JOURNAL 2007
25 June 2007
We left home 15 June, arrived at Michael and Sorella’s by train for lunch on the 16th and had a lovely 4 days with them and the two children. Elliot was fun and Ian was successful, for the first time ever, to fly a kite with him. Stirling is huge, rather like Elliot when he was young, but bigger. He is a good baby, and well trained!
We caught a Euroline bus to Lille at 8.30 am, Wed 20 June. We were delayed an hour by a late ferry and arrived at Lille about 3.45pm. We had some confusion finding a train to Antoine, eventually arriving about 6pm. When we phoned Majorie, she wasn’t expecting us for a week – Ian’s mistake! Anyway we are staying in a room in Antoine, having beautiful meals and a comfortable bed. We motor the 4km to the boat daily on Daisy (our 2-stroke) where we potter as we prepare Erewhon for the water.
It has been painted, and looks beautiful. We will be in the water on Friday, and better prepared than ever before. We are both enjoying the relaxed days.
Thursday 28 June
The boat is ready for the water tomorrow. We have painted the cabin roof, and the deck, stained the bike tray and generally tidied the boat. The clean fenders go on tomorrow, when we will towed from the shed to the water.
We have enjoyed eating out each night, but also look forward to eating aboard. The weather hasn’t been great (grey skies, drizzle and rain with sunny breaks) so hope it improves.
Friday 29 June
Disappointment; the tractor driver wasn’t available to launch the boat, so we are still in the shed, but sleeping on the boat tonight. We should be comfortable, but the toilet facilities are basic!
Sunday 1 July
We put Erewhon into the water yesterday; a tow with an old tractor and trailer, and a lift with an old boat hoist. Trouble. The motor wouldn’t turn over even though fully charged, so a new one was bought. More trouble. Marjorie couldn’t get her machine deduct the fees, so eventually we tried our bank’s cash withdrawal card (Eftpos), and after a minute it worked well. In the afternoon we took Daisy to an Ecomarche and stocked up somewhat.
This morning Ian pushed Lorna off, and rode Daisy to a nearby mooring to load her. Then on our way. A lovely, if windy day; we stopped for lunch on the canal-side, and at Mons (putting up with jet-ski and speedboat wake) to check the bank balances at an internet café. We are now moored by the 77m vertical lift at Strepy-Thieu, waiting to ascend in the morning. Ian checked out the old Hydraulic lift (which was completed by the Germans in 1916), one of a chain of four it replaced.
Monday 2 July
A day from hell! It started well, with the rise up Strepy-Thieu and the marvellous panoramic views over the Flander’s Fields to the south-west. We continued to La Louviere to see the top lock of the old 4-lock flight. Somewhat of a disappointment as this was the one which had collapsed several years ago with a boat aboard. They worked in pairs, balanced by connected hydraulic rams supporting the two locks. As one fell (due to a little excess water) the other rose, so little water was lost each operation. Currently the Eiffel Company is repairing this lock using European money!
We had our first baguette lunch, and then our problems started. The water pump had leaked since we left and had difficulty stopping at a reasonable pressure. Then it failed altogether! The threads on the bolts holding it together were stripped. Then Lorna, concerned about whether the bilge pump was working (it was!) broke the switch lever (so it wasn’t!). Finally a stroke of luck in finding a large Champion Supermarché only 100 metres from the canal, turned bad, when we returned to find a passing barge had pulled against our shoddy mooring on a singe rope, pulling a cleat out, though fortunately not losing either the cleat or the boat!
Ian worked on the water pump for a while, and we will call at a boatyard tomorrow. It drizzled, and we were miserable. We are moored below the 2nd last lock before dirty Charleroi.
Tuesday 3 July
It started drizzling, and we shared locks with a Dutch launch and a pair of peniches tied end to end and operated by a lovely Dutch couple who are selling and buying a boatyard. Good luck to them.
