July Stories

Auxonne

There’ve been no blog posts for July. We have been busy with guests and not covered any new territory.   Instead of cruising to new locations as  as we have done for the  past three summers we’re now local favourite stretches  with friends and family while staying close to our home base.  Guests have rewards of their own, not new locations. 

John and Alice, friends and neighbours,came for three short days.   We did short cruises from Dole.  Highlights were the fireworks, conversation and nice wines.  Unfortunately when the boat wasn’t moving it was quite warm with high humidity so walks and sightseeing we not to be on the cards. 

Then Tess and Tony came for four days.  We cruised from Dole to Besancon.  They loved Dole, the market and music at the local bar.  Besancon was stinking hot.  They walked up to the Citadel the first morning and returned to the boat where Tony dove into the river for a swim to cool off.  it was so hot that Terry, the dogs and I all did the same.  They met people their age who worked on a large hotel boat in port with no visitors at the time.  The were invited on board, shown around, served drinks and champagne while they all conversed and learned about each other and their countries – a nice thing.

After they left we meandered back down to Saint-Jean-de-Losne to do laundry and stock up.  Next and now we are in the historic town of Auxonne where a young Napoleon spent three years in military school.  He  then decided he wanted to be emperor.

This year we have met many new cruisers the last two weeks as well as catching up with old friends, Alison, Pete, Frank and Jill. 

Now some stories:

A Sunday in Besancon

There is always something happening in France in the Summer.  On a Sunday afternoon Besancon offered three consecutive concerts at different locations.  Covering Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music –all free.  There was a fourth concert in the main theatre to finish it off, but we had a picnic to go to.

Not just any picnic.  “Le Grand Picnic”. The city filled the main pedestrian street with tables and chairs in one long row (with breaks), invited everyone to bring their own food and wine then get to know their neighbours.  Sort of like the experience you get in a cosy French bistro but on a grand scale.  We went with Kent and Heather from Maryland (who must be the youngest US cruisers on their own boat) and everyone had a grand time – even the dogs.

Journey to Dole and St J De L.

Summer Weather

We’ve had hot weather before – every year in fact, but the last three weeks were bad because there was no  break.  There’s a lot of water and moisture here so when it get’s hot the clouds build up and you usually a get a nice (or not so nice) storm to cool things down every few days. Somehow it has managed to stay just below the storm threshold and still be hot enough to be uncomfortable.  Cruising is often the coolest thing to do on these hot days, especially on the rivers where there is more chance of a breeze.  Stopping in the locks brings the heat right back.  After days of this the steel boat begins to hold the heat.  Nights bring some relief (late) and the DC fans I brought early on have more than proved their worth.  Terry uses her “chillo” to lay her head on.

We have spent a lot of  time on the Doubs which is a clean river so the swim platform and rescue rings have been used for the first time and even Terry has been in for a swim.  We took the dogs in too but they did not appreciate it until they were removed in a cooler state.

Finally we’ve had three days of cooler weather, one of which was solid rain all day as we motored up the Saone to Auxonne. Fortunately there was only one lock but that was enough to get us very wet. 

 

Weir(ed) and Wonderful

There are not many moorings between Dole and Besancon because a lot of it is river and the canal portions have very rocky banks that are OK to rub against in a rental boat but not your own shiny boat. On the trip with Tess and Tony our planned mooring place was full, as was the next one, so we kept going and were rewarded with a space between two other boats where the canal leaves the river right by the weir with an old factory on the opposite bank. Did I tell you it has been hot?

This was just the place to sit by the cool river, get a little breeze and listed to the rushing river.  Tony ventured out onto the weir and was not swept away.  He got to get close to the ducks that were walking up the weir and occasionally sliding down and the resident heron.  There are many of these weirs on the river but only two you can moor next to. Each weir seems to be owned by a single blue heron who sits in the middle of it all day presumably catching fish.  We think we saw a mate at one weir but otherwise there is only ever one.

Returning from Besancon on another hot day we got to the same weir for a late lunch and got nabbed the prime spot on the end.  A French family (grandparents and grandchildren) were already there sitting in the middle of the weir letting the water wash over them.  So guess how we spent our afternoon.  The evening with the Bimini down, the full moon and the peaceful water was sublime.

Fireworks

Fireworks are an essential part of summer in France and there are many excuses for them but the big one is Bastille day.  In Some towns they on the 13th and others on the 14th so you can have two days worth if you move around.  We opted to get our Fireworks fix in Dole with Alice and John as they were being set off in the sports field opposite the mooring.  We moored bow in so the stern got an unobstructed view. After a delightful dinner in town we repaired to the back deck, cracked open the bubbly and watched the show, including the tethered hot air balloons lit from below.  Very nice.

The next day we took John and Alice on a short cruise to a nice mooring in a little village at Choisey.  It was full so we rafted next to another boat and had lunch.   At that time the test of the sound system for their festivities began, very close and very loud.  Investigation found that their festivities started at 11:30 and went to 2am.  We old folks hightailed it back to the peace of Dole for the night.

Here is the front page of the local paper in Dole for Bastille day with a special feature on the international boating tourists.  They chose a good example don’t you think?

 

Rental Windows

Armida has broken two windows this year.  Not her own but those of rental boats that dared to mess with her.  The first was a big steel rental boat in Chalon-sur-Saone that misjudged the current and slammed her stern in close to Armida’s bow.  A well placed fender pushed the intruders off after collapsing the window on the receiving end. 

On the rural mooring in Rochefort-sur-Nenon a Locaboat didn’t get their ropes on soon enough to stop backing into Armida’s bow and shattering their back window.  Glass everywhere and a couple of  little scratches on our rail.  Anyone want to make it three?