Barging in Europe

Well, we got through the Pouilly Tunnel yesterday. Some said Anja could not make it and they were right if the water level was at the "standard" level. If it was, we would not fit by 10cm and would be "wedged" in the tunnel.

We had received a profile of the tunnel from a German couple and from this, thought there was a chance of fitting. But they had scaled it incorrectly (by 10% which was not in our favour). Anja allegedly had an air draft of 3.1M which was the clearance at the edges of the aft end of the Wheelhouse roof.

The real air draft turned out to be 3.18M on one side and 3.20M on the other. Not much different but higher not shorter. So, it certainly looked as if we were not going to make it.

The good news from the Eclusier was that the water level is down 30cm from the defined height. Indeed, it seems that it is always down by this amount exxcept, perhaps, in times of flood. As we are on the top of a mountain, this is not very common.

So, we could fit (just) but there were some sweaty problems. We had to keep the stern exactly in the centre of the tunnel. If we deviated by more than +-28cm, then the roof would hit the tunnel and who knows what would happen. I (Dave) woke in the middle of the night before rather worried about what we were about to attempt.

Anyway, we signed in and were given an emergency radio and sheet of paper to hand in at the other end. We had 1.5Km of channel to negotiate before the tunnel and this proved very useful as practice.

We kept to about 4Km/hr which is the minimum for steerage and also slowest for the engine  and also likely to cause less damage if hitting the roof with our roof.

It proved to be a challenge. Penny constantgly monitored our distance from the walls while Dave steered. If you are too far to the left, you have to steer left to swing the stern right- but then the boat starts to go left so it is easiest to correct that with a blip on the bow thruster (a propellor which pulls/pushes the bow one way or the other). You could also hit the throttle with the rudder to one side but that is a bit dangerous in a restricted tunnel with no room to move.

Well, it was indeed nerve wracking and the "prop walk"continually moved the stern to the port (left) side. (Prop walk is sideways movement of the boat caused by the propellor spinning in a constant direction). We hit gently twice- once on port and once on starboard. Fortunately, all that happened was that we shaved about 10mm off the top of the gutter on the back edge of the roof on either side. In each case, for some reason, the bow thruster/rudder just did not work- I think the bow thruster battery was getting rather depleted.

So, we made it! Then (as seen in this photo) we gently scraped the fenders on the bigh left turn out of the tunnel. The attention was not as good after almost an hour underground.

The Pouilly tunnel goes through the top of a small mountain and was built in 1820. It is amazing and goes under the town (or part of it). It used to be used for freight and commercial traffic. What an engineering masterpiece which still works and is in great shape.

All the best,

Dave & Penny

Well, we got through the tunnel. Here it is from the "far" end. Picture by a German couple who were photographing it when we emerged. "Shaken but not stirred"- story coming!

Moored by ourselves in the quaint village of Crugey. Sadly, no Boulangerie here any more. We rode high into the hills to see the view from an old Chateau. Here is Penny arriving back agt the barge.

"Room with a view". We snapped this from the barge as we cruised beneath the Chateau. We have previously driven through it and having just completed a strenuous bike ride to another Chateau, did not ride up there.

We have seen many old and pleasant villages on the Canal. Here's one.

Well, here we are in a quaint old village called Veuvey sur Ouche. The Ouch River parallels the Bourgogne Canal for a lot of its length. We have done over 50 locks since we left St Jean de Losne and things are going well. We get into the lock which is only a minor challenge as Anja despite

her bulk and 36 tonnes steers well. Just as well because there is only 25-40cm clearance on each side as we enter and depart the locks. Unlike the Brittany system, so far all of the locks have been virtually identical with bollards of the same shapes in consistent locations. As we pull up to the bollard, Penny lassoos it with a mooring line (with spliced loop) and tightens it on our own bollard. The Eclusier closes the gates, opens the

valves and up we go. David hops off when the lock is almost full and opens one lock gate while the Eclusier does the otheer side. They work really hard and do  appreciate a hand when it is possible. Yet again, we have had our own Eclusier (sometimes two) travelling with us on their tiny motor

scooters. Today, we had two women who worked really hard to get us to our destination before the official "knock off time" of 7pm.

Yesterday, we moored for the night at Sainte Marie sue Ouche. Then Jo and Peter- who had driven down from Basel in Switzerland- joined us with friends to "inspect" Anja and take us back to their place at La Bussiere for an extremely pleasant BBQ dinner. Peter kindly drove us "home" to Anja late in the evening. They had been so kind doing this and also lending us their magnificient house at La Bussier sur Ouche for a couple of weeks while we initially fitted out Anja and then equipped her.

