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Cumieres- a Champagne TownAs forecast,the temperature peaked at 38 degrees Celsius. We were able to find comfortable, leafy spots to moor and survived the heat quite well. We should certainly be adapted to warm weather by now as we have not experienced a winter for years. After the peak, though, the days were milder, mid- 20s rather than mid 30s, though still there was no rain.

The next stage of our trip took us through the beautiful Champagne region, with its chalky slopes planted with grape vines being busily tended at this time of the year. We noticed several pump installations using water from the river to keep the vines in good condition. They were green and lush though elsewhere the countryside was showing signs of six weeks without rain.

Most of the small towns have at least one Champagne House where it is possible to taste and buy direct from the Vigneron.

At Port a BinsonDuring a weekend of festivities at the beginning of July, many of these open their doors and offer food, wine and music to celebrate the approaching harvest. We have in the past enjoyed the festival, and have visited Champagne houses too, so this year we travelled straight through.
Irrigation for the vines
Tours sur Marne is one of our favourite stops in this area. The mooring is beautifully placed opposite a wide stretch of the Marne River and an extensive, well- tended park. The excellent bike paths tempted us out for a ride on a day in the mid- 20s. But the most interesting feature of Tours is its school's visible emphasis on the environment. There is an electronic display outside a new school building, updated constantly, showing its environmental performance in terms of kilowatt hours produced and CO2 saved. Outside another is an "insect house" to attract a variety of insects and give them shelter. Tour's final claim to fame is that its boulangerie won the 2016 award for the "Best Traditional Baguette" of the Marne. Needless to say we bought one to enjoy for lunch and indeed it was excellent.School at Tours

Just as we left the Champagne area the drought broke. First we had some rain overnight, and then several days with good falls. We have not yet heard whether this will be sufficient to allow the reopening of a canal we want to visit soon, or to allow canals further east to return to normal functioning, especially the Meuse Canal which is currently closed at its southern end.

Insect HousesWe have visited this area twice before and thus have not duplicated material from those earlier blogs. However, previously the Cathedral at Chalons en Champagne was closed but has reopened. It contains the oldest stained glass window in Europe (and possibly the world) in the Treasury. It was made in the 12th Century! It is a beautiful Cathedral and the extensive stained glass windows make it very light and spacious inside.Cathedral- Chalons en Champagne

Best Regards,

Penelope and Dave

We have been through the first two tunnels of the year and for the last week we have been on the "narrow gauge canals".

A clever guy, Charles Freycinet, 140 years ago, created a standard size for the (French) canals, locks and barges carrying freight. This standard (which was put into French law) has more recently been adopted by the EU and 23% of barges are this uniform Freycinet size. Nowadays there are additional standards for modern-day (huge) barges. Basically, so-called Freycinet barges are 5.1metres x 38.875metres. The locks are 5.2x39 so there is not much room to spare! Here is a slideshow of such a barge going into a lock.

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We have 40cms clearance on each side when we enter a lock, which is not much when you are steering a flat bottom boat of overall 18metres length, weighing 36tonnes, sometimes with cross currents at the entrance, strong winds or difficult angls of approach. So we are constantly amazed at the skills required to pilot 360tonnes into a small lock with only 5cm (or less) clearance on each side.

We have been going along well, with no problems. Others have not been as fortunate. For instance, feel sorry for the people who bought a boat then, two days later, filled the fuel tank with water. We met a couple who had a most unfortunate accident last year in the Netherlands. An inexperienced person was operating a bridge which rotates horizontally so that two boats can pass at once. She forgot about the second boat and closed the bridge which swept across the boat demolishing the wheelhouse. The driver of the boat was lucky to survive with all the windows smashing and giant slivers of timber flying around. The Dutch town took responsibility and paid the $50,000 repair bill but it was the end of that year's cruising and took a lot of time (months) to repair. Another person was stuck at a quay on the Yonne River because his steering had failed. Yet another had plumbing and electrical difficulties. All we have had to do is replace one tap washer, so we have been fortunate.

