Canal du Centre

26th April 2009 [Sally]

Two weeks of glorious spring weather and we have seen the trees change from bare stalks to a fine mist of green and they are now all in full leaf. The change from winter to spring is a delight to all but for us who are unused to seasonal changes it is even more so. In the month of cruising we have seen the primula, blossom, forsythia and tiny violets on the banks give way to displays of iris, peony and great swatches of wisteria clinging to walls. The crops are also responding and on either side we see the green of winter wheat and yellow canola that is bright enough to hurt one’s eyes. The absence of water fowl has been marked, save for the occasional male duck. All the mums must be nesting so we expect that in the next few days we will see a plethora of newly hatched ducklings to take up the surplus bread we accumulate on board.

Our time on the Canal du Centre was very leisurely; we reached Montchanin at the very top of the canal in time to meet up with our first visitors of the season. Kristy our eldest granddaughter and her friend Cameron arrived by train from Paris. They had had a frantic two days in Dubai and the same in Paris so the very sedate form of travel with us was a welcome change. We cruised down through lovely countryside to St Léger d’Heune where we dined at a restaurant we had frequented before. It is run by a young English girl who saw a derelict bar from the deck of a hotel barge she was working on, thought it had possibilities and now six years later she is the owner of a good little business. France must be full of such possibilities but unfortunately the French seem not to see them. The next day we arrived at Santenay, the beginning of the Burgundy vineyards where we gave our visitors a walking tour of the town and then loaded them on the motorbikes and sent them off through the vines. That has got to be one of the best ways to appreciate it all as you are so close to all the action- and there is always some activity. The vines have been pruned over winter to one shoot and at the moment this is being clipped to the support wire. It is slow back-breaking work, just one of the many days of labour that goes into every bottle of wine.

On Friday we took a ten-minute train ride to Beaune. To young people from the Gold Coast where nothing is more than 30 years old a town as ancient as Beaune is such an eye opener, and nothing more so than the Hospices de Beaune. Built in 1443 as a Hospice for the poor it still stands today as a jewel of medieval architecture with its ward room with the beds all made, chapel, pharmacy, and kitchen all sited around a wonderful courtyard. The original donor spared no expense in setting it up and there are several masterpieces of art but the one that stops you in wonder is a 15th century polyptych, 9 panels depicting the final judgement. A wonderful piece of work and an even bigger wonder that it has survived. It was found abandoned in an attic at one stage and in a crazy act of censorship clothes were painted on the naked figures. The Hospice continues to receive a substantial bequest from the original donor, as he also gave them 29 hectares of vines and the proceeds of these are auctioned off in November of each year. One of the biggest events of the year. After lunch Kristy and Cameron went off on a tasting tour of Burgundy’s finest while we meandered around the old streets. Beaune was occupied during WWII and as it was such an important railhead the Frenchv expected fierce resistance when they tried to take it back. On Sept 7th 1944 the Free French surrounded the town and on the morning of the 8th woke to find the Germans had departed so Beaune was liberated without a shot fired. It was then a race to contact the Americans as it had been arranged that they would provide bombing support. Fortunately that was cancelled in time so nothing of the town was lost. Next day we sadly said goodbye to our visitors and put them on the train to Strasbourg, then to Frankfurt and Amsterdam, while we continued our very slow pace.

Next stop Fragnes, about twenty houses, no shops but a wonderful new quay complete with electricity and a very nice restaurant all for 6€  a night. It was such a pleasant place to moor we ended up staying for four days. Quite an assortment of fellow travellers, some Scots, British, and fellow Australians so we socialized, swapped travelling stories and shared an occasional glass of wine in the evenings while waiting for the sun to go down. Fragnes is only 5kms from Chalon sur Saône, so we were able to make good use of the cycles and visit the town. Last time we were there it was cold and windy so on a bright sunny day we decided to do what we do best and soak up the atmosphere with a walk around town and lunch in the square. It took three attempts before we found a table;the financial crisis has not extended to the French curtailing their déjeuner.

While in Burgundy we have explored with both the cycles and the motorbikes.   Burgundy has an extensive network of bikeways;they call it the VoieVere,(Green Way) and have constructed 800kms of well-paved and signposted rides through the most picturesque parts of the countryside. So many more people are using them than even last year, might have a lot to do with school holidays of course. We met a Swiss girl, cycling from Basel to Nevers who had never left the green way. Our efforts are very insignificant compared to that.

Our Anzac Day commemoration was confined to flying our largest Australian flag on our very short mast as we travelled up the Saône to Verdun sur le Doubs and watching the video of the special day Tony shared with Peter last year at Villers Bretonneux. Verdun sur le Doubs is having its annual springtime garden fete today so the square is a collection of stalls selling a huge collection of seedlings both flowers and vegies. We have weakened and now have three new window boxes with petunias, pansies and lettuces. We’re off tomorrow for St Jean de Losne where we hope to get all the maintenance done in time to continue up the Saône to meet our next visitors in May.

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?