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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Tucking Armida In

Strasbourg.

Armida will not be travelling any more this year.  Today I will change the oil, winterize the engine and drain all the water systems.  Next week they will haul her out of the water and put her inside a shed until we return in April.  We have been cleaning and packing the last couple of days and last night we moved out into a hotel.  We were trying to remember the last time we had unlimited internet and hot showers we could leave running and are enjoying those small luxuries.  Now as for French TV…..

After we are done with Armida we will spend a couple of days exploring Strasbourg and then take the dogs on the TGV to show them the sights of Paris.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Late Season Travelling

We usually rented boats in the late season to avoid the crowds but this is our first experience with Armida and it is later in the season than we have done before, and we are further north so, you guessed it, it’s colder.  As I write this at 9am the sun has just hit the boat and is almost up to 0C (32F) outside after a minimum of –4C overnight.  It was still that at 8am. Armida has good insulation in the hull and the roof but the windows are not double glazed, nor are the walls around them insulated. With us inside generating moisture this means there is substantial condensation, so our morning task is drying down the windows and walls.  Today is a little hard as some of them are covered in ice, even though we had shore power and ran an electric heater all night and the inside temp stayed above 7.  We were cosy, cuddled together under our warm duvet, dogs on top under another blanket.  Any budding plans of wintering aboard Armida were put to rest – these cruisers are definitely 3 season boats.

Late in the season means less rental boats but this canal is a popular one and it is School Holidays in France so they are still about and will slow us down a little on our trip to Strasbourg.

Later that day – Today we went through 2 tunnels, the boatlift again, 21 locks and covered 33km so it was a long day.  The warmest if got was 7C and that was in the tunnel!  Still we are well on our way to Strasbourg and hope to the be there on Sunday, when the weather will add some rain.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

The easy way out

After musing over all the work we need to do to prepare Armida for winter here in Nancy where they can expect up to 8 inches of ice and who knows what other type of weather we are taking the easier path by heading to Strasbourg where they will lift her out of the water and keep her inside for the winter - and I will sleep a lot better for the next 5 months.

It is a bit of a shame as we were looking forward to two weeks of getting to know Nancy better, a town we really like so far, and also the other boaters in the port who have been very friendly, helpful and interesting.  Never mind, we will be back this way in the spring.

So tomorrow we set off down the Canal de la Marne au Rhine yet again, down a path we have already done twice.  This will not be a fun trip this time as the weather is cold and the best day in the forecast has a top of 11C (51F) with some showers mixed in.  We can stay warm by steering from inside but we have to go out for the locks every 15 minutes or so in some stretches.  With luck we will be in Strasbourg in 6 days

Friday, October 15, 2010

The Blog is back

We haven’t sailed off the edge of the world we have just been slack. After about a week in Nancy organizing things for leaving Armida for the winter and preparing for guests, the Udpegroves arrived.  They were our first guests on the boat and we didn’t know how well it would work.  Before they arrived had to clear out all the stuff from the V-Berth (the front cabin) that we had been using as a pantry and general storage room, and find other places to put that stuff – we did.

As it turned out it was fine and Craig and Susan where considerate guests and we all got along well – and the weather cooperated which can make a huge difference, so we could manage aperitifs and sunset on the back deck almost every night. We cruised out of Nancy on the Canal du Marne au Rhine.  This is a relatively recent canal and does not follow a large river. It passed through some industrial areas on the way out of Nancy and quickly became very rural and quiet, sometimes a little too rural.  The villages where very small and most did not even have a bakery, which disqualifies them from being a real village in France.  Fortunately we had supplies. 

2010-10 162

After Lagarde we hit the main cruising area which is well served by rental boats and the first such area we have encountered this trip so we got to make fun of the novices and their antics, and remember 2010-10 647our first cruises when we were like that.  Fortunately we did not have to share the locks with other boats very often.  This canal was  interesting for it’s technical features: there is one lock that is 15m (50’) high in one lift, two long tunnels (one 2.7km) and the famous Arzeviller boat lift where you sail into a trough that then slides 45m down the mountain side – it was very impressive. Craig has some good video

The canal then goes through a beautiful stretch of forested valley out of the Vosges mountains and into Saverne where we moored right opposite the Chateau de Rohan.  This put us in Alsace which is the most German of the French provinces, having been fought over by both countries for hundreds of years and only reverting to France after WWI.  And it looks very German with half timbered houses and bright colour.  Unfortunately the food starts getting very German too with lots of meats and sausages.

On the Updegroves last day we rented a car and drove down part of the “Route de Vins” to Colmar where we said goodbye.  The county was beautiful with Vineyards seemingly everywhere and absolutely gorgeous villages and huge ruined castles on the hilltops. 2010-10 792

It was fun being in a car after two and a half months and seeing things you cant get to by boat but it also felt like we had left our little water world for the other bigger, faster world where there is traffic, big box stores and lots more people.

Now it is nice being back on Armida retracing our steps to Nancy.

2010-10 970We had our first “dog overboard” incident when Rosie stepped backwards off the dock trying to get on the ladder.  Fortunately is was a low floating dock and Terry was there to fish her out. But as we had no hot water they both had a very cold shower to clean off the canal water. 

The weather is still lovely but getting colder fast and with rain predicted for Friday evening and below freezing temperature by Sunday night.  The forecasts here are not reliable but it is feeling like it is time to start tucking Armida in for the winter and preparing to head home to head home to California.  We should be back in Nancy in a few days to start doing that.  So now the blog is back but it won’t be for much longer as we head home on November 3rd.