The scenery has been just magnificient and we have had fantastic weather with the thermometer hitting around 30deg today (which is a Public Holiday). We have been averaging one public holiday per week for our whole trip so it is amazing the French get anything done!

Today we had a salutary learning experience. We had been tethered to the bank with a star picket and a couple of other steel stakes. We also went for a longish ride of maybe 15Km on our very pleasant bicycles. While on the ride, we noted a large (about 40metres long, 5metres beam and maybe 300+ tonne) hotel barge working its way up the river. As it turned out- fortunately for us- they had to stop for the mandatory lunch hour when all locks are closed and we were back on Anja. We were due to go through the next lock at 2pm when we saw the hotel barge coming. We gaily waved to the skipper and guests as they surged past and then realised, to our dismay, that they had sucked a lot of water out of the canal and we were being
dragged behind them at quite high speed. Our stakes simply ripped out of the bank wherein we had sledgehammered them. I (Dave) then made a biggish mistake. I turned on the engine and hit full reverse to try and stop us being sucked up towards the next lock and bridge which were not far away.

There was a big clunk and the engine stopped. I had got one of my lovely new mooring lines ( spliced with great effort) sucked into the propellor and wrapped around the shaft etc.

We were able to use the bow thruster to push us to the bank and re-tethered to a couple of stakes (we lost one into the drink). Then I (Dave) went for a prolonged "swim" in the rather grotty canal attempting to remove the mooring line. This proved almost impossible and it was badly damaged

anyway so we had to cut it off. Fortunately, there was no other damage. Sadly, our expensive new mooring line is now rather shorter. But, better to learn this lesson now than in a more unfortunate manner. So, from now on, stakes will only be used when there is no chance of huge barges roaring past. So, tonight, we found a spot with mooring rings. It is so shallow (due to low cvanal water levels) that we are sitting on the bottom of the canal about a metere from the shore. It is also after 7pm so no-one can get onto this section of canal and disrupt us.

I forgot to mention that while we were in Dijon, we visited the fantastic markets and stocked up on fabulous fruit, veggies, some clothing and even a few CDs. Unfortunately, we also had a bad night with a group of 20-30 youth who were nearby and some of them decided to get onto the boat at 1am.

We chased them off but then an hour later they started shoving the boat- perhaps to dislodge us from the side of the canal.

We are getting closer to the dreaded Pouilly Tunnel which is 3.33Km underground and we might or might not fit down it. Will be a tight squeeze and we will probably have to stay +-30cm of centre to avoid hitting the back corners of the wheelhouse roof. We'll let you know how we go!

That's about it for now so we will sign off.

Dave & Penny

Hi Everyone,

Here we are in beautiful Dijon. Moored at the quay (free), not far from the centre of town. Surrounded by pleasant parks. We had an

Aussie style BBQ this evening and it has been a glorious, warm day (as was yesterday).

Yesterday, we left the quay at St Jean de Losne and fuelled up with propulsion diesel and heating diesel (only used for hot water at the

moment as we do not need the central heating!)

Then it was off down (or actually up) the Bourgogne Canal. The first lock was fine but after almost 3hrs there was still no lock keeper

for the second lock so we sat there and sat and sat and waited. Penny read a book, did puzzles etc while David started fitting the car

radio (with CD/USB/MP3). Most of that got done before the lock keeper finally appeared on a small motor scooter. He was not very

communicative and we did not dare ask where he had been.

Anyway, it was fantastic after that as we had a team of lock keepers who travelled with us until we stopped for the night about halfway

to Dijon. Just whacked in a couple of stakes besides the towpath and had an excellent night's sleep. In the morning, we hopped on our

bikes and rode to a nearby town to get baguettes for breakfast. Unfortunately, we went to thee wrong town. However, fortunately the

Boulanger from the other town appeared in her car delivering bread. So, we asked her and she readily sold us fresh baked bread. Yummy.

plus our coffee grinder is going well and as usual, a very good breakfast.

Then it was off to Dijon and we got here just after lunch (more stakes in the side of the canal). Again we had lock keepers (eclusiers)

travelling along as we did so we made excellent time with all locks open for us. David assisted when there was only a single lock keeper.

The second lock keepers were always students learning the job and they will go "solo" later in the season.

This afternoon we walked to the Musee des beaux Artes. Excellent (and also free). Then "home" to fire up the new Weber BBQ for the first

time. We did this on the large foredeck and it worked just fine. Then we ate dinner in the cockpit, sipping our wine as passers-by wished

us bon appetit or bon soir. It is still daylight as I type this at 9.30pm.

Tomorrow, we are off after visiting the huge market in the morning and will do about another 10 locks before tying up somewhere in the

French countryside for the night.

