Barge Date:  07-16-2021

A Few Locks, Stop, a Few Locks, Stop

 

 

 

Don't forget Marianne's FB site for lots more photos. https://www.facebook.com/BargeAdventure/

 

We have been in the rainy village of Gissey-sur-Ouche for a day and half doing little if anything. Just us
and 2 large barges tied up at the VNF. Told by our new VNF friend that these barges are owned by VNF. Why they would need such items I do not know. Maybe seized in a drug raid.

 Since we entered this canal we have had VNF workers traveling with us to set up the lock as we approach and to re-set the lock after we pull out.

This means they control how hard and fast the water is let into the lock; we are going up hill so they are always filling the lock for us. Here is a video of a typical rush of water. Is it too much too fast? For our barge, its weight and shape, you can see that it holds a steady place on the wall. The water rushes past us, hits the rear doors then bounces back up the other wall.  Sometimes there can be a different story but for the most part we seem to handle the water well.  But you have to stay with the rope just in case; no wandering about. I suppose if we asked for a slower fill they would do it.

 

 

 

 

 

A few other updates. Here is a picture of the finished bow mast. Kind of a busy place. If you look
closely you can see the radio antenna going up the mast then extending above it. Mast should never come close to the top of a tunnel or bridge.  I just have to keep an eye and ear out for those close calls. Click on the picture for the original size if that helps.

 

 

 

On the inside I have installed two old brass lamps in the wheelhouse.  For looks only. But a bit interesting.

We found our first canal travelers today.  Mark and Annie on Anna. They are taking their time going south to have their boat taken into a dry dock for inspection.  They have two big fluffy dogs on board.

Took a walk around La Bussiere-sur-Ouche, our current stop. Here are some pictures.

There is an old abbey close to the canal that is now a hotel and restaurant.  Only for the high rollers.  A nice suite will go for 600 euros per night.  Dinner starts at 99 euros and one of their wine bottles, they suggest for you, is only 290 euros. The grounds are very nice but you have to look over a wall when it is low enough to see the sights.  Front gate is controlled from inside and they obviously have cameras to watch who might sneek in. I waved.

Have stopped for the day in Pont d'Ouche. Supposed to have two eating places;  found both closed due to COVID. No bakery. The marina that is here is lacking, but new owners announced for 2022 who will also run one of the restaurants.

Will do 11 locks next day.

 

Barge Date:  07-14-2021

On Through the Rain

Strange, one day to the next. Since day one on this canal we have had weeds everywhere.  There is normally a channel up the middle of the water that is mostly clear but the sides are deep with long stringy plants. Many canals in France have this problem.  For some boats it interferes with the engine cooling. At a minimum it takes more  power to just go up through the channel as the weeds retard the flow of water to the prop.

But the morning leaving Plombieres the water is totally clear.  And it has been through the next 15 locks. Why is this the case? Beats me. But it is a lot nicer to have this clear water ahead of you.

The boat is working well.  Still can't blow the horn.  Minor problem with the electric toilet but that is understood and under control. Been asking for some help with the battery monitoring system and hope to have that under control soon too. Been cool and grey today so I started the diesel fireplace and it lit up like a charm. Both bikes now have working tires and are ready to go.

Last night we had a meal across from us on the canal at some fancy place. The plate art work was interesting with the use of wild flowers and pea compote.  The food was just so so.

Today we did 9 locks by 1pm and then took the lock worker on board to have our lunch.  He works for VNF for six months of the year and then he tries to write movie scripts.  He is giving it a good try.

July 14 in France today; all day in fact. We are in a little country village, it is raining and we probably will not see or hear fireworks. We will hold here tomorrow since it is supposed to keep raining, and then move ahead. Big tunnel coming up soon.

New view from the wheelhouse without the dingy.

 

Barge Date:  07-11-2021

Plombieres-les-Dijon

Had a fine stay in Dijon.  The mooring was good; quiet and just a few other boats traveling.  A small cruiser with a Swiss family on board.  Hans and Maria, their daughter and 2 grand kids. They too are traveling up the Burgundy and we traveled with them through five locks. Using the bow camera I am very comfortable getting up close to the lock door. Plenty of room for the cruiser.

Lots of weeds in the water and you can feel the drag on the boat; the weeds prevent the water from flowing easily to the prop. We have been told that further up the canal the weed situation is much better. On the trip to Dijon the lock workers seemed to be aggressive with the water coming into the lock. Not a problem for us but wonder how they would have done it if the boat had been smaller. The workers on this second leg with two boats in the lock seemed to be less aggressive with the water.

