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. 

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 our 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.

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.

We 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.