Underway At Last

It has been six weeks since we arrived in France and in ways it has been a very frustrating time as we have battled French Bureaucracy and attempted to get a couple of things fixed on the boat. Suffice to say we now have our Titre de Sejours, after three trips to the Sous Prefecture; our new roof panels have arrived and been fitted; and the Victron charger/inverter unit has been sent to Holland for repair, is back and again working perfectly. We still are hopeful that the little motorbikes that we have been riding for eight years will be registered sometime this year and allow us to reinsure them and go riding again. Apparently when bought 13 years ago it was not necessary to register bikes under 50cc. That changed sometime since so for the last four of five years we have been riding around rural France oblivious to that fact. At least we were insured but this year when we went to renew insurance we were asked for rego. After several fruitless attempts to achieve this we handed it to Delphine, our French friend and she has gone head to head with a very obstreperous public servant. All applications must be done by mail on approved forms, but as Delphine explained, several times, we don’t fit the boxes that need to be ticked. The classic response was, “The reason we do all this by email is so we don’t have to deal face-to-face with people like you.”   WE would not have had any chance at all of getting past that so we are very grateful to have some good help in this case.

All other years when we have arrived in France we have left port within a week so this extended stay has allowed us to be a lot more sociable with our cruising neighbours. We have attended a couple of farewells for people leaving boating life, yes it happens to all of us sometime, had different friends over for dinner and went as a group to visit a Cheese aging cave in one of the nearby villages. This family has leased from the state a disused railway tunnel, lined out the front portion as a very smart reception area and installed behind that 300m of racks plus a very effective cooling plant where they buy-in and age cheese before selling it worldwide. A hugely successful enterprise with eight shops in France, others in Switzerland, Australia, UK and USA. The American side is so successful that they take 80% of their production. We concluded the day with a very generous cheese and wine tasting. Definitely our sort of tourism.

It has also been a good time to welcome on board some visitors and although we weren’t able to cruise they had a taste of our lifestyle. Sophie and Reto came from Switzerland and as well as samples of Swiss cheese we had a lesson in rosti making and a demonstration into Stomf, a Swiss bread. Both delicious. Sophie was our Rotary exchange student 10 years ago. We share some good memories of her time with us. Next on board was Delphine and her two very active boys. Florent (5) and Julien (3) love the boat and were very upset that it wasn’t moving. Delphine had explained that a part was missing, ie the Victron which we had sent to Holland. The boys burst onto the scene determined that they would find the missing part. They even had the binoculars out scanning the port to find it. In spite of not moving we entertained them and they entertained us with all the things little boys like to do. We attempted fishing in the Loire that involved a baited rod passed to Tony to hold while they did much more interesting things like throwing stones and splashing. While there we watched six guys launch their two canoes and one traditional Loire barge and start off on a ten day journey downstream. The weather was perfect (30oC) and the whole trip looked idyllic. However there was a big thunderstorm that evening and it rained all night and as you know continued unrelentingly. Not sure how far they got. I would imagine to a very cosy bar.

Last weekend when the Wheelhouse roof panels had arrived and the Victron was fitted we rewarded ourselves with a weekend away and caught the train to Grenoble to spend a couple of nights with Delphine and Francois and family at Vaujany. They have a seven acre property quite remote from the village with a very roomy and delightfully restored farm house. What an interesting village Vaujany is. It is situated close to the Lac de la Grande Maison which generates Hydro-electric power and as part of the agreement the energy company has with Vaujany the village receives 3 million Euros a year. As a result the 300 inhabitants must be the most fortunate of any people in the whole of France. The village has a massive ski lift from its centre up into a range of other lifts and fields, an ice hockey rink that is of a standard that the French National team practise there, an undercover heated swimming pool and all facilities are provided free. We watched Florent being outfitted in his Ice Hockey gear, pads for shins, knees, groin, chest, back, shoulders, elbows, face mask and helmet. I asked how much all that would cost thinking of the cost of soccer gear in Australia and the answer was nothing, all provided. Then we went to watch him and his friends having a great time on this wonderful rink with a couple of coaches paid for by the village. With all those facilities Vaujany has now become a popular ski and hiking resort and there are numerous chalets built into the side of the valley. It goes from 2500m to 3300m and one travels between each level either by gondola or escalators which were running all the time even though we saw no one else using them. As well as ice hockey the boys get free skiing lessons in winter. Can you imagine a better place to bring up kids? Their house is set on seven acres surrounded by mountains and forest. We took a drive further up the road to the Col de la Croix de Fer one of the famous mountain climbs on the Tour de France. The markings from last year’s tour were still on the road and we saw numerous cyclists all along the way.

We arrived home Sunday, spent most of Monday doing last minute adjustments to the new roof and finally left port on Tuesday. The longest we have ever been in one place. How people winter over beats me. We set off on the Roanne Canal, stopped for the night half way down and managed a quick trip to Emile Henry outlet store at lunch time.  After all the rain the countryside looks so lush. Cattle up to their stomachs in grass, and the birdsong is lovely but the best sound we can hear is the engine purring as we make our way towards Burgundy. We are now on the Canal du Centre at Paray le Monial. Last night we dined out with Kiwi friends, Roger and Ruth, whom we first encountered on the Meuse in 2008 as we desperately sought a mooring late one evening and they kindly invited us to moor alongside.