Still Here

Saint Jean de Losne

Yup, we’re still here.  We had one and a half nice days and then the rain came back with thunder storms and now our outlook is this:

On top of that Terry came down with a nasty cough and flu so we have been cooped up here.  It looks like we MIGHT leave Wednesday and head south.

In the mean time here are some pictures from around Saint Jean de Losne, a town we regard as a little down at  heel given all the boaters that are here and which, with a little TLC, could be charming. Click on the pictures to make them larger.

The church is interesting with the Burgundy style roof. The traffic on the main highway through town and across the bridge hems it in.

 

 

 

 

 

The old hospital in one of the smaller “places”.

 

 

 

 

This commercial side street may have been thriving once but now one entire side is empty.

 

 

 

The Hotel de Ville (town hall). Perhaps part of the reason for the decline is that there are really three (small) towns together,  Saint Jean de Losne, Saint Usage and Losne across the bridge each with their own town hall, Mayor and staff.  Not terribly efficient.

 

The main water features here are the river Saone, the Burgundy Canal above us  Canal and the Gare d’eau (water station) where the marinas are. In the middle of the Gare d’eau are two overgrown islands. They have installed a family of goats on one of them to keep the undergrowth down; we have been hearing their bleats from our boat.  On one of the rare sunny days they came out in the open so we and the blue heron could check them out.

Plans ?

Saint Jean de Losne

Terry and Rosie are here and all is good, the bits of the boat are working, cleaning is progressing and even the weather has improved; time to make cruising plans. The key to planning is flexibility as anything can change, including our minds. 

Our rough plan is to set off south on the river Saone about mid week in with the end goal of Lyon. Along the way are the interesting towns of Chalon sur Saone, Tournus and Macon.  It will probably take us about 10 days to get there. Lyon will be our big city experience for this year as we are unlikely to get to Paris.  After an unspecified time there we will turn around and head back up the Saone and keep going north into the Canal de Vosges which goes all the way to Nancy and is supposed to be a lovely rural Canal.  And that is as far as we have got in planning. We will see how far north we get before we have to return to Saint Jean de Losne in order to fly home in mid-September. 

Some time in there we hope to go to the UK for a week or two to catch up with old friends, if we can figure out how to deal  with the dogs and the hassles involved getting them across the channel.

Lilou has reviewed this post and given it approval to publish.  More pictures next time.

Feeling like a home

Saint Jean de Losne

When the major projects get ticked off and the mess begins to clear the boat starts to feel more like a home and less like a workshop.  Since going in the water things have progressed in fits and starts as I did the beginning of seasons things as well as some upgrades that have been on the list for a while, new fuel filter, main fuse holders, new and better toilet and miscellaneous other things.  Learning more of those new skills I hope never to have to use again..

As the season picks up more boaters begin to arrive and activity picks up, as well as the social scene.  Old friends are welcomed, some new ones are made and others missed.  Lilou is making lots of new friends of both human and canine species. I need to learn French doggie talk as she gets fussed over by locals and I have no more idea of what they are saying than she doe.

After a couple of days on the quay by the canal we moved around to the marina with the help of friends, Pete and  Allison, (and Brian in the background)  after doing a  test drive up the river – all good. 

That was during a short patch of good weather ( about 4 hours), otherwise it has been pretty gloomy  and grey, cool with a lot of rain.  I’m done with this stuff, where is summer, or even spring?  Some perspective thnough:  I had complained to English friends about the crummy weather here and they just laughed at me – spoiled Californian/Australian.

A little bit of sunshine does change the whole feeling of the place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Something is happening in the water as the last couple of days have seen lots of fishermen (and their companions) floating around the marina.  I haven’t watched long enough to see them catch anything.

A couple more  days of projects and cleaning then Terry and Rosie will arrive and Armida will be much more than a home, she will be our home.

Armida Emerges

Saint Jean de Losne. France

She has been snugly tucked away under her cover in a forgotten corner of the boatyard for two and a half years now.. When Lilou and I got here after driving through the rain and hail from Charles de Gaul we were a bit foggy (well I was).We searched around the yard for a ladder to get up to the swim platform, unzipped the back of the cover then crawled across the deck to get to the door. Down the stairs and all was just as we left it.  The same comfortable salon and snug galley and banquette, not even dusty – except it was damn cold.  After rescuing the electric heater and coaxing it back to life (it is still reluctant) the eventual warmth returned cozy to the description. 

I don’t remember much of the first night other than having to crawl out for various bathroom duties and sleeping well. But the first item for the next day was to get the back section of the cover off so we could get in and out in a more civilized way.

The last week has been spent getting the systems back to life: electricity, gas water and hot water – all good.  And of course my favorite, laying on my back in the gravel scraping, sanding and antifouling the bottom and the bow thruster tube and motor. 

