Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas one and all. It's Christmas Eve and I'm sitting in my parents' lounge in Brightlingsea. Have been meaning to post this for some time but our electricity supply in Nevers has been extremely unreliable, which affects our wifi signal. There was a small team of electricians there as we left and I very much hope it will be fixed by the time we return.
Our journey on the 21st was much better than we expected, having seen footage of the queues at St Pancras. We arrived at Gare du Nord about 1:30pm and were on Eurostar within the hour. The trip was a little slower than usual due to icy tracks, (but not as slow as the Liverpool St to Marks Tey leg!).
I am looking forward to the traditional family day at my sister's tomorrow and hope you all enjoy yours as much as I will. We'll be back in Nevers in time for the New Year and wish you a happy and healthy 2011.

La Neige

Autumn Colours

Nevers

Hello everyone. Thought it was about time we added a bit more to our blog. Internet access is not as easy here as we thought it would be but we are now able to use a FON network signal on the boat. It doesn’t give us great bandwidth (i.e. can’t stream radio 4!), but enough to surf, blog and email.

We have been busy since we arrived in Nevers on 19^th October – a whole month ago! I won’t bore you with all the details as David has written more about that. The port here is quite big and there are several other boats spending the winter. It feels good to be part of a community again.

From the port, we have a short walk/cycle over the Loire to get into town. The river is changing as the year marches on – the water level is rising and it’s flowing much faster than when we arrived. I am enjoying getting to know the town – the centre is medieval with some stunning architecture. There are some great shops and I seem to discover something new each time I go in. I buy most of our fresh food at the market and everything else at the local Carrefour. You can leave your full trolley there and they deliver it to the boat – fantastic!

Blokey Stuff

OK Penny get off the bloody computer, David's turn.

Well readers I am sure you're fed up with the 'we are here or there stuff'' so I thought I could spice things up a bit with some serious news, stuff blokes want to read for instance.

A few people have asked 'what do you do all day, how do you fill your time up'. Easy answer is lots of laziness & time wasting but that's not the whole, complete answer. All is variable so I can describe a typical day only in abstract form.

I get up early, make a pot of tea & sit around taking in the a.m. until it has fully brewed. I take Penny a cup, she gets up later. Usually by this time, following the usual round of ablutions, I am clattering around in the engine room having words with our ancient ford (Henry) T2 about forthcoming events. We do the breakfast thing then I start up the motor & bugger around with mooring lines, power cables & lumps of firewood which litter the decks & wait for Herself to surface. Eventually we're off. Now, canals are not often that wide & our steering gear is not that young so we wander around the canal or river for a bit, a few hours maybe, until we find a groovey looking spot & we stop. Reversal of the buggering around with ropes & stuff for bit, may involve a ditch, stinging nettles, dog poo (very unlucky), may not. Down in the engine room to have another word with the grease gun, prop shaft etc. Then, hey ho, lunch time.

This often involves cycling off to find a patisserie, usually shut, & slicing up some of yesterday's bread with an axe. On some waterways there is likely to be an enforced coffee break as the locks shut 'for lunch' at about midday for an hour or so, I cannot for the life of me get my head around this one. These guys (occassional gals) have a great job in usually great places. Only in August are the ways busy (a relative term meaning the eclusiere has to wind two locks an hour)

Later I often go for a forage, firewood, walnuts, apples, mushrooms, whatever, Penny goes off sight seeing to the local Chateau, shoe shop etc. (all closed) There is also life to deal with, washing clothes in canal water, painting rusting decks, pulling dead ducks out of the propellor, you name it, we do it all just as you at home do only we do it the inefficient, fun way.

We have no TV, read a lot, watch the odd DVD, eat out or in, get a takeaway, all in a typical day.

And now another, further word about Henry the ford. When we bought the boat, the engine worked fine which is more than I can say about some boats we looked at (remember ZZ11) another story. Unfortunately the boat had been more or less static for the last 12 years or so, engine not used much. There was no working alternator, there were rusty pipes, blocked heat exchangers (two) and valves which didn't. I happened to have in stock, so to speak, an old alternator from a Subaru, courtesy Bad Bob, courtesy Robert. This I took to a nice man in Tiptree who cleaned & tested it (working well) & gave me a little black box (voltage regulator) to match.

