Wrap up

Tranquilty in France

Well, a year has whizzed by, populated by a new daughter in law, a wonderful visit to the Cape, a new grandson and various short outings to Sabiepark or locally for birding, but sadly no barging.

My weekly chemo treatment, while dramatically bringing down the marker counts, has unfortunately kept us at home in Pretoria for the most part. Also, the fact that we could not find an appropriate self-medicated maintenance treatment that would allow us to go to France for an extended period during the European summer, begged the sad question of whether we would in future be able to do so for extended periods. We had to face the teary question of whether to keep or sell our beloved Linquenda into which so many hours of care and repair and our entire hearts had gone for close to five years. Rudi and I cried our eyes dry over the question but realising that any boat not regularly utilised will simply deteriorate. With my prognosis we needed to put her up for sale. We also then realised that our stated two-year project had actually been completed much in accordance with our plans.

We look back on the whole process from buying, mooring, gutting and rebuilding in both Zaandam and Pont de Vaux, cruising down from Zaandam through Amsterdam, Belgium and halfway down France over three interrupted years as the most fun we have had together in our 40-year marriage!!(celebrations coming up in December this year). We would do it again in a flash if circumstances permitted.

Dream new galley

While still yearning for a full summer of cruising, continuing to make new friends and seeing new sights and all that goes with it, we decided to put Linquenda in the market with our good friend Peter Coupland from www.dutchbargesforsale.co.uk. We are not in a distressed sale mode and somehow silently hope that she will not be sold before the 2014 Spring/summer. We would have to cross over to Pont de Vaux before any sale to remove our personal items, finalise a few touches, and assist any new owner in recommissioning all the systems after the winter. However, and hopefully if she is still available, we would love to do some cruising on the Nivernais canal.

So that, I believe, brings you all up to speed with where we are and what we are doing about Linquenda. In conclusion we both can recommend this lifestyle for it's tranquility, beauty of the surroundings you pass through, the quaint and unexepcted along the way, the glorious food, the surprisingly reasonable cost of living, if you desire to do it that way and the host of restaurants and other attractions that could make it a life of extreme luxury if you desire that style. They co-exist in the same space. Then of course mainly the people you meet along the way. They have been in our own experience with only one exception, absolutely wonderfully warm and sharing characters and most have become life-long friends from all over the world whom we keep up regular contact by Skype and email. 



What a clean beauty, and centenarian next year!

While two living on board a barge might sound like a recipe for claustrophobia and tension, we found it no problem at all and in fact the whole exercise brought us very much closer to each other with greater appreciation for each other's personalities and skills as well as our surroundings.

We can throughly recommend barging to anyone reading this!

 Thank you all for reading our blog

Completion of Renovation

Our original plans were to do a few weeks work on the renovation with my brother Carl, fix the engine knock and go cruising for a while. However, the engine had its own plans and my efforts at fixing it all turned sour and left us with option B of replacing it. I contacted my friends in Zaandam to look out for a good replacement and I did some of my own research on the Internet, particularly on Marktplaats.nl, which I found has the best coverage for boating things. I also enquired from the marina workshop what they would charge for removing the old motor and installing a replacement. It seemed to me that a sound replacement would not be possible at much less than Euro 4500 and with the workshop replacing the motors I was staring at an Euro 8000 job.

Eventually just before we had to depart back to South Africa I enquired from a local vintage car restoring company whether they might be able to take on the complete job. They came immediately to look at the task, suggested that I not replace the motor, but for them to remove and disassemble it and replace & repair what was required. They provided me with a very reasonable quote for the entire job and we accepted. They have now reported that the injector timing back plate had cracked and was the cause of the trouble. This has now been replaced, the engine has been thoroughly cleaned and tested to be in tip-top condition and they have run the motor successfully in their workshop. All they are waiting for is kinder weather to replace the motor in the boat.

