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Published: August 29th 2010
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CS:
The early morning was again rainy but it lifted soon enough to a sparkling, sunny day. IJ and CS went for a walk, and whilst admiring one of the loveliest and most kemp gardens yet seen we met the owner and Capitaine of the port who glowed at our compliments. Having learned we are Australians he mentioned Wallis and Futuna (two minute French protectorate islands in the middle of the Pacific which coincidentally CS has visited in an earlier life). It transpired, we learned through several phrases of broken French, that his son had once been stationed there as a gendarme. It seemed however that that was all our fine captain knew about our hemisphere.
Chevroches is the epitome of a charming little rural village in the classic French style. It contained discrete but interesting signs describing some of its past glories in 3 languages. We slid gently under its southern bridge with a tinge of regret.
CS and PP on bikes this morning, CS's lasted about one lock before she got a puncture and when the pump did not assist she walked the beast the rest of the way to the next lock. EB, our in-house
engineer quickly repaired said device and CS could swap back to her bike again at the next lock.
Blackberries grow in profusion along much of the bikeway so in riding breaks CS picked a crop to be enjoyed later with dessert crepes.
We missed going through two close locks before lunch because the lock operator did not want any boat tied up between the two. Off again at 1pm we chugged on to Tannay, going through a lifting bridge and a double lock.
We pulled in at another Le Boat base for power and water. The location was not the most picturesque and the chain-saw sounding hedge clipper working full tilt when we arrived tended to spoil the ambiance, as did the French delinquents who threw stones at the ducks till PP yelled at them to stop in his best French, but ultimately the resuming rain chased them all away.
EB, PP and CS braved the long, long hill up to the town on their bikes whilst IJ, CJ and JJ chose to walk it. A few more supplies, including fresh bread, fruit and another bottle of red wine (a very fine selection made by EB
in what turned out to be the largest and most well stocked supermarket of our trip - go figure, another immutable law) and we were ready to cruise down the hill again.
The last of the trout turned into a tasty kedgeree for dinner followed by said crepes washed down with the last of the fine rose we had bought in the Cave at Bailly. We are provisioning cleverly now to ensure that we use our supplies up by the time we reach home base. A potpourri of spag bol tonight should do the trick.
PP at the helm today with JJ and CJ riding the tow paths will see us in Marigny by mid afternoon we hope. Overcast but clear so far and six locks and 3 lifting bridges to negotiate. If we are lucky with the sequencing we might make it by lunch time. Full of water and fully powered we pull out of Tannay for our last cruise.
A wonderful end to our adventure, we cruised gently through all locks and bridges till we got to Marigny just before lock closure time. Our LAST LOCK was manned by a delightful carrot topped student, studying
optometry (so CJ and JJ had lots to share with him, and his English was up to it) who allowed us to slip through with a minute to spare.
The journey to that point had been through another variation of the canal theme. High banks on the right with extensive overhanging trees meant we hoped not to meet oncoming traffic as it would have put us literally in the bushes. We did not meet any other vessel the whole day other than the odd one banked as we went past. We were pleased the huge Pinoche we passed was on the day before.
Through Dirol and it was clear we were still in timber deriving country with saw mills on all sides. One large yard had stacks of logs being doused with water. To prevent premature drying and splitting, we surmised?
Pulling into Marigny was bitter sweet. We had made it - our journey interesting, without rancour or major mishap; not without event, surprise or joy; full of adventure and new understandings. Plans born around a happy breakfast table on Lake Macquarie months earlier, fulfilled to our greatest expectations.
Again without overt design we all chipped
in after a lunch break to cleaning and tidying the vessel. A walk requiring some energy followed as we checked out our new small village, which turned out to be quite similar to the others. Quiet, without sight of more than maybe one or two folk, and the sound of the occasional barking dog and not a shop to be seen.
We stopped at a little Bar down at the lock and bought a couple of bottles of wine and some beer. We returned to the boat and soon the Burgundy Cruises operators, Lisa and Kevin, turned up and happily agreed to wrap up the transaction that evening and book a maxi-taxi for the six of us to Clamecy in the morning. This meant PP and CS could travel with the others rather than wait behind to finalise things.
The taxi arrived as planned dot on 7.30am and we were standing by. Many familiar little villages, and some others, flashed by as we sped into Clamecy to the station. Our driver left us there with a happy smile on her face and 70 euros in her pocket. The plans for breakfast at the station cafe before the cousins
boarded their train to Auxerre and Paris proved optimistic. No cafe, nobody and when PP did rustle up a charming gentleman in a nearby office he assured us, no train!!
Don't Panic: work on the line meant the alternative was to be a bus at around 12 o'clock. We were sure that was his explanation but later discovered the reason was a strike, a mouvement sociale. Only the French would term it so, CS felt the average Oz approach would be to think of it as a movement anti-sociale. However, this would mean CS and PP could join the cousins and get to Paris by 3pm and not have to wait till 8pm and also confirmed the wisdom of JJ and CJ not trying to get a Eurostar train to the UK until tomorrow.
Our friend at the station was happy to stow our bags so we all strolled back into Clamecy to find some petit dejeuner.
We returned to the cafe we had earlier rejected for lunch because it only served kebabs, and ordered what we wanted. The museum across the road turned out to only open on Sundays after 2pm - surprise, surprise! After some
pleasant strolling we settled at Mon Oncle bar to kill time and check our internet.
The bus awaited at the station and we and a few others took the trip to Auxerre, stopping at many of the small stations in the villages we had sailed through. It took us from 12.48 to 13.58 to travel what had taken us 11 days on the boat.
A quick hop across the platform and we were entrained on our way to Paris. So ends our canal adventure. We all go our separate ways in the morning. Stay tuned for PP and CS's next exciting installment - Barcelona, here we come.
PP:
Well, repel the boarders, man the poop deck, pipe the bosun aboard and raise the anchor - whatever all of that means. We've left “Bellequent” (the barge) and set sail on the autobus and train. Quite a surprise to see the man at the station at Clamecy , said we wanted to catch the train to Paris and were told quite matter-of-factly “Pas du train!” - which means “no train!”.
So as we “rail” off into the sunset, contemplating our barging about France and all of that “canal
knowledge” as CS so succinctly put it, we all agreed that it was a splendid idea, and a splendid actuality.
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Robyn Lake-Joekong
non-member comment
Brisvelle to Tba
Hi Susan and Peter Had a family day yesterday and went to see my first gr niece-Alice aged 4 wks in Toowoomba. It was freezing there and cloudy. Bris has another sunny Monday. Seem to be over the flu and just need to keep away from smokers with my asthma. Keep having fun. When do you return.? Robyn