Ta much. Stuck it on, sort off, & off we went, no volts. Did we ever mess around with that thing. Something, we were assured, to do with a 'excitor'. Whatever does it for you, we used a 6amp bulb.

No go. Finally I changed the battery in the testing guage & guess what. Power to the people, 12v to us in fact.

Next the dreadful oil consumption, not evident upon inspection.

During our trial cruising in N.Holland in 2009, we used the motor quite gently. Less speed good & better for fuel consumption I thought & possibly true. What actually happened was that the engine (120hp) never got worked, never came up to speed whatever. The thing got gummed up. What it needed was a bloody good thrashing. This finally happened on the Seine, powering upstream, the thing coughed & farted a few times & away we went, fuel consumption better (results to be confirmed) oil consumption negligible. We can now make about 7 Kts. Next we need a bigger propellor, that's another budget 'period' apparently, (sounds a lot like NO to me).

Canal lateral a la Loire

Our first stop on this canal was just after the aqueduct. The crossing was pretty amazing but a bit stressful for David who was steering. It was a long way to keep a boat like ours in a perfectly straight line. We stopped near some woods where we could collect firewood, walnuts and chestnuts and have a camp fire. We grilled a delicious steak, roasted potatoes and chestnuts and toasted marshmallows - what a feast!
We're now on the last stretch down to Nevers. I am looking forward to getting there but will miss the variety of the journey. We're currently in Sury-pres-Lere, back in vineyard country. I think this is the first, free mooring where there has been a wifi signal we can pick up on the boat. I don't trust the signal completely and so have been rapidly typing with my diary beside me in case it disappears. The photos to go with these entries are still on our cameras, so I'll add them later. The sun is still shining but it's beginning to feel colder at night and first thing in the morning. Time to start using some of that wood that's all over the deck!
We have just been for a cycle to the Loire and were able to get down to the water where there was a large sand-bank island. Of course, we went for a paddle - we waded almost to the middle of the river - stunning.

Ouzouer-sur-Trezee/Briare

Had a tricky situation with a rope in a lock on the way here. We were descending and my rope got caught on itself around the bollard on the boat and David had to cut it with the axe. The boat did hang a little, but fortunately we were near the bottom of the lock. I had taken my eyes off the rope and was watching the water draining out of the walls of the lock. Inland waterway travel is not without its risks, you do have to be vigilant all the time you're travelling. A positive outcome of losing part of the rope is that I have learnt to splice and have tidied up several of our lines which were just tied.
Visited 2 interesting museums in Briare - one which covered the history of the canal, the Loire and the aqueduct and the museum of tiles and mosaics. There were some amazing, modern quilted hangings in the waterways museum - made by locals, I think. They depicted river/canal scenes and have inspired me. I had already been thinking of making some sort of needlework picture of Johanne and have now decided on a quilted collage.
Our first view of the Loire was breathtaking. A tourist brochure describes it a Europe's last wild river and you can see what they mean. Here, it's wide enough to have small beaches along the banks, backed by sheep pasture. I saw a huge flock of cormorants, ducking and diving, following the fish. Then, almost as one, they took off. The divers emerged one by one and looked around to find themselves abandoned.

Rogny-les-Sept-Ecluses

Aka Rogny of the seven locks, so-called because of an old flight of locks built in the 17th Century at the time of Henry IV. A very impressive sight and amazing to think of the engineering skills that went into creating it all that time ago. Of course, water transport was incredibly important then and there was a huge market in Paris for everything from building materials and fuel to food and wine. Apparently, they mainly used manpower to tow barges until the mid 19th century when animals took over as loads got heavier.