In the meantime we spent a really pleasant summer based in Pont de Vaux. It is a small, but "sympa" village with just the right amount of convenient facilities locally, good public transport connections, a big town but 15 kms away, good restaurants, welcoming municipality "Mairie" and a very nice marina. We were able to rent a car from the garage across from the marina when we wanted to venture out for errands or a pleasant trip out. The four months we were in Pont de Vaux was put to good use as we were able to really complete the main renovations we had intended and have now transformed Linquenda from a project boat to a lovely habitable and homely barge with all comforts one might require. The electrical system on board is such that one should be able to cruise and stopover without needing shore power in summer practically independently if one follows a strict power conservation approach and for four days if no restrictions are placed on electrical use. Fresh water reserves of 1800l should last two or more weeks. However, the facilities along the routes one might wish to travel in France are quite adequate and both fresh water and electricity is practically always available in overnight stops close to towns. Our motoring diesel tanks hold a total of 550l and this will provide for 150 hours of cruising. Our household heating diesel tanks hold 220l and this will last the entire summer and might need one refuel over winter.

The overall cost of the renovation has worked out more or less spot on the original budget and we are confident that should we need to sell her in future we might be able to turn a profit but should at least recoup our costs, even including our own many hours of sweat capital. The objective was not a financial one, but the implementation of a dream. This has been a long and at times painful task, but we would both do it again if we had to. Even the living costs in Europe are not prohibitive if ones accommodation is sorted. Our monthly expenditure on food, drink, eating out, transport, holidays, electricity and household fuel and medicals never exceeded Euro 1700 per month and were as low as Euro 1100.  

While some of the photographs have been in previous blogs I have put together a short series demonstrating the transformation of our barge Linquenda over approximately eighteen months of work on her.

Before we started

Beautiful but in a sad state

Salon

forecastle, sail locker and crew quarters

Galley

Strange layout

rudder fixings

old shower room

general grime

The breakdown phase



Piepschuim...piepschuim..piepschuim (styrofoam for insulation)!!

old forecastle and mast pulpit removed and headroom created



electrics dismantled 

what a mess!



All kinds of goodies hidden away and to be sorted

old gas box removed

The cleaning and rebuild

670 litres of bilgegunk removed

bilges clean and regreased

new underfloor installed

Clean, cleaner, cleanest!

portholes being renovated

Piepschuim II, piepschuim II, piepschuim II

tool room

new cladding started after insulation 

Paint job preparation with oxide anti-rust paint "mynie"

broad expanse being prepped



internal walls being erected

new windows

Temporary bedroom in salon

new entrance and stairs



New Head




Temporary kitchen

New main cabin

New kitchen

New guest quarters installed by Carl



New old dining table



coachwork repainted

deck repainted

Ceremonial send-off of last of the piepschuim!!!!

 

Sparkly finished job. All painting by craftsperson Rudi!!

I have uploaded a short video to youtube on the completed project please see http://youtu.be/2AmZ-pYTTi0

Although we were not able to visit David and Joy Willers in Provence as planned earlier due a breakdown in the ablutions system in their centuries-old house, we were blessed with a short but entertaining visit from them on the boat on their way back to London. David originally had diverted us from the retirement idea of spending a year sailing on the Mediterranean towards investigating the alternative of barging on the European canals.... an idea that we had obviously followed with gusto and it was thus fitting for them to be our first guests to use the newly renovated guest quarters and make suggestions as to how we might improve its comforts. Joy also advised on and got stuck into restoring the lustre of the inlays of the old wooden table we had purchased for the dining area. David, we are eternally in your debt for providing us with this suggestion, which has turned out to be such fun and so rewarding!  

Since the last blog we had the opportunity of a wonderful visit from our Scots friends Alan and Sharon and we drove up to visit friends Lisa and Paul on "Meander" who had moored up for the coming winter on the Burgundy canal and Michael and Rosemary on "Mabel Rose" who were at Nevers and returning to Decize for overwintering. We had hoped to join up with them on the Nivernais, but as mentioned, our boat was going nowhere. The drive to them and our visit there was spectacular and lovely to catch up with good friends. Lisa and Paul have bought a house in Spain after renting there for the winter and Michael and Rosemary were planning to visit their children in Australia. Both of these friends have decided to put their boats in the market to pursue further travel and other interests.

