We finally got back to
Cambrai on Whit Saturday. The Channel Tunnel 'waiting to board' car
park had been absolutely packed, but we found a nice grassy area
signed 'Picnic' where we parked and did indeed have a picnic lunch in
warm sunshine along with a million other cars.
We left Cambrai on the
Sunday and were surprised how few commercial boats were showing up on
our computer AIS screen, and really began to think maybe the locks
were closed yet again! Then Alex noticed that the radio aerial was
not pointing up into the sky as it should be and suddenly, all the
commercials appeared on the screen, but even then not so very many on
the go.
This meant that when we
reached the start of the Canal du Nord we were the only boat around.
The first lock at
Arleux was ready and waiting and so were all the rest to the very top
of the flight. We did the whole flight in 3¼
hours but the best bit was from Marquion to the top, which took only
2 hours 5 minutes! That must be a record! Every lock was open and
waiting but we had a moment of 'worry' when we could see on the AIS a
commercial coming down towards us. Would they hold the lock for us or
turn it round for the commercial? A close run thing – but they
kept it in our favour, so the poor commercial had a 10 minute wait.
And
so our first night was at one of our favourite moorings above Ecluse
Graincourt No 7, on top of the world in peace and seclusion, with
sunshine thrown in.
We
were on a bit of a mission of course, as the trip to the UK had
rather taken longer than expected and we were heading for the DBA
Rally in Auxerre, but still, when we met a lovely Dutch couple, Anita
and Peter on their barge BARRACUDA at St-Christ-Briost, we exchanged
drinks, viewings and gossip, then again the next night at Noyon.
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| BARRACUDA at St Christ-Briost |
Their barge, newly built, with every gizmo you could think of was SO
different from RICCALL that we viewed each other's barge with
amazement! The steering position on BARRACUDA was like something out
of the Starship Enterprise, complete with captain's chair on runners
to move it towards the myriad of controls (360º
bow thruster, autopilot, front and rear remote viewing cameras with
22” VDU screen, trolling valve, front and rear spud poles, multiple
navigation aids, lever controlled hydraulic steering etc, etc). And
they had managed to get 3 double bedrooms into their 22m of barge as
well as lounge, kitchen-diner and an outside seating and dining area
which could be raised or lowered (to cover it) at the touch of a
button!
However,
Peter did say that he was amazed how roomy RICCALL was when you
looked at her size from the outside, and was generally very
complimentary, which was nice as he has spent the last 15 years
running a boatyard, building and repairing barges, including his own.
We
spent a long day, for us - 68kms and 4 locks - and finally got to
Pontoise, where we spent another pleasant night on the town quay –
another of our favourite moorings.
Further on, and up the Seine at Bougival, we came across ANTHONIA and our friends, Jeremy and Carol, also on their way to the rally. An impromptu drinks and supper ensued and all agreed to make an early start to cross Paris the following morning. All went well, with each of us taking hundreds of pics -
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| Approaching the La Defense business district of Paris |
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| ANTHONIA in the distance, dwarfed by the Eiffel Tower! |
and thankfully 'our' mooring at the Seine-Marne junction was available as usual, for us to breast up. Carol suggested a meal out in a local French brasserie which was just great.
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| Our favourite Parisian mooring, opposite the Chinese exuberance! |
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| Watching the river cruise ships turn - great spectator sport
ANTHONIA left the next morning while we stayed to do more painting as the quay was at an ideal height.
|
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| Removing the masking tape is a tricky job when the paint is still tacky |
We
caught up with ANTHONIA and ESME when we reached Melun where they were
both already moored and we stopped early for the day as the wind was
becoming unbearable. The wind kept us moored for the whole of the
next day as well - we just don't do windy cruising.
We
all met up again at Sens - ESME, ANTHONIA, AURIGNY and several other
barges which we got to know once arrived in Auxerre. But we had a
laugh as we approached the mooring because Peter on Aurigny had told
us there was plenty of room to moor but the barge Sabrina of London
obviously did not know this. We had overtaken them in the lock (they
were kept waiting and had moored at the back so we had to moor ahead
of them) and when we were released we did our normal speed 8kph and
they came rushing past at about 12kph to take what might be the last
mooring spot. John apologised later saying they wanted to catch the
market, but that evening over drinks one of their guests admitted
they had actually been more worried about the moorings!