We stopped for the day in Plombieres-les-Dijon which is  just north of Dijon. A small, compact village but seeming to have a plan for how they are growing. Nice to see the architectural changes from the very old to more current. 

The port is a nice setting and is dominated by a charter cruise company called Elegant Waterways - https://www.elegantwaterways.com/- owned by a couple from Colorado. We spoke with the operator, a British fellow, and learned a bit about the business.  Almost all cruises are booked by Americans. You book the entire barge for about $60,000 per six days. Eight  passengers and a crew of 6. His secret to success, he told us, is to not offer any options.  They plan everything and that is the way it is. Sounds about right.  And the Americans are easy to work with, he says.

We had a nice dinner at a port side restaurant and beat the crowd coming in later for the European Cup match between UK and Italy.

Down by the lock is a monument to King Louis XVIII and Pope Pius VII. They met here in 1816 as France attempted to heal relations with the Vatican. I have been reading about Napoleon but more to come about this soon. He had something to do with the relationship to the Vatican across Europe.

We will push on tomorrow and will stop for the last grocery store in some distance. The cruise operator says this is a beautiful canal and to look forward to it. He also mentioned that the machine used to remove weeds broke last year and is only now being fixed. Great.

 If a picture is small just click on it to get a larger version. 

 

 

Our lock workers

Helping eyes at a lock.

Notice the lock worker leaning into the handle that opens a door. A big push.

Dinner?  No, I let it go.

 

 

 

Barge Date:  07-10-2021

To Dijon

We have made the first move on the Canal de Bourgogne or the Burgundy Canal. This is one of several commercial routes for north/south travel.  We have not seen any commercial other than one hotel barge.

Lots of weeds in a canal that is quite wide;  normally there is a clear path up the middle. When we tried to pull over for the night the weeds and the bottom worked against us. Spent the first night at Longecourt-en-Plaine. Used a ramp to get Marianne off the boat. 

The restaurant I entered in Google said it would be closed by the time we got there.  Good start.  

There is a "smallish" castle in town; in the same family for 400 years.  A hotel if you want to stay there and rates are reasonable. With restaurant closed we saw that the bakery was open and made some purchases

Pastry - Interesting - so I got it

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On the canal we are followed by 2-3 lock workers on motorbikes or small trucks. All the locks are manual in operation and having 2 people to do the work is good. We are going up at this time. The second night we are in Dijon, a city we have traveled before to by train.  The marina we are in is nice but filled with weeds.  We are on a quay that is away from the marina and may not be charged. In fact the marina side looks ugly and not sure it is in operation.

On the barge I have begun work on confirming air draft by taking measurements that I can know are right on. At the wheelhouse I needed to add water to the port tank to level the boat to get a true reading.  Had purchased a piece of extruded aluminum t-bar that I clamped to the edge of the highest solar panel and which could also be extended over the water.  A weighted string was lowered to the water and the string was marked.  The air draft matched the reading I was given when we bought the barge plus the new solar panels.

Then I made measurements at the bow where I have a small, permanent wooden mast. Here was the problem and why I wanted to do all of this.  This mast was well above the height of the wheelhouse. If entering a bridge or tunnel with low clearance I would have been given notice by the sound of the mast breaking and 2 cameras hitting the deck. This could have  been a reality this summer as we will be facing some low clearances.

So I got out the saw and cut  off about 25 cm of wood so the top of the mast is now about 11cm lower than the wheelhouse. To the mast I will be adding a metal rod that will extend beyond the top of the mast and is designed to rake against the top of a bridge or tunnel and make noise that will alert the ever vigilant captain that he might be about to have a collision. Hopefully in time to stop the barge.

We have been into the city center several times.  A very nice, clean city with lots of pedestrian streets. Does not have as many tourist stores as we saw in Strasbourg.

Thomas Jefferson, slave owner and President, was here as first ambassador to France. Was Sally with him?

Below is a picture of the route we are taking to get to Auxerre and more from around Dijon.

Manual biocide dispenser

 

 Info on Automatic Notice of New Blog Post

Google has changed how you receive a notice that I have made a new post for this blog. I will be the one sending you the notice.  

You can still sign up by entering your email address just below the main picture at the top of this page (or any page). Click on the "Submit" button and you have been added. If you can not remember what you might have done in the past and you submit twice I will catch it.