Montbouy

We had some trouble with the engine recently which David has now successfully fixed. It started making a squeaky noise which he originally thought was the fan belt (another piece of technical vocabulary on my list), and then narrowed it down to the water circulator. A piece of wire had become caught up and all is well now David has removed it.
We met a couple from Newcastle who were on their way to the Med and enjoyed their company for an evening at Montbouy. It's always interesting to meet other people who are travelling and share stories.
Our mooring here was right next to the local primary school. The sound of the playground must be universal, language is immaterial. Made me feel a little nostalgic!

Cepoy/Montargis

Our stop near Chateau-Landon was a real, rural interlude. There were just one or two houses nearby, but 3 villages within cycling distance - Chateau-Landon, Souppes-sur-Loing and Dordives. David was able to collect lots of firewood there which will help keep us warm this winter.
We decided to stay in Cepoy rather than moor in Montargis - partly because its free and partly because it would be quieter. Also, we were able to get the motorbike ashore and David whisked me to the station so I could meet Sue in Paris. Cepoy turned out to be a great stop for both of us. Rural enough for David and near enough to a town for me, with all the essentials in the village. I like being able to get off the boat and walk to the boulangerie.
I really enjoyed my day in Paris with Sue, Katherine and Judith. We saw some beautiful objets d'arts at the Medici exhibition in the Musee Maillol and had time for a shop in Bon Marche. A perfect girls day out!

The photo shows us cruising through Montargis.

Chateau Landon

We didn't stay in Moret very long as we had to move on to meet David's friends, Pete and Ava, but it's definitely on the list for a re-visit. Pete and Ava came in their camper van and were our first official (sorry, Pete) visitors. We enjoyed seeing them and I'd like to tell you more about it but we both got very drunk!

We have been here for a week now and will be moving on towards Montargis tomorrow.

Moret-sur-Loing

We've now left the Seine and are just on the Canal de Loing at Moret. This is the most reliable, accessible internet connection we've had in France. Moret is lovely, reminiscent of Stratford-upon-Avon. Don't know what I've done to the formatting on the other posts, but never mind. Haven't heard from anyone for a while so if you feel like emailing or commenting, please do. Would love to hear all the school and local news and gossip!

Hericy & Fontainebleau

15th September

This part of the Seine is rather lovely. There are some enormous, stunning houses next to the river – we’re still within easy commuting distance of Paris and there are clearly some very wealthy people around here! The architecture is very varied – we’ve seen a few typical 30s, deco houses and some real gothic piles. Hericy is a small, sleepy town on the right bank, just a few km from Fontainebleau. Our mooring is very tranquil with a view of tree-lined banks, interspersed with the occasional house.

The château of Fontainebleau is a true visual feast. First of all, it’s enormous, as are the grounds, and it’s impeccably kept. The interior is a tribute to excess, highly decorated and gilded from floor to ceiling. Where monarchs have been responsible for the decoration of specific rooms, their initials and symbols of power are interwoven around the frescos and decoration. I particularly enjoyed the salamanders in the François I gallery. There has been a lot of restoration so you can see everything in all its vivid glory.

Plessis Chênet

12th September

Journey from Lagny was lovely. This part of the Marne was a big attraction at the time of the impressionists and is where many of the waterside cafes they painted are located. The banks are lined with posh houses, rowing clubs and lidos. Spent last night at Maisons-Alfort on a small pontoon next to a park. Local map at the mooring showed an old fort which we thought looked interesting. The walk was a lot further than it looked on the map and we got to the fort only to discover that it is still in use by the military and not open to the public. Hey ho.

We’re now near Plessis Chênet just below a lock, hoping to get to Melun tomorrow.

Lagny

10th September

Interesting journey to Lagny! We were cruising along quite happily in the sunshine, looking out for the aqueduct marked on the map, wondering if we’d notice we were on it and get a good view. Saw the sign to say the channel was narrowing and the no overtaking sign when what should come round the corner towards us – not one, but 2 big commercials. Needless to say, David took the wheel but we didn’t really know what to do; we couldn’t stop and it didn’t look as if there was room for us to pass. Somehow, we missed each other. My French slang clearly isn’t all it could be as I’m not sure what the bargees shouted but I’m fairly certain that it wasn’t very polite!