A few days ago, we had stopped for the day. A German boat came through. We had previously encountered them and assisted them when the battery in their remote control for the locks went flat. They borrowed ours, which cost us about half an hour extra and they did not even say thank you. Anyway, a short while later, they came back, reversing down the canal and said it was blocked. Penny helped them moor and again they did not even say thank you. A bit surprising because people are normally very polite. We think they were always in a hurry and on each occasion when they needed help, they were in a bad mood because they were held up. There was dredging further down the canal, which is not normally a problem. Anyway, a short while later, a commercial Freycinet barge which had clearly been involved in the dredging, also came backwards down the canal. The skipper called out to us and asked us if we could please move our boat further upstream. Then  a second barge further back positioned itself mostly across the canal. They "caught" the first barge when it was close and then manoeuvred it to where we had been and we assisted the skipper in mooring up. He looked fairly frazzled. David asked him what was happening and he explained that his propellor had broken off! He also mentioned that he had been able to retrieve it. Heavens knows how he would have got it back, but perhaps the dredging barge was able to scoop it up (weighs about 100kg). The poor guy was very agitated and thought that repairs might take 10 days (during which he would be earning nothing). He checked the depth of the canal, moved the bow out from the edge and filled the front of the barge with lots of water so that it was sitting on the bottom of the canal. That enabled him to get the stern a long way out of the water and close to the bank so that he could examine it. He spent quite a bit of time "talking" to the rear of his barge, probably asking it why it had failed him and what was he going to do. This was accompanied by lots of arm waving. Penny felt sorry for him and sent him a bag of beautiful cherries which we had got at the Chalons Market. He was very appreciative. Then, a few hours later, his wife and small girl arrived and gave him big hugs. Followed by more relatives who brought him some extra food. So, he was comforted, but it looked like a difficult situation. Hopefully someone can come and assist soon or they can figure out a way to get his barge through about six locks and 20kms of canals to a repair place. Here is a photo. Nowhere to go with no propeller

Recently, the canals and rivers have been far busier than the last couple of times we were in this area. There are a lot of Dutch boats and also more French boats than in previous years. Perhaps the latter reflects an improvement in the French economy and peoples' ability to go boating? Many of the smaller boats always hover around places where there is free electricity and water but even places without that are fully occupied. We were at Chalons en Champagne a few days ago and the port was full, so we stopped near a lock within the town. This worked out well because we were able to go to the market the following morning. Anyway, a fully loaded barge arrived after the lock was closed and "rafted up" to us. It is very rare for a commercial barge to come alongside a private barge, but all worked well. The wife drove very carefully and the barge which was twice our length and 10 times our weight touched us so gently that you could not feel anything. Just like a perfect landing in an aeroplane! Here is a photo of it. Very snug indeed!

The young couple was very polite. They were carrying rolls of electrical wire to the Northeast. We crossed their path again this morning as they returned unladen from delivering their cargo. View along the side

The main issue at the moment is the unusual and unseasonal lack of water. There are water restrictions for households and for agriculture. One of the canals is closed due to lack of water. Most canals have restrictions requiring boats to be aggregated for going though locks. Depths (particularly affecting yachts and boats which draw more water than us) are restricted in many places. Even the major rivers are experiencing difficulties. We have never encountered this previously and the drought appears to be a very rare event so early in the cruising season. Last year, there were massive and unseasonal floods, which were very widespread. Anyway, we are being careful with our route because we do not want to be "stuck" far from where Anja lives over winter. We have had some rain in the past couple of days, but not enough to fix the shortages.

Best Regards,

Dave and Penelope

This blog finds us on the Marne River, heading for the Champagne Region but not quite there yet. We set out as usual North on the Yonne River, revisiting old haunts and finally dropping into Cezy, previously passed by as it is in a branch of the river below a barrage. It is a most attractive town, well worth the diversion. Cezy Old Town Gate

We followed the Yonne into the Seine and travelled smoothly towards Paris. Laden commercial barges did not have quite such a smooth ride along this section while we were there. A failure of the hydraulic system that works the barrages on one lock had resulted in draining out a great deal of the water in a 15km section of river. There was therefore a severely reduced water depth, fine for us drawing less than 0.9 metres and for unladen commercial boats which draw about a metre, but most barges laden with a cargo would have been quickly grounded. The interruption lasted about three days and the Waterways Authority (VNF) has undertaken to reimburse commercial losses resulting from the failure.

Before we reached Paris we turned East into the Marne River, with the intention of continuing in this Easterly direction until we reach Nancy, then turn North up the Meuse River to and past Verdun. However with the current drought, we may be unable to carry out these plans in full. This particular part of the Meuse River and its Canal has been closed at its southern end, so we will hope that there is good rain between now and mid July. If not, there are other routes we can take.

