peter managed a quick patch job on the railing to relieve access on that side.

We were now in big boat country and shared one ecluse on the Oise with these boats.

The girls seemed to appreciate our now quiet pace, well comforted with bubbles and Marg’s fine dining.

Lynda left us at Compiegne, travelling by train back to Paris, then flying home to Australia. We enjoyed her company and she seemed to appreciate our lifestyle.

Compiegne has been a famous town in French history. Since the 6^th century it is known to have had a castle occupied by royalty of the time. The present castle has been the choice of a summer Palace of many of the French kings and continuously modified to suit their use. Napoleon Bonaparte and Napoleon III also lived in it. It is now primarily a museum restored in parts to highlight its original use.

We were off again, heading now further up the Oise, and into the Canal de la Somme. We are heading to Amiens and into the historic battlefields of the First World War.

There will be more to tell, so we will keep in touch.

Spring - maybe

We have had a few days recently when the sun has come out and the weather has shown signs of getting warm. Peter has even appeared in shorts! The canals and rivers are showing the signs of the change in seasons and the local wildlife is getting into reproduction mode.

We have seen many families of ducks, swans and other birds, with many types of river dwelling wild life.

The second picture is a family of Coypu (often called a beaver rat) which have been introduced to Europe from South America. About 60 cm long, the adults weight about 6 kg and can eat about one third of their body weight of  plant roots a day. They were originally bred for their fur but have been recently released to the wild and are spreading rapidly through Europe. Although cute they are a pest and are doing a lot of damage to the environment especially river and canal banks.

We were off to Meaux (pronounced Mo) where we would meet Julie, the mother of an ex-work colleague of Peter M. She was visiting France and after a few days with us she was joining a group travelling to the Dordogne on a sketching, painting and photographing holiday before returning to Paris. Her first trip to Europe.

We went right into Paris with Julie and after a run down the Seine we returned and dropped her at Austerlitz to join her tour group.

We planned to meet Ali and John at Austerlitz as well but as the river was running faster than we liked we returned to Lagny sur Marne – a taxi ride from CDG airport – to meet them there.

Lagny sur Marne boasts a “lovely” public pier that is all plastic panels and led disco lights. We moored there for a few days. Thank goodness the lights turned off about 11pm.

Ali and John joined us and we spent a few leisurely days cruising down the Marne and then through Paris again but the weather was not good with rain the norm. These interesting metal sculptures have appeared on the pont des Arts previously known for all its padlocks secured to the railings.

That day we continued down the Seine to spend the night at a mooring we have used before . It is on the left bank at the downstream end of the Ile Seguin, seven kilometres downstream from the centre of Paris.

This island used to be part of a massive Renault factory and actually housed a test track for their cars. The factory has all been dismantled and this new structure is being built on the island – an arts and cultural centre we believe.

Next morning, the day Ali and John were to depart dawned stormy and with strong winds. A miserable day for their departure but we put them in a taxi for CDG at La Defense.

The following morning the river had risen over a metre and was flowing very quickly. We had planned to go on but decided to stay. By nightfall it had risen another metre and we spent an interrupted night rising every few hours to adjust our moorings.

Saturday night it reached its peak and Matilda’s hand rails at the bow were level with the top of the mooring post. By Sunday morning when we took this picture the flood had started to recede. We weren’t going anywhere for a few days yet.

Sunday in Paris! What better thing to do but visit a flea market. We were only a tram ride from the Marche aux Puces de Vanves in the 14^th Arrondissement.

A lovely way to spend a morning rummaging through other people’s treasure and finding things that “you always knew you needed”. Yes, a few purchases were made.

Those readers who, like Peter, are interested in trains will appreciate the photo above. It is an old railway station 100 metres from where we are moored. It was on a rail line originally built in 1844. Abandoned in 1960, the right of way has been rejuvenated by the RATP and now is part of their fast modern tram network. Major Australian cities should take note!

We read in the news of the terrible weather along the eastern Australian coast. Sydney beaches being washed away and storms over a thousand kilometre front. I think we and all Paris have got off lightly.

