>
> End of the first day on our three week voyage. Days two,
>three, and four anon
>
>Stan and Judy
>
As we rejoin our voyagers :-} ... The next day was Sunday so
France has shut the doors on everything so we spent the day just
reading and walking and trying out the 6 speed bike. On Monday about
10;30 AM Adam (mechanic) showed up ready to work out our problems. He
jumped down into the engine room and loosen four bolts, removed a
plate and found the nut and washer that had worked its way off the
shaft from the trany. A two hour drive, five minutes work. Next up
was the motor mount bolt. New bolt in 30 min. and then about 2hours
to reline the engine. When these jobs were finish he checked the
batteries, pronounced ... 2 dead, 2 crippled ... We decided to push
on while I phoned our chief engineer to seek a solution to the
problem. We also talked about the leak in the hot water tank. HOT
WATER TANK!! Did I fail to mention this in the first message. Must
have slipped my mind. Senior Moment ... Yes, the tank was leaking
about 25 litres a day so we needed to bail out the engine bilge every
morning.
Still in all it was a pleasant two days and we did get a good
meal and a couple of good walks along the canal and into the village.
The next morning was set for a 8:30 AM cast off and away we went down
to the last/first lock on the Canal de Centre. We knew this was a
big lock but let me tell you the B should be in Caps. The lock is
10.76m deep. That is a long way down. Putting on our life vest and
giving the boats name to the lock keeper we began our descent down to
the level of the Saone. If you have been up to Sheffield you have
seen some big locks but the ones on the Saone are bigger. Anyway we
dropped down and turned left on to the river. We were passed almost
immediately by a 120 meter grain barge who for some reason didn't
wait for us at the next lock. Traveling about 6 mph we moved up the
river through two more locks and intermittent rain and sunshine.
After 6 hours we reached St Jean De Losne where we filled up with
diesel at 1.18/L and then moved into the marina for the night. That
night we had dinner in a restaurant Judy and had been to a few years
ago and then back to the boat. We had electricity and water and a
good meal so to bed we went. The next morning Judy decided that the
battery situation needed to be fixed so we phone the mechanic and
arranged to have two new installed the next day a little ways up the
Canal de Bourgogne. The marina at St Jean is full of boats of all
sizes and shapes and walking on the docks is a lot of fun and a
education in boat styles.
We left St Jean the next morning in the sunshine and after a
nice bit of reversing and turning entered our first lock on the
canal. On the French canals you don't have to do any of the locking
through because a lockkeeper is with you or the locks are automatic.
This bit of canal is straight as an arrow for 15 km and then makes a
shallow angle left and continues another 11 plus km to Dijon. Just
before the angle point we stopped for the night to wait for the
batteries. Walking in the village of Longecourt en Plaine we took
shelter in a cafe from a thunder storm and then walked to a chateau
and then back to the boat. Adam arrived about 7:30 PM with 2 batts.
and we retired for the night about 10:30.
Up at 6 (this is Thursday the 5th of July) and moved off
about 9. stopped for lunch at 12 at the end of the runway of the
aerodrome and watch 9 F-16s take off for their noontime fly around
France and when they returned at 1:00 PM we pulled up pins and
continued on to Dijon. Arrived at 3:30 in Dijon and found that all
the finger piers were occupied and the linear mooring were going to
be occupied by hotel boats (Grrrr). While we were debating the
mooring situation a gentleman approached and with a combination of
English, French and sign language we ended up breasting along side
his peniche" Liberte".
The Sums ... Canal de Centre = 18 Km and 12 Locks
River Saone = 73 Km and 2 Locks
Canal de Bourgogme = 29 Km and 21 Locks
7 Days on board and 4 days cruising
+/- 175 Litres of water bailed out of bilge
Dijon and beyond next
Stan and Judy
--
Judy & Stan Voets, POB 103, San Geronimo, CA 94963
Tel: 415.488.0985
You may never know what results come from your action,
But if you do nothing, there will be no results - Gandhi