The Royal Way- Bois Vincennes- Penny
We stopped for a break at the junction of the Marne and Seine Rivers. Nearby is the largest Park in the city of Paris, almost 1,000 hectares which is almost ten percent of the total area of Paris. It contains a zoo, a stables, dog training park, a hippodrome and lots of woodland and gardens.  There too is the Chateau of Vincennes which started life as a hunting lodge for Louis VII in the 12th Century. During the 14th and again in the 17th centuries it was upgraded as a Royal Chateau occupied by many of the Kings and Queens. It was important also because it guarded the Eastern approaches to Paris. We decided to dust off our bikes and have the first cycle ride of 2017 to visit the Chateau, approached through the very pleasant cycle paths in the Bois de Vincennes itself. It was a rewarding first excursion before the day warmed up too much. The Parkland was full of people running, cycling, walking, taking the dogs for exercise. If it had been the weekend there would undoubtedly have been plenty of picnic groups too.  The Chateau Vincennes

The Chateau Vincennes

The Chateau Vincennes

The Moat- Chateau Vincennes

Today we are thoroughly enjoying a "holiday". Today's forecast is for 35 degrees, currently 33 degrees on land at 2pm. Tomorrow is forecast to be 38 degrees. We have looked out for shaded spots. First it was on a pontoon in a shaded though weed- covered small canal. It would have been difficult to travel along it because of the weed, but it served our purpose of a quiet mooring, and we enjoyed watching a large family of nine newly hatched ducklings, exploring their new world. We even caught sight of a very large frog lying in wait for the dragonflies flitting over the water lilies. Yesterday we found ourselves a beautiful mooring tucked in under a tree tied up to an old bridge which helped to provide shade. We decided to have a "heat day", taking advantage of the excellent shade for an extra day of non-movement.

A good place to be in 38degC
The first ten days of our 2017 voyage have been very enjoyable and so far quite calm, There may be issues later as the country is rapidly descending into drought. As well as the closed canal, travel will get slower as we move further East where the lack of water is more severe. There are limitations to water depth and also the grouping of boats through locks rather than allowing access on arrival. The wait could be up to an hour.

Over the next few weeks three of our children plus families will be joining us, so we will have plenty of very enjoyable company. The Grandchildren would really enjoy the substantial Tree House shown above- on the banks of the River Marne. We will hope for the rain to come and go before then, so that they too can enjoy these magnificent fine and warm days.

Best Regards,

Penelope and Dave

Hopefully now, those of you on the subscription list are only receiving one email per blog. The Corsica and Alps photos are now in our online gallery, nearly all captioned at: https://www.kerr.net.au/piwigo/index.php?/category/259

We are a little behind with our blogs because our Internet for the month is running out too early. The approximately 500km trip to Migennes was uneventful with relative light traffic. We diverted off the main autoroute for lunch at an Auberge and also visited Époisses. One of our favorite cheeses comes from there and bears the same name.

Tired, we arrived at the boatyard where Anja is stored. Not quite ready for the busy 8 days of preparation work. Every previous year, we have stayed at Les Chouettes. However, after many years of hard work, Chantal and Christian have sold the premises, moved to an apartment and purchased a motorhome so that they too can roam Europe. We could have stayed at a nearby camping ground or another chambre d'hôte or a hotel. Instead, we stayed on Simon's péniche in which he used to live with his mother before buying this boatyard. This was extremely convenient, being 50metres from Anja and was fully contained with all facilities. It is large, equivalent to a house in size. Only occasionally does he let people stay there as it has been his home for many years. So, we were very fortunate. Thanks Simon!

We worked hard every day but had the nights free. The boat was dirty from the winter and from dust in the yard so there was a fair amount of cleaning. However, inside was perfect with no dust, no mould, no water leaks; unlike some other boats, we never have problems like that. The three solar fans undoubtedly help. Because winter is often -12 degrees, everything freezable had to be emptied and/or treated with antifreeze before winter. All was good. We had packed up everything possible the previous year and wrapped the mast and bowsprit in covers. All else was in lockers or the engine room or otherwise inside the boat. We did have one sadness, having opened a porthole and then experienced very heavy rain which damaged 17 or more books.

