The Home Stretch

We will mostly let the pictures do the talking in this blog. Do see our summary at the end of the blog though.

Montureux-les-Baulay 25 Sep

Very friendly fisherman and his wife. He has been fishing all day and caught naught!   

Ready for winter

Feed for animals for winter 

Old wash house

Another old wash house

A beautiful farm right on the fringe of town 

A very interesting bench

Gorgeous sunset

Conflandey

Island in the middle of town 

Chateau on island 

Port sur Saone

With Brits Martin and Sue Lea

Huge photos painted on wall 

Professional dog walker

Heading through Saint Albin Tunnel

"Remote" for canal gates

Ray-sur-Saone

Beautiful chateau

Wash house in every town. The ladies must have had a great time on Mondays!  

78 year old comptesse Salvert lives  in the chateau all by herself

Cedar planted in 1830!

On canal after Port de Savoyeux

Hammering in mooring pins

Mooring on the side of canals is just so quiet, peaceful and lovely 

Savoyeux tunnel

After felling a tree, stump being removed with special machine 

Gray

Martin

Sue

Their boat

Martin with eccentric harbour master

Having a braai

Martin and ukelele

Friend Irishman Michael Wray entertaining us with Irish songs

Attie went shopping, bought a lamp made from plastic and it was immediately refused!

The French love their garden ornaments 

Early morning fresh baguette

Thick morning fog

Seurre

Meringue

Interesting grape ring made from bread flour

Niki & Jon's visit: Verdun-sur-le-Doubs and Beaune

The marker on the wall showed the high water marks, maximum in 1983

Went to Beaune for lunch, celebrating Attie's birthday with Jon and Niki

Goat's cheese

Coco

On our way to Tournus. Fisherman all set

Beautiful autumn

Tournus is one of the nicest towns and highly recommended  

Old church with modern pulpit

The home stretch to Pont de Vaux

Final mooring for 2011

REVIEW OF SUMMER 2011

This summer, in 77 days from 27 July to 12 October, we travelled 1100 kilometres from Zaandam to Pont de Vaux in 240 hours of engine time consuming 895 litres of diesel. We negotiated 241 locks and took 3692 photos along the way!!

We made numerous new acquaintances, some who have become good friends, and everywhere we went we were assisted with ropes or whatever by other friendly boaters. Only on one occasion did we cross paths with an impatient fellow traveller.

Our summer cruise in Linquenda has been without question a successful and unique adventure, a personal revelation to us both and a great pleasure!

I believe this is because we have done something that we had both not experienced before and while we wrestled with doubts about our own abilities, likes and dislikes and had to put up with some inconveniences due to the incomplete renovations, we have mostly been awed by natural beauty surrounding the canals, the charm of the French towns and people, been joyful in meeting old and new friends along the way and saddened by the necessity of parting with their company.

Each place we visited was uniquely different but all displayed a dedication to some dominant local characteristic. These ranged from prominent ancient strategic defences mostly designed by the 17^th Century military engineer Vauban; a Notre Dame church with more years of history than one can imagine; reflections on contributions to conflict, particularly World War I, or core historic artisanal activities; a tranquil rural setting; a cultivated and planned agricultural purpose; distinctly local or artisanal products; or a dominant bourgeois presence. In some but fortunately not many towns we saw signs of decline in 20th Century economic fortunes. What struck us throughout was the historic importance and monumental investment in water borne trade and strategic infrastructure going  back centuries. This is still being generally well maintained by the French VNF, even though the former commercial transport has in many parts to a large extent been superseded by tourism and “Plaisanciers” or pleasure and recreational boating.

Cruising has both its exciting and quieter moments. Some of the long broad stretches can be a bit monotonous, especially when travelling at 6km an hour or less. Furthermore, I was for some part of the trip a little concerned about a tapping noise that had developed in the engine on the way which introduced an unwanted distraction to our total enjoyment .

These issues notwithstanding, there are remarkable highlights of the trip. Verdun with its welcoming approach to tourists and free electricity, mooring, water and transport; Huy the first really French flavoured town on our route; the Ardennes canal with its rural character; Dinant with its cosmopolitan harbour front and fortifications; Givet the first town in France; the Ardenne and Vosges regions with unending forests; Haybes’monument to their war heroes; the organ recital at Mouzon; the agricultural town of Lay-St-Remy; the mystical canal approach to the Epinal junction; the beautiful setting and chateau of Ray-sur-Saone; the fun we had with friends in Namur, Verdun, St Mihiel; Epinal, Gray, Corre, Verdun-sur-le-Doubs and St Jean de Losne; and, of course importantly, the food and wine has been delicious!

We look forward to our two-month visit to Pretoria, Sabie Park, Franskraal and Cape Town and getting away from the boat for a while, but we are completely sold on cruising and cannot wait to return to continue with the renovations and to prepare for next summer’s cruise. 

Bye for now.