Charleroi wasn’t as ugly in the rain as we remembered it from our first year. We moored 9 km down the river at Port de Loup Chantier Naval, and the water pump is now working (he made larger bolt holes and fitted the matching bolts). The electrician will call tomorrow to fix the switch. With the sun out, jobs done, a new boat hook and a lovely lamb dish for dinner, the world is a happier place!
Thursday 5 July
Similar weather, as we waited for the new switch to arrive. In the meantime, Ian started the preparation to attach the starboard cleat. The switch arrived about 11 am, and we they installed it; we paid and were away about 11.45am. At the second lock we were joined by 9 other small boats, mostly from a boat club in Mons. We continued through pleasant country and easy lock to Namur about 6pm. With a moderate current, it isn’t easy to moor against the floating pontoons!
Sunday 8 July
We spent 2 nights on the pontoons with electricity and water (very slow filling) and a third on the wall on the Sambre 100 metres before the Meuse. This is a lovely free mooring, right by the city centre. We were having trouble finding a wireless connection to internet, but we found a young lad in an internet café who showed us how to disable IPASS and Xtra help so we could access available Wireless. That evening we listened to Radio NZ news and read the Herald! The cleat is now fixed, so we have fully recovered from our day of disasters.
I like Namur, especially the walk up to the Citadel and its views. But after 3 nights we continued up the Meuse to Dinant which we explored in more detail than previously. Here were another citadel, a spectacular church and a lovely 125 year old ex Paris Mouche. Today has been the best weather we have had since arriving, but it still rained this evening.
Wednesday, 11 July
The fridge packed a sad in Dinant – it wouldn’t stay running on gas, but we were lucky in Givet (yes, we are back in France) to find a mechanic who could repair it (Just €100!). We stayed 2 nights on the wall there, stocked up the wine cellar and Ian enjoyed a bike ride around the town. We also rang Margaret and Gerald to catch up on NZ news, just as they were experiencing gale force conditions in Auckland.
Today we continued up the Meuse through 3 locks, to a small town of Vieux Wallerand where we moored with electricity, which we used to do a load of washing. We also had a 3km walk to an Intermarché and restocked the fridge! We are planning on reaching as big a town as possible before 14 July (Bastille Day) to share in the festivities.
Monday, 16 July
We are moored on a pontoon at Charleville Mezieres. Since the last report we continued with an attempted lunch stop at Revin, where none of the Dutch boats in the port offered for us to moor alongside, and stopped at a quiet mooring at Laitour. We were welcomed to the free port (with electricity), and by night time there were six of us two deep! That night was the evening before Bastille Day, and they had a tremendous fireworks display on the opposite bank, with the whole town watching from the port. We stayed three nights, in beautiful sunshine, with no Canal+ to watch the All Blacks beat SA, before we continued 2 hours to Chateau Regnault - a lovely and free mooring, 8 boats (6 Dutch) on a 4 berth pontoon, with water and electricity. Ian climbed up to the quatre fils Aymon memorial, and returned with a handful of blackberries for supper!
Today we travelled the last 3 hours (2 locks) to Charleville Mezieres, hoping to get a connection to send our progress report – no luck, although we have read our incoming mail at an internet café. And no free WIFI either!
Psychic - within 10 seconds of mentioning their names we had a phone call from Jenny and Gerald confirming their arrival time at Verdun next week.
Thursday 19 July
We are now at Sedan, a very attractive town with a huge fort, used as a prison by both sides in WWII.
On Tuesday at Charleville, we moved to the opposite side of the river – no services, no charge, and very convenient access to the city. Later in the day we moved on to above the next lock (in the middle of an upgrade), and parked 200 metres from a supermarket. After shopping we prepared to stay the night, but were hustled on by an arriving working barge. So we moved on an hour to a convenient free pontoon at Lumes with electricity. Apart from some showers in the morning, the weather has been mild.
Saturday 21 July
The All Blacks beat Aus and won the tri-nations and Bledisloe Cup. Jenny and Gerald rang and are coming a day early next Friday. Great!
