The Adventure Resumes

April, 12th 2009 (Tony).

There are few things as pleasurable as cruising along a canal through serene French countryside, the purring throb of a diesel engine beneath your feet, the sun shining through the open cabin doors. For four days since we left Roanne we have had perfect weather. From all accounts the winter in Europe was particularly cold — everyone says so. But now it is well and truly Spring, blossom everywhere and the trees bursting new green shoots which will shortly turn into fresh green leaves; and baby Charolais calves as white as snow. We arrived in Paris on a freezing day. Scarves and gloves were essential accessories, but that was it. Next day seemed like we were on a different planet and every day since has become noticeably warmer and more pleasant. Short sleeve shirts are now the usual garb and it may not be long before we're back into shorts again...

We had the best summer ever in Australia. Five months of glorious weather with barely a day that we didn't swim in the surf; and unforgetable times shared with family and friends. It was wonderful to find everyone healthy and happy. Some grandchildren had grown surprisingly taller — two are now taller than me, whilst others have grown decidedly more beautiful.

On the flight over I must confess we both felt that maybe we had achieved everything we had set out to discover in France and were we just reluctant to let go? But on arriving back in Roanne it seemed as if we had simply returned to a second home. Within an hour friends called to welcome us back and so began a resumption of socialising and catching up with other bargee's doings over the past months. Our neighbours, Christian and Charlotte, had kept a watchful eye on our boat and had obviously scrubbed it before we got back as it positively gleamed. They kindly invited us to dinner the first night. It was so nice not to have to worry about preparing a meal while we unpacked and restored the water supply and got all the pumps and systems operating again. Sable's boiler broke down before Christmas and Christian arranged to have the boat winterized in case the pipes froze, which in light of the cold that occurred they almost certainly would have. However, the central heating still functions but there is a fault with the hot water heating — thank goodness we have an electric back-up for hot water.

So here we are on the Canal du Centre, making for Montchanin where I am hoping a boat mechanic can effect repairs to the boiler and get the hot water sytem running again. As it happens that is just the place we also need to be by 14th April to greet Kristy (No 1) and Cameron off the TGV from Paris. They are on a two-week flying visit to Europe via Dubai and have planned to spend a couple of nights with us and check out this cruising life. Although we have cruised every day since leaving Roanne it has been leisurely and hassle free boating through now-familiar countryside, stopping overnight at Melay, Digoin, Paray le Monial and Genelard — all beautiful towns with marvellous patisseries! Montchanin is the pound, or summit, of this canal. After climbing up through twenty seven locks from the Loire valley the canal then descends through thirty four locks down into the Saône. We have encountered very few other boats so far. It makes one feel slightly guilty that all these lock-keepers turn out for so little traffic. And by-the-way, apart from the shops in Paris seeming to be deserted there does not appear, to us, to be noticeable effects from the "GFC" on the 'local' economy. This year we weren't the first to leave port but there was quite a gathering at the lock to send us on our way. The port folk are an eclectic mixture but all are very friendly and caring.

For a country with so many churches, almost all Catholic, it is astonishing to find Easter is barely observed. Good Friday is business as usual for all shops and tradesmen though Monday is a public holiday. However the canals and locks still operate! Unlike Australasia where everyone is over hot-cross buns and chocolate Easter eggs long before the event, Europeans save for the real occasion. Any hint of Easter is kept under wraps until only a few days before when suddenly the chocolatiers go berserk with amazing displays of chocolate sculptures and animals, as well as eggs and stuffed bunnies, in their windows. The pièce de resistance was a display in Digoin which featured a full size eagle, wings outstretched defending its nest from a marauding snake, all constructed from chocolate and sucre. The Easter significance of the display escaped us but the execution of it was totally lifelike. Needless to say the queues of customers is huge and slow moving as everything is specially wrapped or packaged for gifts to family and friends. And everyone eats chocolate at Easter.

Forget all those tales about French tradesmen being inept and unreliable. Another myth busted. As no one was able to help us get in contact with someone to repair our drier, one day when I was on the way into town I passed a shop selling appliances and advertising that it also does dépanage (repairs). After explaining what we needed to the charming woman in the shop she promised that her husband would phone me later in the afternoon. I had barely got back to the boat and was in the throes of explaining to Sally what had transpired when there was a knock on the door — father and son had arrived and within twenty minutes had our machine fixed. Then, in the weekend, exasperated with our uncomfortable old mattress I got online and emailed a couple of companies for quotes on waterbeds. An outfit less than 35 km from Roanne responded on Sunday and delivered free, a new waterbed mattress before lunchtime on Monday. A trip to the bricolage to buy some timber for the frame etc followed by some basic carpentry and varnishing and by Tuesday evening we were sleeping soundly in a cosy warm waterbed. Just like home! Hey, it is home. And Sable doesn't mind the extra ballast in the least. The biggest pain was getting the old mattress to the dump. French déchetteries are amazing — incredibly clean and tidy and just about everything is recycled. A staff of four make sure everything goes in the correct bin and before you leave they offer you free bags of compost to take home! Our thanks to Jeff and Jane for the use of their car.

On the first Sunday after we arrived in Roanne the port held a Vide Grenier (garage sale) whereby anyone could set up a stall on the quayside to sell off their junk. A number of locals also took advantage of the opportunity to off-load stuff and the playground where we normally play boules on Sundays (picture) was full of trestles laden with trash. I can't believe the amount of crap that changed hands. Bits of old metal, broken tools, discarded furniture, used clothing, you name it... We sold an airconditioning unit we could never imagine using (Sable's previous owners bought it for their dog); our old barbeque; a massive suitcase; plus miscellaneous other junk. After it was all over we thought of dozens of other things we should also have put out. Next year... So the outcome of the sale was an excuse to immediately buy a decent barbeque. We now have a beaut little Webber gas bbq that I can't wait to initiate. Kristy, you're going to eat steak one night in France! With a nice bottle of Franch red, of course. After all, we are right on the border of Burgundy and Charolais. What could be sweeter?