That's it for now. Yes, someone needs to do this!

Best Regards,

Dave and Penny

Anja should hopefully go into the water this afternoon. She has not been antifouled as the work "slipped" by over three weeks in the week it was supposed to be done. So, it will be over 1,000€ more to lift her out and have it done later in the year. However, at least we can get going now. Rather inconvenient but manageable.

The last few days have been very busy loading goods aboard. We take them to the side of the boat and then haul them up the side with ropes- using buckets, bags and anything else that comes to hand. The lists have seemed endless as it is like equipping a small house from a start of nothing. However, the end is in sight. AAt one stage, we emptied our French Bank Account but it is now replenished again from Australia with a good exchange rate to the Euro.

Obtaining the goods in the first place means about 200Km of driving each day- of which about 50% is along narrow single lane country roads. Fortunately they are fairly empty. We go to the commercial areas of Dijon where the shops are HUGE. One hardware store (like an Australian Bunnings) is close to 500metres long and 100metres across. From my recollection of US stores, these are even larger but perhaps the US ones have also grown larger in the past 10 years or so.

Initially, we will be heading up the Bourgogne Canal. We might be stopped by a small height 3.3Km tunnel and have to turn back, in which case we will head towards the France-Switzerland border. However, the Pouilly Tunnel is looking more promising as we have obtained a detailed plan of the cross section.

That's all for now as we are going off to buy a couple of bicycles and food provisions.

We have been staying again at La Bussiere sur Ouche due to the kindness of Jo and Peter.

Dave and Penny

From about 600-500BC. The remains of this temple sit in a farmer's field. It was a very high structure as you can see from the farmhouses in the picture.

We forgot to mention that Mirabeau sur Beze was the place where Caesar's 8th Legion was based. We were able to see quite a lot of artefacts from the 100BC encampment including an old pipe which had survived surprisingly well.

As we have been reading "Lustrum" by Robert Harris, it is fascinating to see things from that era while reading stories of the times when Julius Caesar was growing in power. The stories are through the eyes of Cicero's scribe. It's a pity I (Dave) did not learn Latin in this context while at school- it would have been much more interesting.

Yesterday, we visited Beaune, including the fantastic Hospice de Dieu. Did some more shopping for the barge and then had a fascinating time in the ancient city of Autun. Much of the 13metre high Roman wall still stands as well as a couple of the city gates. We actually drove through one which is constructed entirely without mortar. The Roman Theatre is still used today with perhaps a third of the seats still useable and indeed about to be used when we visited.

Just over two walls of the ancient Temple of Janus (Celtic, about 500BC) are still standing and just sitting in a farmer's field. It was rather a large structure.

Regards,

Dave & Penny

This old fashioned Laverie (or "Laundromat") is situated in Mirabeau sur Beze and was used in the 1700s for clothes washing and is really called a "Lavoir". The platform could be raised or lowered using a complicated arrangement of chains, gears and pulleys. This was to compensate for the height of the river.

This is a most unusual garden. It is about 80metres long by 2.5metres wide and beautifully manicured. The original and old house was on an island in the river with this garden attached. Very streamlined! Now it is a Bank Espagnole perhaps with people living above. This is in Mirabeau sur Beze.

The Source of the Beze River in 2010- very tranquil. See 1913 when it was gushing in at 15,000litres per second.

This is the source of the Bez River in 1913- one of the few times in recorded history when it was really gushing from underground fissures.

The ancient town of Beze was very attractive with the canalised river flowing through the centre

There are some interesting roundabouts in France. They need to keep them interesting because it is indeed the "land of roundabouts". This one is in the next town (Genlis) and these beautiful statues symbolise (we think) the produce and activities from the surrounding plains and the three rivers.

This is a magnificient Cathedral without some of the extra glitz of Notre Dame or Sacre Coeur in Paris.

Here you can buy almost anything in the eating category

While we wait for things to happen on the barge (such as final payment and antifouling), we have been staying in a pleasant Chambre d'Hote (B&B) in a small village called Labergement Foigney. This is about 30km SE of Dijon.

Our hosts are Laurent and Delphine who have looked after us very well. They have a lot of information about the Bourgogne region, French culture, French wines, where to buy hardware, where to buy bicycles etc.

So, every day, we travel around to different places exploring and sightseeing. We start each day with a very healthy breakfast of home made yoghurt, fresh baguettes and croissants, home made jams, home made Dijon cake, fruit and delicious coffee.

Saturday was Liberation Day- a public holiday. We went into Dijon and walked the "Owl tour" which was fascinating. We explored the high quality indoor and outdoor markets and many interesting buildings. Every village has memorials to those who fell in the wars. However, whereas there were many wreaths and flags, we saw little sign of marches, ceremonies or similar. Perhaps they were in different places. We did see one small march of veterans from several wars.

