The Lower Seine

We spent a couple of days at Andresy, where we visited the annual outdoor sculpture exhibition around the town and on Ile Nancy, reached by a shuttle ferry. Our daughter Bernadette arrived to spend several days with us, en route between a short visit to Guernsey and her home in Sydney. These few days had made a difference to the flood situation on the Seine though other rivers were still closed including the Yonne which was unavailable for all but 5 days in the entire month of May.

Sculpture- Upside down house in a treeWe decided that with more encouraging forecasts and the reduced heights and flows of the river we would pursue our original plan of travelling to Rouen, the last convenient stopping place on the Seine River before it enters the sea. There are only four locks between Andresy and the sea in a distance of 170 kms. These were excellent fast and smooth locks.

We continued to enjoy very favourable current, regularly cruising along at speeds of 15 kms per hour. We have again underestimated how beautiful the Seine would be, as most of the books emphasise how much commercial traffic there is. The landscape speeding by was delightful, beautifully wooded slopes. magnificent limestone cliffs and several historic castles. One of these, Chateau Gaillard, was erected in the 12th century by Richard the Lion Heart,to prevent the King of France passing down the Seine. The castle was besieged for a long time and finally fell to the French in 1204.  

The ancient castle

As with most rivers there are not many convenient stopping points along the way, but those towns we could stop at provided very interesting exploration. First we stopped at Limay across the river from Mantes la Jolie.

The Rose Window

The town was heavily bombed in World War 11 but the Church was spared (quite deliberately it would seem from the photos) and the stained  glass remains mostly intact, including the beautiful rose window at the rear, one of the oldest examples of stained glass we have seen. Next town was Vernon four kilometres from Monet's garden to which we rode along a very good cycle path. Despite the wet and cold spring there were flowers everywhere, though we were a bit early for the full display of water lilies. Bernadette left us here to return home, so the Monet visit was an excellent way to complete her stay.

Monet's Garden

Next stop for us was a very rural spot at Poses where we stayed on the river bank adjacent to a bird sanctuary. Finally we reached our destination Rouen, a large city with a busy water way, bustling with large hotel cruise boats and heavily laden cargo boats coming from the major seaport of Le Havre as well as the large container and other loading terminals in this area.On our entire trip down the river we met very few pleaRouensure boats. We stayed overnight in a marina in Rouen very handy to the main sights of the town. Rouen too was heavily bombed during the Second World War but significant renovation work has restored its beautiful old buildings, many dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries. With four generations of "Joan"s in our family it was important to visit the spot where St Joan was burned at the stake and to admire the modern church built on that spot in her honour.

Rouen

The current was still very strong but slowing as we returned a little way up river to await the arrival from Australia of our daughter Wendy and grand-daughter Mary (Joan) who will be spending three weeks with us, during which we will celebrate her second birthday. By the time we set off for the return to Andresy, where the Oise enters the Seine, the current had slowed to four kilometres per hour, compared with the flow of 6 to 8 kph which sped us along a week earlier. Therefore we made slow but steady progress as we returned up river. The weather had improved significantly so we enjoyed sunny warm days.

White cliffs, along the lower Seine in Normandy
We enjoyed the trip  back with the fun of having a two year old enhancing our days. Mary is very easy to keep happy and grandpa and grandma are enjoying her generous cuddles and interesting chats. She is becoming very proficient at "bonjour" and "au revoir" so gets lots of smiles. The cygnets and ducklings and their parents are benefitting from her delight in feeding them, and therefore visit quite often.

Best Regards,

Penny and Dave