Meaux

After Dormans, we had a short stop in Château-Thierry and then onto Meaux where we’ve been since last Saturday. Château-Thierry was another nice town with the remains of a medieval fortress above it. I visited a museum which used to be the home of Jean de la Fontaine, the fable writer. The house was full of editions of his books in many languages and a variety of items depicting images relating to the fables – paintings, screens, tapestries, games, ornaments, crockery, etc… Had I been coming back to school, I’d have bought a colouring book in the gift shop!

Meaux is a great place to stop. It’s a pretty town with a safe, free mooring including power and water – and it’s only 30 minutes on the train to Paris. We took the train and looked at the Paris moorings and decided to stay here instead. I went in again on Wednesday to Galeries Lafayette and then Musée d’Orsay. It’s not so much fun shopping on your own so I’m really looking forward to meeting my sister at the end of the month.

Lack of wifi

Hi everyone. I have been writing lots of blog on our laptop but am still unable to pick up wifi on the boat. It's easy to take the ipod out and pick up emails - all news gratefully received. We are currently in the library in Melun on a PC with nowhere to insert a memory stick and a non-qwerty keyboard! Still having a lovely time especially as the weather is getting warmer as we're heading South.

Dormans

Moored up next to the campsite here yesterday. Nice spot, as you can see, so we decided to stay 2 nights. There is a very impressive WWI memorial here, in the park of a 14th century chateau. Dormans was chosen as the site due to it's key position in the 2 battles of the Marne. Photographs at the memorial show how much of the town was reduced to rubble.
Those of you that are going back to school tomorrow, hope you have a happy term. I shall be thinking of you, sitting on the deck in the sunshine (hopefully) with a large glass of red!

Cumières

29th August

We are now in Cumières, which is a free, village mooring with electricity and water. There is a big race going on here this weekend, involving cycling, running, canoeing and shooting. We’ve had ringside seats for the canoeing. This morning we cycled to Hautvillers, the home of Dom Perignon and a really pretty village. (Cycled isn’t quite true – there is a very steep hill which we walked up and zoomed down.) The weather is crap, it’s Sunday so I am lazing around. Pity as it is a truly beautiful place.

The river is quite full with a 1 ½ Kts. current in the right direction. Good for a trip tomorrow. Roll on the Indian summer.

The Marne

29th August
We are now off the canals and on the river Marne, on our final stretch to Paris. We had an eventful day on Friday. We made an early start from Vaudemange as we knew we had chain of 8 locks to get through. The sun was shining and we were making good progress until just after the lock at Mareuil. There was a keep left sign and one buoy to indicate the water was shallow on the other bank. The shallow area obviously extended a lot further than we realised as I managed to run us aground! David tried various manoeuvres without success, we were stuck fast. What to do? Luckily, there was a man on the bank who offered to drive over the other side and attempt to tow us off with his land rover. I phoned the vnf to let them know what had happened as we would be blocking the navigation with the rope. We launched the dinghy and I got in and rowed across with a tow rope and, with the help of the 4x4’s winch, the boat was freed. What a relief! We gave our saviour a bottle of (David’s) champagne and continued on our way.
We had hoped to moor at Ay or Dizy and then cycle into Epernay, but Ay was too shallow and Dizy was full so we ended up turning towards Epernay. It started to rain and we had the heaviest downpour we’ve seen, (David sent me down below – a first). To finish off the day nicely, we ended up on our most expensive mooring yet @ €2/m!= 34
However, we liked Epernay and were able to get the fridge cold, charge all our electrical appliances, fill up with water, do the washing and visit a Champagne producer (included in mooring fee). The tour did go some way to explain the high price of champagne. All the pinot noir grapes have to be picked by hand so as not to damage the skins, which would taint the colour of the wine. They are then pressed very slowly, again because of the skins. A second fermentation takes place in the bottle. The bottles are gradually turned upside down so that the sediment collects in the neck. The necks of the bottles are then frozen and the gas in the wine forces the frozen sediment out, et voilà. Ready to drink in about 3 years.