Our main concern now is that Helen and her friend Lynda are joining us next Sunday and we are not sure where we will be.

There will be plenty more to tell so we will keep in touch.

Dissapointment at Vitry le Francois

This year we nearly missed skiing. Peter is having trouble with a knee and he was having some treatment done and did not want to strain it too much. But we did have the opportunity to get to the snow for one day. We know Pam and Paul, a British couple who have a boat in the port, Pam had not skied for over 30 years. She was enthused by our descriptions and on a spur of the moment we planned a day at La Bresse-Honeck. Paul had never skied but was happy to be involved.

They have a car and off we went!

The weather was fine and sunny and the snow perfect. We had a wonderful day and the result is that Pam and Paul are hooked! Even Paul now owns skies.

We were due to depart Nancy soon and had a couple of evenings with our friends. Thomas, Cecelia, and Stephane joined us one evening for a meal and the day before we left, we entertained Pam and Paul, together with Lucy and Michael. Again we had a lovely evening.   

We departed Nancy on Saturday the 2^nd of April heading generally towards Paris through Vitry le Francois where we had arranged to put Matilda into dry dock to have her bottom scrubbed and re-painted.

We had our friend Steph on board, he was coming to Toul with us – a real Day Trip. A good stretch of canal followed by a few hours on the Moselle River.

Coming up the Moselle we pass this grand chateau at Liverdun. The “folly” at the rear is owned by a friend of Stephane who has recently renovated it. We were most impressed with the result.

Approaching Pargny sur Salux, Marg tried to befriend these goats. They were very interested in Matilda.

We spent some time at Pargny waiting for word that the dry dock, a short way off in Vitry, was ready for us and used the stop to do some spring cleaning. Matilda’s canvas work was all taken off, and scrubbed to get rid of the last year’s accumulation of “European grunge”

Even some loose rugs and carpet was given the treatment!

We headed into Vitry planning to wait outside the dock, observe their docking procedures and be ready.

In the dock we found a vessel we had met most unceremoniously last year when it jack-knifed across our bows.

Our regular readers will probably recall this from last year.

One day a most attractive “Dutch Cruiser” passed us and we found that it was owned by an Australian from Queensland. We spent some time with Reg and Peter who, one night joined us for a pleasant dinner.

They departed after a few days, heading for Meaux and Paris where Peter was leaving to return to Oz.

Our problems started the next day when the owner of the dry dock informed us that he would not put Matilda into the dock. His reason was that he did not have the equipment to support her hull. Matilda has a small spline or skeg that runs the length of her hull – on the centreline and on each side of this spline, her bottom is not perfectly flat. It has a very open V shape running out to each side. The photos above of boats in the lock show his system of supporting boats on the “chairs” is to put a straight steel beam across under their flat bottoms. So we have been hanging about here for a fortnight with nothing to show for it.

Such is life! We will have to make other arrangements.

We travelled on to another favourite town of ours, Chalons en Champagne where we spent a few days.

The day after we arrived we found there was a boat race happening in the port. We were amazed to find out that all the boats were made of cardboard and gaffer tape! We were not too sure of the outcome but all the contestants seemed to be having a great time.

Chalons has been known for some time as a centre for circuses. There is a big school in town for performers and every time we have been in town there is a circus tent somewhere. This building goes back many years in the circus school’s history.

Peter found this beautiful retro mobile home in the grounds of one circus and thought of David and Louise,Bill and Rhos and Geoff and Judy back in Australia. Built on a truck chassis, it has a 14 litre motor – overkill?

We were now well into champagne country and the hills, covered with rows of vines were starting to turn shades of green as they burst into leaf.

Spring is well under way on board as well. This bay tree has produced bay leaves for Margaret’s cooking for three years already and is bursting with new growth again. The rest of Marg’s garden is taking shape and will soon keep us supplied with salad and other vegetables for the summer.

We will leave Chalons in a few days and head toward Paris. We have a friend coming to join us for a few days and we are meeting her in Meaux.

There will be more to tell so we will keep in touch.