We have also been to Abbeye Fontayne (World Heritage), Beze, Mirabeau sur Beze, Genlis, Auxonne, Dole, St Apollonaire, Quetigny, Cessy sur Tille and others. We'll pop up just a few of the hundreds of photos from some of these places. We are trying to visit places that will be less accessible by barge later on.

Regards,
Dave & Penny

The survey was completed today and Anja passed with flying colours. So, settlement should be Monday or Tuesday.

She is sitting on blocks waiting for the anodes to be cleaned and for antifouling. Not sure of when this will be done but hopefully early in the week.

Regards,
Dave

As soon as the barge was in place, a lady started using a high pressure (cold) water cleaner to start cleaning off the hull. The temperature at the time was 4degC [it is unseasonably cold here at present]. Brrrrrr! Would not like to have been her- we did not stay until she was finished (it was a several hour job)- she would have been a block of ice. However the forecast for the following day (today) was worse with a maximum of 3degC. All very different from the 26deg last week!

We are hopeful that the surveyor will do his job today. It has been difficult to get much out of him in either French or English. However, we are banking on the fact that H2O will want to get their trailer and tractor back into service ASAP to keep him moved along.

We were pleased with the lack of growth under the barge (after 3 years in the water). Very different from the situation of a boat in Australia with the warmer salt water. H2O removed a chunk of rope which was wrapped around the propellor shaft. I (Dave) did a cursory check of rudder and propellor shaft bearings and all seemed okay. The anodes are very grubby aand need cleaning off.

We are having H2O clean out the water cooling tubes (for the engine) while they have her out of the  water.

Regds,
Dave & Penny

The tractor driver ("Le pilot") was very careful and made frequent adjustments to various parts of the trailer, the supports and the angles. He casually drove across the road (blocking it) then neatly reverse parked the whole contraption,

There were two possibilities for lifting Anja. The most flexible was for H2O (the marina and workshop people) to drag her out of the water using a tractor and a low loader trailer with special supports and hydraulic joints. She weighs 36 tonnes and the trailer could take 47tonnes so that part was okay. The trailer was not really long enough but the people thought it would be okay. Also, would the tractor be strong enough to pull the trailer up a slippery boat ramp?

Well, everything went fine. She came out of the water and the tractor driver skilfully manouvered her into position for water blasting etc. Here is a picture of Penny with Anja sitting on the trailer just before being dragged out.

 

We had a busy end to the week. The following things happened:

1. We arrived in St Jean de Losne and started a whirlwind examination of barges. We were looking there (at a company called H2O) and also at barges from Migennes (240km away) plus a few other locations. Each night, we would make the fairly demanding 70minute drive back to La Bussiere sur Ouche where we have been staying with Jo in her beautiful house. The exciting news is that we made an offer for a 107 year old Dutch barge ("Anja") on Friday and it was accepted. We signed a contract a few hours later. A picture is attached and you can find out more at the following web address:

http://www.h2ofrance.com/bateaux/gb/bateau_1002.html

2. We were notified by Exetel that the Pittwater Parish web site had been "hacked" and shut down. Just what we needed to hear when in a really remote area of the French rural countryside! Fixing this took a lot of work and was also hampered by the fact that our hated Microsoft Windows on the laptop crashed very badly. We now have Linux installed as well and this is much better for that sort of stuff.

3. We heard from our friend Tim that there were overheating problems with Pastime's engine and the outboard would also no longer run. Tim is looking after her in our absence.

4. The Gizo website which we also run crashed (for the first time in several years) with a database fault.

Arghh!!!! Everything happening at once!

Well, the good news is that everything is now fixed and back under control. We have also been able to help Jo with some gardening/mowing, go for a bike ride and a couple of walks. We seem to have accumulated an alarming number of empty wine bottles over the past few days and they seem to have emptied during hours of late night chatting.

We went to Mass in a local Chapel which dates from 1130 and is part of the local Cistercian Monastery that was continuously used for 660 years until the French Revolution and this Mass was the first one celebrated for years. Jo had spotted people there when she was driving past on her way to Switzerland. They were doing a massive "Spring Clean" using water blasters, spades and furniture polish.

It was COLD and there was no electricity, no lights etc. There was beautiful singing. At the end of Mass, the two altar boys went sprinting all the way down the aisle to the bell ropes (which hang right in the middle) and tried to ring the bells. They were just not strong or big enough and needed two hefty guys to get the bells going. All fantastic.

Well, now we are organising lift out, boat survey, our next accommodationn, buying supplies etc.

Best Regards,
Dave & Penny