Reims & Sillery

We stayed in Reims for a couple of nights. I did all the cultural things like the cathedral, basilica, art museum and archaeological museum. The cathedral does have a big 'wow' factor when you first see it and the art museum had some beautiful early portaits by Cranach. The archaeological museum is housed in a UNESCO world heritage site and houses an interesting collection of tapestries telling the life of St Remi. He baptised the first Christian king of France, Clovis, in 498.










Have been in Sillery for the past couple of days with some friends that we met last year. We are right in the middle of the champagne region and went for a cycle through the vineyards yesterday. There are little stone markers at the side of the road, naming the owner the vines - Moet et Chandon, Taittinger, Mumm, etc and loads of smaller producers.

Canal de l’Aisne a la Marne

21st August
It is now truly hot and sunny. We have left the Canal des Ardennes and turned onto the Canal de l’Aisne a la Marne and are moored in Reims. We had a visitor recently. We were in Rethel and heard a few plaintive cries from a young ginger and white cat. She came on board and was very friendly and, yes, of course we fed her. We put her out when we went to bed but kept hearing footsteps so guess she stayed on board as she was still around in the morning. Very tempted to take her with us but didn’t think it would be fair – she looked well looked after and expect she had a home somewhere nearby.

17th August

The weather has not been kind to us for the past few days. There has been persistent, heavy rain for at least 48 hours. I don’t recall it raining like that at home – not without any breaks? We decided to stay put on our rural mooring for a couple of days as it’s not much fun cruising in the rain. Went out for Sunday lunch to the local restaurant – what a treat. There were a couple of local families, us and someone playing all the old favourites on an electric guitar. In between serving and cooking, the owner came and did a bit of karaoke. Peter Kay couldn’t have done it better! The meal was excellent and it was a very entertaining way to spend a wet afternoon.
Scenery on this canal is stunning. The surface of the water is often flat and still, showing a full reflection of the trees along the bank. The leaves are just beginning to dry out, they’ve lost that lush, green look, and you can tell that Autumn isn’t far away. There is a huge variety of wildlife – millions of pond skaters, vivid green damsel flies, herons, cormorants, kingfishers, coypu… and we travel slowly enough to be able to watch it all.

Canal des Ardennes

The French seem to keep their wifi locked up more than the Belgians and so we haven’t been able to log on for a while. It’s Sunday 15th and pouring with rain, so I’m writing this off-line to upload when I can.
Charleville-Mezières was a great town. It was all built to design in the 17th century and has a fabulous town square based on the Place des Vosges in Paris. From there, we turned onto the Canal des Ardennes and found a quiet mooring at La Cassine. The landscape is much more open than on the Meuse – rolling farmland studded with yellow-stone buildings and woodland. We’ve been doing lots of cycling, exploring the countryside and villages and burning up the calories from all the pain au chocolates!
We are getting used to French life. Everything is shut on Mondays and all the shops shut between 12 and 2 for lunch – even the big department store in Charleville-Mezières. The food is delicious and all seems to taste so much better than at home. There are lots of fruit trees along the canal and we have foraged apples, blackberries and plums so far. I made a crumble and managed to burn it by placing it too near the burner at the bottom of the oven!

ABOUT JOHANNE

Johanne is a Dutch Barge, type Zeil Klipper.
Basic dimensions are 17.27m. long x 4.43m. wide & draws about 1.5m.
She weighs around 38 tonnes & was designed to carry about 60 tonnes of cargo, possibly grain & coal.
The mast is raised & lowered easily by a forward deck winch & a fixed A frame. We do this in about 10 minutes of light labour to raise & lots less to lower.
She has a full gaff clipper sailing rig which unfortunately is not in commission. The standing & running rigging all needs looking at & maintenance though the sails are in fine condition. The mast is bad & needs serious repair. Hopefully we will get her sailing again when we reach the Baltic which is slated for 2012 / 2013.
The motor is a fairly well used Ford 6 cylinder diesel of around 120 hp with a hydraulic Borg Warner gear box driving a three blade propeller. We cruise using about 1100 rpm which gives us about 4 knots depending on canal or river conditions. At this rate we use about 3 l. per hour running or less. The boat has capacity for 600 l. of water & the same for fuel.
The steering system is a reverse worm screw and referred to by the Dutch as the ‘English system’. When facing forward the wheel is behind you. Not sure about this one. Penny has recently been demoted from helmsperson to assistant helm after a couple of incidents, one when we seemed to go in the wrong direction at a crucial time.

