From Drought to Flood!

Hi everyone,

We left Montereau a little nervous.

We were tackling the Petite Seine and did not have charts as they are being reprinted. We also saw this "expedition" as a test for whether or not we would be fine for the following six months without our bow thruster.

Things went well on the first day. The locks were large and easy. The lock keepers were friendly. We reached Bray sur Seine which was about 25km upstream from Montereau. It was a very enjoyable small town with many very old and beautiful houses, some of them in a Normandy style. Some of the houses leaned so far over small lanes that they were leaning on the houses from the opposite side.

We were moored alongside a beautiful park with excellent gardens, shaped hedges and about 60 very old and very large Plane trees. The facility provided to boats by the town was excellent and free.

The rain and very strong winds continued. Several canals had been closed due to lack of water from the drought. However, the waters became muddier and the levels continued to rise in the Seine. The current also became stronger and we noticed that the barrages had been lowered to allow the water to escape.

After Bray, we headed further upriver to the industrial town of Nogent sur Seine, which is the third largest cerealeal port in France. There was quite a lot of commercial traffic, with some barges up to 2,500 tonnes carrying capacity. These are really ships and were up to 110metres in length.

It was along this next section that did struggle without the bow thruster. We had been following a large ship and sharing locks with him (boats are masculine here). The lockeeper ever got him to overtake us in a lock. This was a little nerve racking but the Captain was very skilful.

We were in a very narrow section of canal and approaching a narrow bridge when a large barge appeared from the other direction. "Our" ship ("Hebe") decided to pass through the bridge first, so we dutifully followed. There is only room for one boat at a time under the bridges. Well, Hebe then stopped after the bridge as there was not much room. The other barge slowly approached. We had to try and sit behind Hebe, keeping right over to the side despite the strong wind and the current. Well, it was very challenging, particularly as we needed some movement to keep station. Then Hebe needed to reverse and we were being sucked towards the other barge by his propellors. Well, it was all very "tight" with us only centimetres from Hebe's stern and centimetres from the other barge. We ended up being bumped by the other barge but avoided Hebe. Next time, we will stay further back.

Nogent was a very pretty town with lots to see and do. Here is our spot with a view of the old Mill.

Again, the town provided an excellent stopping point and we will go there again one day. It was necessary to book the locks for the weekend as travel by "Plaisanciers"= Dave and Penny is only by arrangement on weekends. This was a bit of a problem as the lockeeper also needed to woman the barrages. However, all was fine and in a couple of days, we were 70km back down the Seine at St Mammes on the way to Paris.

The rain continued to fall and then we heard that the upper Yonne (from which we had come) was closed due to flooding as were several other canals and rivers. Large barges and ships were also precluded from navigating in Paris. From drought to flood in a few weeks. We certainly noticed the extra current in the Seine which added at least 50% to our speed.

We timed the stay in St Mammes to do some more work on the boat which had been delayed due to the poor weather. We also needed fuel and obtained it there (the cost was about $1,000 to half fill the tank with diesel!)

On May Day, nearly everything was closed, including the locks. We experienced the best weather of the trip so far and enjoyed the annual vintage car rally wich came to St Mammes and displayed some 70 beautiful old cars. The oldest was 99 years- not as old as Anja- but still elderly. As is the custom, we bought sprigs of snow drops from some children.

While in St Mammes, we took time off to go and really explore the Chateau at Fontainbleau. Wow! It was wonderful. We thoroughly enjoyed the splendour and the history of the place where many kings and queens spent time.

Some rooms at Fontainbleau	Nice baby bed!

We headed off on May 2nd for the comfortable two day trip to Paris. There are not many stopping places along the way and we had planned on staying at a disused quai about halfway along the Seine. We reached there in good time only to find it underwater. It would have been too dangerous to moor there and so we continued another 10km downstream and tied up below one of the large Seine locks.

Tomorrow, it is on to Paris.

Best Regards,

Dave and Penny

Other photos: Seine at Nogent, A friendly bird, large barges (linked together. 7 together is the most we have seen- about 6,000tonnes)..