Seascapes Travel Log
Michael Grew
Wed 7 Jul 2010 09:07
Disaster Day. Got up early and cycled over to the caravan park for breakfast at 08:30hrs with Elizabeth and Ron. Afterwards said our goodbyes and bon voyages as they were returning home today. On our way back to the boat called at the lock and booked a slot for 10:30hrs. Slipped the mooring lines and pottered across the aqueduct and into the lock. As usual the lock keeper asked us where we were going and when Maureen told him, he looked very perplexed and pointed back the way we had come. I thought at first Maureen’s french had let her down, but then the lockkeeper pointed to the direction signs and ..Oh dear! We were going the wrong way, red faces all round as we slowly warped the boat backwards out of the lock, turned round and retraced our steps, much to the amusement of several spectators. An hour or so later, in an area where there was no shade and the canal edges were very shallow, the engine sounded laboured and the gauge indicated that the engine was overheating. Pushed the nose into the bank so that by using the ladder Maureen was able to scramble ashore with the mooring ropes, while with the stern stuck out in the middle of the canal, I could see what the problem was. After hanging upside down in the overheated engine bay for twenty minutes or so, with the sweat pouring off me, I found that the raw water intake filter was blocked with grass cuttings and weed. Having unblocked the filter and continued on our way for a short while, we then met a large barge which forced us to one side and go firmly aground. A few anglo-saxon expletives later and using the ladder as a lever we managed extricate ourselves off the sticky stuff and resume our journey. I wish I had not got up today! Oh and I forgot, our chemical loo that had been leaking, finally gave the ghost. Arrived at the quay at Paray-le-Monial at 14:15hrs and very relieved to tie up along side Claude’s, “Finale”. We explored the town with Claude,( stopping briefly to refresh ourselves in a bar!) In the evening sat under the shade of the trees and chatted with Claude.
04/07/2010 Paray-le Monial
Another sunny day, not quite as hot as yesterday thank goodness(yesterday was a real scorcher). Claude left us at 10:30hrs and we then walked up into town to walk the tourist trail. A beautiful town made famous in 1634, by a nun having a vision of Christ’s heart (although how you could identify anyone from just a heart beats me, but then I am just an old cynic!) Ever since the town has prospered through the thousands of pilgrims visiting. The Basilica was absolutely packed with worshipers. Had lunch on the quay, under the shade of the trees. Maureen did some knitting for the OCC charity, while I did some odd jobs around the boat . At 16:00hrs we wandered back into town so we could see the inside of the Basilica (Oh and to have a cold beer) By 17:00hrs the temperature increased to 30 degrees. We watched the guy in the boat next door to us fishing. He was pulling out small cat fish at the rate of one every two or three minutes ( I’ve never seen anything like it) he would then kill the fish and throw it into the hedge. We asked him what the point of that was and he told us that in the Canal du Soane there were cat fish nearly two metres long, that had eaten all the ducks and signets and were becoming a problem. He was just doing his bit to prevent the same happening here. He showed us photographs of some of these monsters, horrible. During the evening the fisherman’s wife was bitten on her arm by a tick and had to go off to the local hospital to have the head removed (the tick’s, not her’s!)
05/07/2010 46:26:77N 04:07:19E
09:00hrs left the moorings at Paray-le-Monial and travelled 19 kilometres arriving at Generlard at 13:00hrs, passing through eight automatic locks without any fuss. The journey was fairly uneventful apart from some aerial acrobatics by Red Kites. One bird swooped down and headed straight at us at about a foot off the water. He then dropped to the surface picked up a small fish and climbed steeply to avoid the front of our boat. Before you ask, no we didn’t get a photograph of him. The camera was in the cabin.On our arrival at Generlard we met up with Claude in “Finalite” and the Aussie couple in the barge called “The Wanderer” About an hour later the Dutch couple in “Bella Vista” and the English couple in “Zuiderdeit” arrived and joined us. It is becoming like an international club. There is always a lot leg pulling and banter whenever we meet up and other people hearing us must wonder what on earth is going on. We spent the afternoon and evening sat together in the shade put the world to rights. Jacob off “Bella Vista” is a retired Dutch bulb grower whose family company has just been awarded a royal warrant. He proudly showed us a book of the history of the company. We now address him as “your Majesty” (which amuses him no end). A very pleasant day, warm in the sunshine but tempered with a gentle breeze.