Ian took the Peugeot off yesterday and enjoyed the free riding experience! The chateau is huge. It is a pretty town. In the evening, Trevor and Vedantee Williams, and English couple shared tea with us. A fun evening.
Today, after a load of washing which dried quickly in the sun, we continued on 2 1/2 hours to Mouzan, the old wall of which we traced later in the afternoon. Lois rang and is recovering enough to start work next week. No WIFI!
Sunday 29 July
It’s a week since I last wrote. We have passed through Stenay, where we supermarketed, and didn’t stay in the full port, then to Dun sur Meuse for a night, and Conservoie for another. All were interesting to explore, but we continued to have mixed weather. We arrived in Verdun (still a free mooring with electricity and water) on Thursday morning and moored against Waiheke with David and Sue on board as well as Jacqui and Martin. More alcohol than is good for us! But a lot of fun. Jen and Gerry arrived on Friday evening and we explored the citadel on Saturday morning, with a lovely lunch ashore! We stocked up at Intermarché in the afternoon and checked our email sending off the first section of our journal; in the evening we were entertained by loud music until nearly mid- night.
This morning we continued in intermittent drizzle to Dieue where we are now moored, again free with electricity! We have played a few hands of bridge, a change from cribbage!
Monday 30 July
A lovely day and after a load of washing we continued to St Mihiel, where we explored the lovely old town, both the old buildings and the 7 witches (limestone blocks on the cliffs). More bridge! The cards have been with us!
Thursday 2 August
We have just arrived at Nancy, where have found a free mooring in the commercial basin, with electricity. Since Monday we have continued via Commercy, which was a much bigger and more beautiful town than we remembered; the dust of the cement works at the junction of the Marne à Rhin canal, 850 metre Foug Tunnel, 12 lock flight to the Toul port (Toul with its huge Vauban defensive fort and repaired Cathedral with the ornate façade), and then down the Moselle River with 3 huge, but not deep locks and up a 10 metre lock to Nancy. The port was full, but we found this space just one block west.
Monday 6 August
What luck to get this mooring. It
is free with electricity, but has priority for hotel boats, none of which
have forced us to move. 
Summer has arrived. At the moment it is 36 outside and 33 in. We loved our exploration with Jenny and Gerald of this relatively modern city, with its Stanislas (Stan the Man! – the prince who brought Alsace and Lorraine into France!) Square, full of gilding and lovely buildings, especially the town hall. We explored the city on foot, finishing with the gardens, where we read of a free Jazz Concert in the park, on Saturday night. We attended a first class session of two groups. On Friday we were in the square to watch a son et lumière display on the buildings – a clever and fascinating show.
We used the trams to see J & G off on Sunday, and also later to cross town to the free Sunday display of Art Nouveau (late 19th and early 20th century) glass and furniture at the old school. Magnificent.
Today, Ian has ordered a new diaphragm for the water pump, (the second this year after never needing one before!) which should arrive late tomorrow or Wednesday, when Pam is due to arrive. In the meantime we can get by, by turning the pump off whenever we are not running a tap.
I am off to find an internet caff – there are lots of WIFI sites showing, but none for free! Four more weeks and the Rugby World Cup starts, and we will need a suitable pub each Saturday.
Saturday, 11 August
I did find a caff – free for students at a student’s bank branch and updated mail, news and bank info. It started to rain on Tuesday, and didn’t stop till last evening!
We went for a walk in the attractive water gardens and discovered, in the port, our NZ friends from last year on Kotuku who have sold their boat using a website called apolloduck.com. They were most helpful, and we are applying their knowledge in listing our own boat. We also went to a suggested I-caff to read and copy some examples, and were able with the assistance of the owner to download all the emails we have received since London.
Pam arrived on Wednesday evening, when we watched the Stanislas Place Son et Lumière. The rain continued through Thursday, so we stayed and played cards. On Friday it eased to a light drizzle, so we did the 2 hour walk, before slipping our mooring. We had had 10 days free mooring on a hotel boat site free with electricity – it is €14 a day in port!