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| Rich man's country cottage on the upper Seine . . . |
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| . . . but there's still commercial activity to contend with |
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| Verrry tight fit |
ANTONIA and AURIGNY had an earlier arrival time at Auxerre, as did the
other barges so they left before us and ESME and RICCALL brought up the
rear sharing the locks and moorings up to Auxerre.
We
arrived at the last lock just up river from Auxerre at the appointed
time to be greeted by the rally organiser, John Best, who showed us
to the mooring position allocated to us. This was the first in line
after the lock but we had to moor well out from the quay with our biggest tyres
under the boat as it was very shallow. However, the advantages were
that we had no boat moored outside us, we weren't right in the thick
of the action (some might think that a downside, but not us!), we were
closer to the town and well away from the children's playground and
public outdoor swimming pool.
The
rally itself was a great success with a trip to a 'cave' (wine
cellar), wine tasting and buffet lunch on the first day, boules
competition, champagne reception and dinner on the second day, boat
race and evening BBQ in the Auxerre Port de Plaisance on the third
day. It was all very sociable and we got to look round several other
barges and several sets of people looked round RICCALL- some of them
prospective barge purchasers who were gathering information and
asking questions.
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| Thirty barges and 120 attendees - quite a rally! |
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| Jeremy of ANTHONIA winning the boat race |
Here's a link to the official rally video if you're interested:
But
on the way to this event we had had two failures: the LED UV
steriliser unit started showing a RED light instead of a GREEN one,
and the PV panel controller went phut! and stopped working. Pearl
Aqua were very concerned that the Aquisense unit had failed so soon
and agreed to send a replacement asap to Auxerre to wait for our
arrival. And the suppliers of the PV controller said they would do
the same. Both parcels arrived as promised and were waiting at the
Port de Plaisance when we arrived, so that was a great relief. Alex
installed both units in double quick time but while the steriliser
was fine, the new PV controller failed after about an hour! We asked
the supplier to send another one express delivery and we would wait
where we were until it got to us.
After
the rally our next destination was Reims, where we had arranged to
leave the barge for a couple of weeks while we returned to the UK for
Louise's son Robert's wedding to Amy. (Note to children – why
organise these things during the cruising season? So thoughtless!!)
So we were to retrace our steps to Paris, then up the Marne to Conde
and turn left for Reims.
On
our way to Paris we were joined by our old friend Derran, who was to
spend a few days with us. After some confusion as to exactly WHERE
we were waiting for him (Derran doesn't have a sat-nav in his car
which would have helped with our position coordinates) we finally got
him on board.
Onward
and our favourite mooring in Paris was again available and we had
supper in the same bistro as 3 weeks previously – again perfect.
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| Louise and Derran at the Isles des Meldeuses |
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| Well I never - a glass of wine (or more) to end the day! |
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| Lovely Meaux mooring again |
At
Lagny Derran caught the train back to collect his car but at Meaux
and Isle les Meldeuses he cycled back, which apparently made for
some interesting route-finding, despite taking our reserve sat-nav
with him!!
When
it came time for him to leave, he gave us a lift up to Cambrai where
our own car had been left, because we had worked out that the
journey to collect it from Reims would be extremely tricky, (4 to 6
hours with 3 changes of train), whereas collecting it from anywhere
on the Marne, from Reims, was much easier.
By
the time he left, Derran was becoming quite a useful extra
crew-member – steering, throwing ropes and helping to moor and
un-moor. It was lovely to have him with us, but we also appreciate
being just 'a deux', which we then would be for the rest of the summer.
A
few days later, we arrived at Vandieres, our 9½
out of 10 mooring, where we planned to spend a couple of nights.
It's a beautiful, peaceful spot with a panoramic view of the
champagne vineyards covering the valley hillside.
When
we arrived we were delighted to see a couple of peacocks on the
staging by the mooring,
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| "Hey, this looks interesting!" |
but you can have too much of a good thing,
and by the time they had come on board several times and tried to eat
Louise's flowers we decided enough was enough,
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| "We were hoping for a ride . . ." |
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| "This is a good perch" |
so discouraged them by
zealous use of the deck-wash hose and eventually they got the
message.
We
were now within a couple of days of Reims and our next UK return.
