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Friday
Got up really early and after breakfast finished packing and off to catch 3 trains (2 x Metro and 1 x long distance train) to Joingy to pick up our boat. We arrived well early and after a necessary coffee walked the 1 km with all of our baggage to the boat depot. Left our baggage there and after a bit of a hassle found a supermarket. Did a big shop and then thought 'how the heck are we going to get this back to the boat'
Managed to get a taxi and eventually after a short briefing on the boat, driving lesson etc. we set off at about 4.30 pm.
The first lock was only about 15 min up the river, and then we had to wait for about 20 minutes before it was free from the downcoming boats. About 4 boats heading our way all crammed into the lock and we managed to negotiate it very well.
Second lock just as successful, so after another 15 minutes up river we tied up at Pont de Laroch, with an American couple who had just been canal boating in UK and had lived on a boat for 8 years in the States, and settled down for a couple of wines.
Dinner at the restaurant next door and now because it is getting dark, we are all off to bed. Very limited battery power, so when it gets dark we go to bed.
All for now,
Saturday - Boating
We all had a reasonable night considering our relatively cramped quarters and hard beds. All woke up about 7 am to a stunning scene out of the bedroom windows, river flowing past, sun rising over the water etc. After breakfast we headed off for quite a long day to Auxerre. Nine locks, all different with varying degrees of success with docking. Jan and I on the front of the boat trying to throw ropes over bollards, and Paul clinging on the back trying to secure the back.
We keep seeing people we have seen at various stopping points, locks etc. and we soon become friendly. We were hoping to arrive at Auxerre early enough to secure an overnight berth at the marina with free electricity and water, but could only find a place on the right bank near the tourist area, with lawns, restaurants etc. Tied up in front of an outdoor restaurant with no trouble, and then went off to find a supermarket to stock up with food. It was quite a walk and we bought a few things including some extra pillows, as the ones in the boat are rubbish. By the time we got back to our boat to our horror a disco had set up right outside our boat. We all tried to ignore it for a while but fortunately there was a space behind the boat behind us and we walked the boat down the quay and anchored in behind the Americans (Charlie and Lari). We were all so tired that after a dinner on board (chicken and salad) we all had a wonderful nights sleep.
The next day we had breakfast and then did a 45 minute tour in an electric car a bit like the Pope Mobile. Auxerre is a wonderful city with many cathedrals, ancient buildings and huge history. The tour was very informative and when we got back to the Information Centre we decided to do a walking tour ourselves (after the obligatory coffee). We walked back up to the main centre quite a little way above the river where we took many photos, bought some baguettes for lunch and generally drank in the atmosphere.
Back at the boat we motored over the other side to the Marina and filled up with water (after discovering that we had been parked overnight right next to water and power for free!! Damn)
We discovered that our new American friends were waiting at the Marina to motor off with us and we then spent the day following them down the canals, through 7 locks to the small town of Bailly where we decided to spend the night. Bailly is well know for the enormous caves in the hillside that were created by the mining of rock for the building of Paris. These are now used by a huge wine company specialising in Sparkling wine which is exported all over the world. There are 4 hectares of underground galleries and cars drive in and park 200 m into the hill. The guided tour doesn't start till 2.30, so missed out today.
Charlie (boy) and Lari (girl) went up to the caves as soon as they berthed while Jan and I prepared dinner for us all - and Paul.. We did marinated chicken nibbles in the oven, Paul cooked sausages on a little barbeque that someone bequeathed to us, we made a salad and cooked some potatoes. Charlie and Lari came back with4 bottles of wine and we polished off 2 bottles of very nice sparking wine very quickly. It had been a very hot day and we were all suffering from sunburn and were pretty tired.
After a lovely dinner al fresco on the banks of the canal we settle down for a few stories and a bonfire lit in the tiny barbeque bowl. This proved to be very successful and kept us all warm while we exchanged life stories, sang a few songs and opened another bottle of wine, this time an aperitif, like a light dessert wine. We all went off to bed at about 11 pm and slept soundly.
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