Sharon & Rudi reminiscing

Alan and Sharon

Lisa and Paul



Sceptical Rosemary and frog

Michael and Rosemary



fellow traveller

 

We also had the opportunity of meeting up with Heidi in Geneva where we spent the weekend with Niki and John Low

Eventually we witnessed with sadness the departure of our Australian neighbours Arley and Melanie following many hiccups with their boat, generator and pumps and flooring. They have also decided to put their barge up for sale as the cost of travelling from Australia and constant work instead of cruising on the boat just did not gel.

Arley and Melanie depart on their beautiful tjalk "Beatrix"

Dominique, one of our fine French neighbours



Dominique's companions

Other friends we had met in Zaandam, ex London cabbie Steve and his lovely wife Georgie emailed early in summer that they had restored their boat in England and were wanting to come to France and planned to rush across to see us in Pont de Vaux. I had immediately answered that rushing on the canals in France is neither possible nor necessary. The leisurely cruise is what it is all about. I advised them that they had plenty of time to reach their ultimate destination in the South of France if they took a relaxed trip and could easily meet up with us in Pont de Vaux in October. This they did and spent a week with us there. We took time off to visit the surrounding area, having borrowed Ted Low's car for the last few weeks of our sojourn. Ted had left for uni in the UK.



Lunch with friends Steve and Georgie



Now who looks more like a South African here? Kaalvoet nogal

We attended one of those a special occasions in France...a regional food festival celebrating the pork tripe sausage Boudin and other delicacies. After arriving at the venue at 12:30 on a dismal and wet Sunday and parking in the parking lot with only 6 other cars and few people in sight we were somewhat dubious about what to expect. We were absolutely bowled over when we arrived at the tent entrance. It was chock a block full and we were led to the table with the last 10 seats. The tent held close to 1000 people all at long communal tables, the background noise was convivial. and we heard that they had prepared 3300 lunch and dinner plates for the weekend. The service was unbelievable and we had our carafe of local Maconnais red wine and the first course on or table within five minutes. I had the boudin, which I had first encountered at Givet, the first town we moored at in France. There it had been a cold white sausage as part of a plate of local charcuterie or local meat cuts. Here at the festival it was a black rather unappetising looking hot sausage served up with mushy peas no less. It was brilliant comfort food. Rudi had poulet de Bresse which was equally tasty and well prepared. Desert and coffee did not disappoint and when the total bill of Euro 39 arrived we were more than pleased.

Local black Boudin being consumed with gusto

All welcome at the festival

Some sights around Pont de Vaux:

After winterising the boat we departed for Geneva for a wonderful weekend with the Lows. Niki and I celebrated our birthdays that week with a Saturday night dinner in the company of their son Ted and daughter Katherine with her husband Steve who had flown in from the UK for the ocassion. They also performed a sad and touching ceremony of spreading the ashes, on their regular walking trail, of their beloved dog Scruffy who had been part of the family for many years.  

An insect hotel. Swiss ingenuity. 

OK this blog is about Linquenda, but I though it appropriate to add a little bit about our return to home base in Pretoria on 17 October and of other things that light up our lives. We are privileged indeed!!!

The return of our household goods from storage, minus in excess of R30 000 worth stolen by the packers! 

Son Philip and his lovely bride Rolanda, married on 3 Nov

Our other love, Sabiepark and what it offers

Our family on Christmas eve. Philip, Rolanda, me, Spencer, Monique, Pieter and Riaan

Christmas lunch with friends Eddie and Jacqui and Philip's in-laws Lofty and Nicolene and brother-in-law Roelof



The main man: First grandson Spencer!!

While I am back on a 6-month chemo programme we hope health and circumstance allow us to return to Linquenda for a few months of cruising commencing May/June this year. Till later then.