Going into the water
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