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If you do not want to receive a notice of a new post then just tell me and your email address goes away. No feeling hurt (much).

Tim

 

Barge Date:  07-05-2021

On the Move

We have made the first leg of this year's travels.  Departed Auxonne with a little help from the captain using his little boat as a tug. The wind was very strong all day and this would be the first of two assists we would need to get through the day.

Made a few mistakes as we progressed. For our first lock both Marianne and I forgot to note on which side of the lock the signal mechanism was located. With a bit of pushing we were able to reach the metal rods that control the filling or emptying of the lock. Travel on the Petite Saone was a pleasure.  Passed a few rental boats and some fishermen.

We reached Saint Jean de Losne in just a few hours. Here we were hoping to have some metal work done on our rails around the boat.  We have four bollards at various locations that are under the rail. When not careful the line you are working ends up going  over the rail. I want to cut out a short section - 5 or 6 cm -  so the line will pass through the rail. We were told by H2O that this is a quick job and we would be on our way by Wednesday morning.  After some miscues on where to tie up we found our-selves between two boats that H2O is working on. I hope they are true to their word.

Had two nice meals in town.

Tuesday  noon and no one has approached the boat to take a look.  Marianne did speak to a worker  inspecting the boat next to us so maybe that will help.

Walked around the work basin to see what is here.  Five large hotel boats are tied up or out of the water. Business must be zero. The boat pictured below has a history of unfortunate events.  Several months ago she tipped over. Took a lot of work to get her back up.  Not sure the owner knows what has happened. Signs of a fire somewhere in the past.

 

Around the towns everyone is wearing masks in the stores and restaurant (until food arrives). The weather continues to be unkind.  Today grey skies and rain off and on; temperatures in the high 60s.

And as I type the work on the railings begins.

 

Barge Date:  07-04-2021

Life in Auxonne

 We made it to France.  Seems so easy now but that is because there was almost no interest in COVID  and if we had been vaccinated. On leaving, Delta asked almost no questions and at the border booth at the airport they just asked to see Tim's passport (Marianne, in the EU line, had to show her vaccination card).  One night at our hotel near the Gare de Lyon to rest up then the TGV to Dijon where we took  the local train to Auxonne.

The boat looked terrible on the outside but dry as a bone inside.  I have been able to get all the various systems working so we have toilets, electric, gas, etc. The only problem has been engine related.  The 2 batteries were DOA.  A boater down the pontoon gave us the name of the vendor he was using and our 2 new batteries and his 1 were delivered.  We insisted when we  purchased over the phone that they needed to take out the old and put in the new. No problem, they said. This might have been easy had we a better place to put the batteries but no, it is down in the engine room then back on a shelf; no standing room.  The friendly Frenchman who delivered the batteries came alone. He and I dropped the heavy batteries onto a board, slid them over, then had to lift them up.  Not work for an old man.

Changed all fuel filters and water separator but had trouble getting fuel to the last filter. Left it alone overnight and the fuel had made it. Engine caught quickly with new batteries but then died out. Mentioned this to the marina captain and he knew the problem immediately. He got his tools and came over and showed me where to let even more air out of the delivery route to the cylinders.  I learned something. Now everything is working except the horn.  Found a wasp nest in trumpet and cleaned it out. I am still trying to get it going.

Was concerned that the fuel might have water or bugs in it.  Drew some fuel out of the sumps on each fuel tank and it looked like virgin olive oil.  Perfect.

Boater down the way let me use his electric power washer.  Had a lot of power and I was surprised how well it worked so I bought one.  Great at stripping loose paint. But the exterior paint looks old and weathered.  Will need to do some work.  The deck paint is peeling badly but I will not attempt any work on it other than to pressure wash the loose stuff.  Wood on wheelhouse is looking bad.

Was able to get rid of the dingy.  Looked good in red on the cabin roof but holes were a problem.  Now we have a more sleek look.

All the little do-dads I have made for the boat are being used and making everything better looking and doing what they were made to do.

The marina is a bit dead. Other than the people on rented boats coming in for the night just a few other occupied boats. The weather has been off and on rain and too cold for us. Rich knew we were in France and gave us a call. Have spoken with the kids. Had a visit with Lon and Pat on C.A.R.I.B (Chill And Relax It's Bargetime)  They live in St  Pete, Fl so not far away. They have departed to Belgium - if they can get in - and Holland. 

This being July 4 we are waiting for fireworks.  May have to wait until July 14.

Then on the 5th we start the summer tour.