As well as unpacking everything, we had to reconnect power and water and make sure everything was okay. We only had a problem with one tap washer- not bad after 8 months of storage. Because the boat had been in one position for 8 months, there was some minor sun damage to a few parts of hull paint and varnish on the sunny side of the boat. These incurred about 8hrs of unexpected work to fix. Scheduled work included replacing the timber on the boarding ladder, sanding and re-painting the rudder, re-gluing/sanding some timber on the mast support and then oiling it. The rudder had not been repainted for 6 years unlike the rest of the boat which we redid a couple of years ago. We also stocked up on provisions including that staple item.......wine.

Our stay encompassed two Thursdays, so Penny twice visited the truly excellent Migennes Marché. For the first time ever, David did not make it to the market. We returned the rental car (always a big relief) and were craned back into the river. Penny organised and potted geraniums and herbs during the cranage. The boatyard also applied tar where the boat had been on chocks over winter because we had asked them to apply two coats of tar to the hull while we were back home in Australia. There was one slightly problem with the cranage. I (David ) did not think we would fit into the space at the quay (which is supposed to be kept clear), because an English fellow had put his small (and cute) boat at one end. It was only when Anja was hanging over the space, with the 40tone crane at the edge of the river, that it became clear Anja would not fit. So there was hasty rearrangement and we made it- just- with the little boat centimeters from us and another boat and our rudder missing the boat behind by centimeters only because it was angled to one side. Our bow and bowsprit were leaning menacingly over the little boat which was less than half our width. We were too tired to go anywhere that day, so Simon kindly let us remain overnight at his loading quay where we had a long and excellent sleep. The next day, we headed off downstream on the Yonne River

Best Regards,

Dave and Penelooe

Annecy

Firstly, our apologies to those who received more than one (indeed, up to six) email notifications of our last blog. Hopefully the problem is now corrected.

It was quite late before we arrived at our next destination, Annecy. We landed at Orly airport, collected a hire car and drove almost six hours (570Kms)  to our apartment base for the next five days, Comfort Suites at Seynod, just outside Annecy in Seynod. This offered self catering accommodation close to the busy and popular tourist destination of Annecy. The roads we travelled were almost all Autoroutes which were much less stressful for the driver (and passenger) than the smaller roads in Corsica. The tolls added up but we could see the benefit in the three laned 130 kph smooth road surfaces, the viaducts flying over valleys and the tunnels going through mountains. We also appreciated the discipline of drivers in pulling out to the far (left ) lane only when they were actually overtaking a car or truck. No-one stayed there indefinitely so the far lane was routinely available for overtaking when required.

Our first visit was to Annecy itself, a short bus ride away. It is a pretty and interesting town set at the top of Lake Annecy with two canals in the Old Town enhancing the interest of ancient buildings and narrow alleys. We were there on the Saturday of a four-day long weekend and the streets and the lake were packed with tourists, especially in The Gardens of Europe and the adjacent foreshores where there were boats and pedal vehicles of all sizes and shapes available for hire. Chateau d'Annecy

There are high mountains all around but the town itself is quite flat. Later we walked along the Western edge of the 14km long Lake enjoying the expected reeds, trees and birds but surprised to come across a snake, the first we have seen in France. Our trip to Chamonix took us higher into the Alps, closer than ever to those snow covered peaks we had seen from the plane. View from Chamonix

Mont Blanc is very close to Chamonix but we still could not see the whole mountain; cloud cut off the top from view. We could persuade ourselves that we had seen Mont Blanc in two sections. We wandered around this very pretty town with its amazing views, with the River Arve racing along the length of the town, coloured green/ grey from the mineral deposits in the area.

On the theme of going higher each day, David next took to a hot- air balloon to rise over 2000 metres. The alps spread out beneath the balloon; sometimes the Montgolfier skimmed quite close to jagged rock formations but David was confident in the skill of his very experienced pilot. After almost 90 minutes, the landing was a bit tight, skimming the trees in the small field, but achieved safely. Inflating the Montgolfier

He then enjoyed a 30 minute drive through the mountains to return to the launch area. This ride was a gift promised for David's 60th birthday so it was only just redeemed before his 70th which is later this year, but it was worth the wait to be able to enjoy such stunning scenery. View from the balloon

Our trip to the Alps finished with a drive to Geneva, only 45 minutes away. There we took in the modern city, explored the old town and met a newly- discovered cousin who works there. We had a most enjoyable meal on the Lake shore with him, then back to our apartment to prepare for our return North to Migennes to get Anja ready for our last season of cruising.

Best Regards,

Penelope and David