Romantic Rueils...


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Europe » France » Île-de-France » Rueil-Malmaison
August 28th 2010
Published: August 28th 2010
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We moored up on the pontoon at Rueils close to a gorgeous weeping willow tree. Unfortunately it was raining by now, so we took advantage of the free Wi-Fi and uploaded pics, checked e-mails and Skyped Mum and Dad, jade, Matt and Lillie and Jody and Kate. It was lovely to talk to them all and to see them - Lillie is growing so fast! During our conversation with Jody and Kate we heard they were going to Sete in the South of France over Christmas to stay with Jo’s Mum. We arranged to meet up with them and decided that Sete may not be a bad place to spend the winter - it’s right on the Med with lots of ex-pats about so Mike and I should be able to get work if we want it.
In the early evening as we were chilling and having a beer before dinner, Mike saw a big blue barge slow up, with a woman on the front holding a rope. They clearly were looking for a place to moor. He jumped up and waved them over, signalling that we would move our boat back to make room. We got off and walked our boat back, then Mike went to take their ropes while I carried on making dinner. When Mike came back he said the couple were called Adrien and Benedicte and had their daughter on board. He had chatted to Adrien about keeping the boat here and said his English was really good. It was a novelty for us to see another young couple on the river as so far all the other boaters we have met have been retirees. As we were sitting down to dinner, they cycled past in the rain and waved hello. We carried on our dinner and Mike suddenly seemed transfixed by something in the air. A look of extreme concentration came on his face and he shot out his hands and clapped. I thought he’d gone mental. ‘Miaggi’d him’ he announced. Turns out there’d been a mosquito there and Mike had caught him Mr Miaggi style (minus the chopsticks).
The next morning Mike went to help Adrien and Benedicte off and they told him they had a permanent mooring in Paris that they were returning to and that we were welcome to tie up alongside them on the Paris leg of our trip. Mike and Adrien exchanged details and we waved them off as they left. We were so happy to know we had somewhere to stay in Paris as our pilot guides had all told us it was tough to find moorings in the centre.
For the rest of the day we cycled around Rueils’ many bike paths, exploring the parks and woods around it and the lovely old town centre, with its immaculately kept lawns and gardens and fabulous metal band sculptures on the town hall green which made us think about all the musicians we knew back home. After a few hours cycling, we headed to the restaurant square by the boat ofr lunch. It was not as sunny today as it had been yesterday; in fact we kept getting showers, so we had a far greater choice of where to eat. I had spotted lovely cosy looking Italian in the corner and suggested we went there. It looked really full, so we prepared ourselves for disappointment. However, the lovely waiter squeezed us in between another 2 couples and took our order. The food was fantastic, the service great and the atmosphere great. We decided to order dessert too and it was one of the best decisions we’ve made - my tiramisu was light fluffy and delicious, I took 20 minutes to finish it, just trying to make it last! After lunch we found the weather had brightened up so we went for a walk in the nearby Parc D’Impressionistes - a gorgeous place full of flowers, willows, arbours, water lilies, climbing plants, little ponds and beauty. Rueils is a jewel of a place that I would definitely visit again.

We’d accidentally left the fridge plugged in to mains when we’d arrived the night before and it had flattened the batteries. There was no electricity access on the pontoon and the boat needed battery power to start it up, so Mike decided to get the generator running. We headed back and he got out his tools and switched the battery power and sockets off just in case. He fired up the generator. It wouldn’t start. I felt like I was in the way, but Mike wanted me to turn the keys so he could try to spark up the generator, so I hung around watching and being confused until asked to turn the key! After a few goes it started, juddered, shuddered then stopped. Mike tinkered around some more, then I turned the key again. This time it worked and kept running. He looked really pleased and announced he’d leave it running to charge up the batteries.
Soon, I heard him swear and switch off the generator and smelled something like electrical fire. I went out to see what was up and saw his bottom half hanging out of the engine bay, with more muttering and swearing. ‘What’s wrong?’ I asked. ‘ I think it’s blown up the battery charger, and I don’t know why. It always worked before.’ I was completely at a loss to help so, after checking there was nothing I could do, I ventured out to find a market as our supplies were all running low. When I returned with the fruits of my trip, Mike was looking forlorn and annoyed. ‘Still not working?’ I asked. ‘Yes,’ he said ‘ but there’s a problem with the alternator. It’s throwing out unregulated current and it’s fried the circuit board of the battery charger.’ I nodded like I knew what he was talking about. In reality I had no idea. ‘So, what does that mean for us then?’ I asked. ‘well, the batteries charged enough to get the boat going so we can move on in the morning like we planned, and I’ve put the fridge on gas but we need a new battery charger. I think I saw a garage on our bike ride, I’m going to see what I can do’. ‘ Ok, I’ll put the shopping away and see if I can get on-line’.
I went into the cabin and fired up the laptop. Nothing. The battery had died. ‘Can we charge the laptop baby?’ I called. ‘Yep, there should be enough power left.’ He switched on the inverter and I went to find the laptop charger. It was plugged in behind his toolbox. We’d missed it on our shut down of sockets earlier. I pulled it out and took it inside. The wires felt really hot and didn’t smell too special, but I thought the smell was from the fried battery charger. I plugged it, flipped the switch and ... nothing. Mike came in. ‘It’s still not working.’ I said. ‘Let’s have a look,’ he replied. As he picked up the charger by the transformer bit, he swore and dropped it. It was boiling on that part and he had liquid on his hand. It seems the dodgy alternator had broken our brand new laptop charger too. ‘I’ll see if I can find a computer shop as well’ he said and off he went.
An hour later he returned with a car battery charger that would boost our batteries enough to keep the boat going but hadn’t seen a computer shop. He still looked annoyed and was very quiet. ‘Don’t worry,’ I said ‘ Nothing caught fire, no-one got hurt, the boat still works and we’re heading toward Paris tomorrow, we’re bound to find a laptop charger there.’ It was now fairly late, so we got an early night so we could get up early and head to Port Van Gogh in Asnieres.



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31st August 2010

catch up
Hi Carly and Mike, Just caught up on all your blogs and have had a great laugh at some of your antics and comments, especially about you being a pimp Carly!! You both look really healthy and happy and I am pleased everything is going so well for you both. I have got over being envious of your adventure, but still have dreams of selling the house buying a boat and joining you! Strangly they happen more frequently as Friday approaches and the return to school!! Lots of love Jacqui

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