As the day proceeded, the weather improved. We stopped above the 1st lock at Intermarché and refilled our diesel drums (150litres), as well as stocked the larder. Then on to the Nancy Embranchment, which is a delightful canal, fully automatic, and where we moored against the bank for the night, and played 2 hours of 500 cards. This morning we continued, whilst doing a load of washing, on to the Vosges Canal. We have spent the afternoon lazing in the weak sunshine. Tomorrow we get a lock-keeper for the day.
Sunday 12 August
We didn’t! We continued using the wireless switch to advise the automatic system of our readiness. It has been a lovely day after morning fog, and every lock was waiting open for us. What a lovely canal, especially compared with our experiences in October, 1999. So tonight we are safely moored in a full port at Charmes, with a couple of dozen campers alongside.
Friday 17 August
On Monday we continued to Thaon les Vosges. We arrived in the middle of a boules tournament. A tidy, modern town, it was convenient for a short run to Epinal, where we arrived about 11.30 for a good mooring in a busy port. Epinal has surprised us – we didn’t come to the port in 1999 – it is larger than we expected, centred on an island in the river (Moselle) with a lot of 20th century building after WW2. The port is at the end of a 3km branch of the Canal de Vosges and definitely worth a call (€4 per night with water and electricity).
We used the time to prepare for listing EREWHON on apolloduck.com, and on Thursday Ian used a free access to the net to list it. We await calls! Pam searched the web and booked accommodation in Paris, and caught the train on Thursday. We enjoyed her stay, and each of us had won a game of 500! Her knowledge of European history helped put our experiences into perspective.
This morning, in glorious sun, we left Epinal, but by the time we topped the 14 lock flight it had rained several times. With improving weather we continued down the Canal des Vosges and are tonight moored at Forges d’Uzeman (no services, shops etc, but with 2 Swiss boats), having equalled our record 32 locks in one day. If we hadn’t had all of the 18 downhill locks against us, we would have had several more! But to take away some of the celebration, all but 3 of the locks were automatic using a button to prepare them!
We had a ring from Lorna’s great-niece, and are hoping to meet her at Port sur Saone on Monday. Public transport isn’t too frequent up this way. This is the reason why suddenly we are doing such long days.
Tuesday 21 Aug. 07
We made a surprise jump on Saturday,
and left at 8.45am ahead of the other two boats for a full day locking down
to Corre. A lovely sunny day and we stopped for lunch at the hire base in
Fontenoy le Chateau, but were caught one lock short of Corre at 6pm! The
next morning we stopped on the wall at Corre and bought groceries for three
for two days, then moved on to the Saone, only a small stream at this
stage. We arrived in Port sur Saone at 2.30 and after some text and
cellular communications, arranged for Ian to meet Cearna at Vesoul, 13 km
away, using the moto. All went well and we have enjoyed her company and
experiences in Italy.
We enjoyed an excursion up to the chateau at Ray sur Saone, but we unhappy with the mooring, especially as rain threatened. So on to the Port de Plaisance at Seveux, where we received the news that the next lock was shut for a week! This was later revised to mid morning tomorrow, and we enjoyed a beer with a Welsh couple on a CBL boat.
So now we are on our way to Gray, drizzle clearing away.
Wednesday, 22 August 2007
Gray has a long mooring below the lock, with water and coin in the slot electricity. We supermarketed, interneted (when we met XTRA’s new email system!) and entertained the Welsh couple, so the afternoon passed quickly. There were two NZ enquiries about buying Erewhon. We also planned Cearna’s last few days here and her travel to Paris and Rome.
The sky lightened yesterday afternoon, but is fully clouded again today, as we moved down to Auxonne, where you can no longer moor against the wall, and only six boats can moor on the pontoons, which now have electricity and water for a fee. The town was as lovely as ever.