Domestics. There is oil fired central heating, just like home, an air pressure water system, shower, hand basin & wc in the forward wet room. The fresh water lasts us about 2 ½ weeks though we try not to run out.
We have electric lighting etc. which we can plug in for shore power or use an inverter to boost 12v to 240v.
We have a wood stove & I have recently been collecting wood from bankside sources. That’s all.

Charleville-Mezieres

Just a quickie. Slowly getting closer to the Canal des Ardennes. Have had a few 'rural' nights and David has collected loads of wood for the winter. Won't say our wood pile is rivalling the one we have at home, but the deck is getting fuller! They've had some terrific winds down this valley which have torn down lots of trees and roofs. Bright and sunny today, waiting for the washing machine to finish then off to explore the town.

On the Meuse

At last - have finally managed to work out how to do this on the iPod. We are now in France, moored on the Meuse beside a pretty little town called Haybes. Have had some cloud and rain but today there is sunshine and blue sky. We had some trouble with the engine initially. The ferrule came off one of the injection pipes. David fixed it with araldite but that didn't last very long. 2 lots of solder later we decided to get some help. My technical French is coming on in leaps and bounds! Found a very nice diesel mechanic called Eric who came out on a Sunday afternoon, fixed the ferrule and came back the next morning to fit it. That was Monday this week and it seems to be holding out - so far, so good.
We have bought a new cooker for Johanne. The old one was incredibly old and rusty. The hob was ok, but you had to keep an eye on it as the gas had a tendency to go out, I never used the oven as it looked revolting! The new one came from the local electrical shop in Erquelinnes who offered excellent service. Next day delivery and fitting and they took the old one away. Still, no excuses for not cooking now!
The scenery here in the Ardennes is stunning and our progress is slow enough to be able to take it all in. It certainly is a great way to travel. When I get the ipod synced with the laptop, I'll post some photos.
Encountered our first tunnel just after the French border at Givet. Of course we don't have our navigation lights up and running properly yet and we could see light at the other end as we approached the entrance to the tunnel, so thought we would be fine. Well, the tunnel seemed to elongate as we went in and it got darker and darker. Lots of scary things hanging/dripping from the rocky roof. I was on the bow with a fender and couldn't see well enough to walk back down the boat to get the torch. Fortunately, David managed to reach it from the steering position and it gave us plenty of light for the rest of the passage. (Thanks to Norman for the big torch!) Have since met another boat who have assured us that the Givet tunnel is the worst one and the only one which is unlit - so all the rest should be a doddle.
Thanks to everyone who has emailed and will write more soon.

Au revoir

Frantically trying to cram all my belongings into one suitcase and a ruckie ready for my journey tomorrow. I have had time over the weekend to read all the kind thoughts and wishes in the cards I received last week. A big thank-you to everyone at Highfields and all who came to Mistley Cricket Club. It was lovely to see you all. I'm getting to grips with my ipod and will be carrying it around with me in the hope of finding lots of wifi hotspots.

More soon...

The story so far...

We bought Johanne in August 2008, in Amsterdam. She had been a houseboat on the Dijksgracht for the past 15 years so was comfortable inside, but we weren’t sure how sound she was on the outside. Prior to that, she was German owned and working on the Baltic, we think.
One new rudder, some general welding and a lot of nicotine scraping later, we were ready to go. We left Amsterdam towards the end of July 2009, heading for a rally in Tilburg. We learnt a lot about handling the boat on the way and met some great people. After a fun time in Tilburg, we set off towards Belgium with the aim of finding a winter mooring before I had to be back at school on 1st September. Fortunately, we came to Erquelinnes which was perfect for us. Johanne has been there ever since and we are finally ready to start our big adventure!