Life wouldn’t go on without the French bureaucracy.  “Yes we can get you a new code so you can access your account via the internet we will send you an SMS”, Guess I’d better get a SIM card for the phone first.  One Orange (Mobile Phone Co) store tells me they don’t have prepaid SIM cards, go to Dijon.  “On no we don’t sell prepaid SIM cards anymore  -you buy them from the Tabac”  Duh.  So buy a SIM card from the Tabac but they will cancel your number unless you fill out the detailed personal information form and send it with a copy of your identification via the mail!. An so it goes.  But now I do have one bank card (Terry’s of course), a phone that works but I can’t recharge on line, and our internet hot spot.  Progress the French way.

Yesterday was big day - we are in the water!  Armida was released from her hiding place after they removed the palette of batteries, the fuel drums and the other boat that were hemming her in.  Then she was towed out on the trailer with some very tight turns and lifted with millimetric precision into the water. 

I still have to get the engine going and lots of cleaning to do but it feels like we are on boat again.  Also we don’t need to clamber up and down two ladders to get on and off. 

Terry and Rosie arrive in 10 days and I am saving some cleaning and organizing task for them – don’t want them to miss out on all the fun.  They were smart to come later as we have had some pretty crummy days, cold windy and rainy.  Now it is sunny, I am wearing shorts and all is forgiven.

Armida Tavels Again

Our two year hiatus is over and soon we will be back.  We did get a good offer for Armida but we weren’t ready to give up this life just yet.  Lilou and I will return to Saint Jean de Losne on April 26th to get everything shipshape with Rosie and Terry coming on the 17th of May. No firm cruising plans yet but we don’t return until mid-September.

Hopefully there won’t be too much to do but it being and boat and being in France anything could happen.  (See post from a couple of years ago re Unknown Unknowns).

We often get asked where is Armida and how is she stored.  Thanks to Le Tabatha who maintains a great website about the canals there is now a drone video of the marina and area.You can watch it here:

At 1:29 you will see two orange roofs on the lower right.  Armida under her cover is the long white shape to the left of the far roof.

We have been inoculated to French bureaucracy with our recent application for our long stay visa so we are ready.  What could go wrong?

Stay tuned.
Rob

The Last Month with Armida

Now we are home in dry and brown (officially Golden) California after a very pleasant and relaxed August in France. Armida is out of the water in Saint-Jean-de-Losne and prepped for a long stay.

August started with the warmth of July continuing as we came out onto the Saone, and plopped down in Auxonne where we could sit under trees in the warm afternoon.  I revarnished the wood rails and Terry organized herself as a Seller at the local Vide Grenier in an attempt to lighten the boat.

Our fears of a hot August were unfounded as the French weather continued to be abnormal with lovely mild days for the rest of the month.

For our last cruise of the season we decided to head up the dead straight stretch of the Canal de Bourgogne to Dijon for a few days. Expecting a boring trip we were reminded of why we love this life with a couple of lovely villages, a verdant garden complete with Giant Sequoia and a tranquil rural stop, not to mention a very nice lunch.

We have been to Dijon a few times before and you may remember it was torn up while they installed a new Tram system.  That chaos has now moved on to Besancon and Dijon looks fantastic – clean, bright and both modern and ancient.  The Tram stops 100m from the boat and whisks you into the city center where the museums, galleries and buildings are fabulous.

It was back down the canal for two days to Saint Jean de Losne and the festivities.   By the time we got there the Quay was full so we rafted next to Peter and Margaret’s big barge Matilda on Friday, which also had music. French Celtic which was really great fun.  Our friend Glen (of Glen and Trish) was celebrating his birthday on the Quay. The town was celebrating with a fair, band and fireworks.  Saturday was the celebrations and a good time was had by all.

After that highlight it was back into the yard to clean, pack, tidy, winterize haul out and go. As we got closer to the end of the season we both realized that we are not finished with this life yet – we enjoy it too much and we have the boat just the way we want it now (OK an oven and washing machine would be nice).  So she is still for sale but unless someone makes us an offer we can’t refuse we will be back, maybe not next year but soon after.

So Armida’s travels may continue – we will let you know.

Boys and their Toys

Saint Jean de Losne
This afternoon, as we sat cooling off at the rural mooring by the campground here, the Gendarmes provided the entertainment.
The speedboat and helicopter zoomed up and down the river exchanging crew.  The helicopter hovered over the moving speedboat and lifted one of the crew out and zoomed off.  I think they tried a few times to put him back but in the end they just hovered low over the river and he jumped in for the boat to pick him up.  They did this about ten times up and back and then went home.  I suppose the skills will come in handy sometime but it looked like a fun way to spend a hot afternoon.