Friday, 24 August 2007
On Thursday we moved on to St Jean de Losne, moored on the steps till mid afternoon, when we moved into Blanquart’s. Great news. We have a winter mooring out of the water! We had a restaurant meal with our Welsh friends, and Cearna who has booked accommodation in Paris. This morning we saw her off on the train; we will miss her. This evening we entertained Yvonne and Ray from Silver Fern an ex- Tasman class hire boat, and who have a contract for sale at the end of August. Meantime, we have been tidying up Erewhon.
Tuesday, 28 August
We’ve had great weather, and are tidying up the boat. We’ve made arrangements for lifting on Wed 26 Sept, the day we get the rental; and we have tried booked the flat for 2-3 nights. Then we will go to Lois’s to watch the 4th WC of Rugby game before catching the Eurobus to London on the Sunday.
Monday 3 September
We left the port on Friday and spent a night on the wall at St Jean de Losne. We also met again Jeff and Selina and their two children, who we had met before in Montabrd. They are doing up their Eauclaire Columbier., and the children have spent some months in a local school. On Saturday, a glorious day, we headed south spending the night at Seurre, and the next 500m up the Doubs at Verdun sur Doubs. Both were old frontier forts in the C16, but picturesque now. There was a 6 kph current into Verdun which made mooring difficult, somewhat spoiling our otherwise lovely day.
Today we are heading for Chalon, where 3 km up the Centre Canal we will fill with diesel at Leclerc’s Supermarket, keeping enough to top up the tank for winter.
Monday 17 September
We took 160 litres on diesel on board and spent the next 4 nights at Fragnes, 5 km up the Centre Canal. On Friday we moved down to Chalon where after an attempt to moor on the side of the river and finding a rock in the way, we moored in the port. After 1 Sept their prices are moor reasonable. With Nick who arrived at mid-day Saturday, we found a pub with sport TV and watched NZ beat Italy and France lose their first game. On Sunday we moved on to Tournus and explored this beautiful town, waiting to join Rob and Marin on Tuesday and cruise up the lovely Seille River to Louhans and back.
We needed a hand on the deck to peer through the fog as we left Louhans at 8.30! where we had spent Thursday night. We had a small water leak which Ian first attempted to fix with a new non-return valve, but later found was caused by a leaky joint into the hot water tank. For several days we had to turn off the pump switch when not actually drawing water. Today Ian tried again and solved the problem with no new parts! We watched another couple of rugby games in Chalon, and Nick caught the train to Switzerland. We moved on the Fragnes, planning to stay and start packing for 2 days.
Then later today we had an enquiry re buying Erewhon. It was the chap who first contacted us some weeks ago and he would look at it tomorrow, but at our next port of call, Seurre. So we are now 3 hours on our way there, and we should get there about 11am tomorrow. The boat looks and runs very well, so who knows?
Friday, 21 September 2007
We made it to Gergy, a small pontoon, already full. A hire-boat allowed us to moor along-side. We had barely stopped, but a heavy thunderstorm forced us to eat indoors. At 8am we were off and arrived at Seurre at 11.05 am for the inspection etc. He is looking at several boats, but may still be interested.
So we continued on to St Jean de Losne, and moored on the riverside steps, with Catriona (Rob and Marin). It has been a week of beautiful weather, and we have tidied up. The rest of the diesel is now in the tank, cases out and half packed as we sort out what we keep and what we dump. I have a week of T-shirts which won’t be washed, but dumped after a days wear.
We had a call from “Mark” last night and he has just called again wanting to see Erewhon and organising it. Unfortunately we will be gone, but can negotiate in London later.
Last night we dined with Rob and Marin, and they drive north today.
Thursday 27 September
We moved into Blanquart’s moorings for 4 days and on Tuesday shifted to the canal from where we were lifted out on Wednesday as Ian was getting a rental from Dijon. After a night in the Bourgoigne Hotel we left EREWHON to her future, whatever that may be and drove to Paris for 3 nights with sister Lois and Philippe.
We have had great experiences on the canals; wouldn’t have missed them for anything. Now we will need to look for new experiences to keep us young, while visiting the growing family in London!
End piece. After a few days in London we flew to Turkey for a magnificent and highly recommended coach tour.