Chateau Thierry, Nanteuil-sur-Marne, La Ferte-sous-Jouarre, Poincy

Seascapes Travel Log
Michael Grew
Wed 29 Jun 2011 18:40


Chateau Thierry  26.06.2011   49:02:58N  03:24:44E
Another beautiful morning clear blue skies and by 09:00hrs was turning very warm. After breakfast we walked 2-3 kilometres along the towpath to McDonalds had a much needed cold drink and sent off the last few days travel log. WiFi coverage has been awful, even worst than last year. Thank goodness for good old McDonalds. Back on the boat we pottered around read and had lunch.  At 14:00hrs. we walked up into the town to watch the carnival procession. The programme boasted that there would be ten bands playing, majorettes marching, and several floats. Before the parade started people were coming round selling big bags of confetti and there seemed to be rather a lot water pistols amongst the crowd, I think the camera needs to be looked after carefully today. While we were waiting for the parade to start we were having problems trying to find shade, we did find a table in the shade opposite a café but we had to have a beer to claim the table (ah well things one has to do) The parade started late (of course) but then when it finally got going it was absolutely brilliant. It took a total of two hours to go round the town and by the time the bands approached the town square the second (and final) time, they were all literally dripping with sweat. All of them stopped outside the café where we were and the proprietor and staff came out with trays of cold drinks. I have never seen soft drinks disappear so quickly. The floats were good, all of them were decorated with thousands of small paper flowers, each one was manned by people armed with large containers of confetti and water pistols, I didn’t realise how many times we had been confetti bombed until later when we undressed for bed. The boat looked like it was a honeymoon suite. All in all the parade was rousing success even if a few people passed out with heat stroke. After the parade we walked back to the boat for dinner, via the fairground and marvelled at how some of the rides had become really savage. None of this gentle carousel stuff. I think I am definitely getting to old to appreciate some of this new stuff. I expect the grandchildren (and the children) would love it. Then at 21:00hrs, after dinner, we walked up to the river bank the other side of the town bridge and joined several thousand noisy French families sitting on the bank waiting for the musical concert to start. The orchestra was in the middle of the bridge and we thought, because there were loud speakers on the opposite  bank, that the music would be played through them. Wrong the orchestra played without any amplification so consequently instead of listening to some nice classical music we had to suffer the sounds of four little kids next to us playing with light toys that had space talk noise repeating something unintelligible over and over again. I was moved to remark that I wondered whether the toys would work under water. I was told by herself not to be so grumpy. At 23:00hrs a firework display started and it was all done to music played through the loudspeakers. It only lasted 15 minutes but the sky was lit up constantly with the most spectacular fireworks, some of which I never seen before. Brilliant. The end to a superb weekend of celebrations that must have cost the council a bomb.
Nanteuil-sur-Marne 27.06.2011 48:58:64N  03:13:34E
Left the mooring at 09:30hhrs went a couple of kilometres and moored up again on the other bank while Maureen hopped ashore and walked the short distance to the supermarket to pick up supplies.When she returned we motored on amongst lots and lots of confetti floating along in the current. We did not lose it until we had travelled about another 6 kilometres. Goodness knows how long it will take to clear up the town streets. At 12:30hrs we stopped at the quay at Nogent la Arnand, that boasted electric hook ups and water points. The book we were using and the quayside notice stated that use the facilities one must get the key from the train station master or the local restaurant owner. Fair enough of Maureen toddled to get the key and found that the station no longer holds the key (but I suspect she had never been on duty when it had been requested and she had no idea where it was kept) The restaurant was closed as it was Monday  and no one lived above it.  An elderely neighbour told Maureen that the key was held in the mayor’s office which opened at 1.30.  At 1.30 M toddled off on a 15 min walk to the Marie and found that it didn’t open until 4pm!!! We slipped the mooring and continued on our way. According to our canal book there were no more quays with electric hook-ups  for 30 kilometres. As it was so hot it would be good to have an electrical supply overnight. At 15:30hrs we arrived at a brand new pontoon equipped with electric hook-ups and water points. The place was called Nanteuil-sur-Marne. The problem (well a slight problem) there was that there were  four teenagers using the pontoon as a swimming and diving platform. They peppered us (well Maureen) with questions about the boat and where we going etc, etc all in French. Then when she satisfied them they went back to jumping in and out of the water making an awful racket. They left when it started to get dark. Today has been another scorcher, so when they left I got my swimmers on and had slosh down under the cold water hose on the pontoon, lovely!
La Ferte-sous-Jouarre   28.06.2011  48:57:06N  03:07:99E
A very violent storm during the early morning, which should hopefully clear the air, it has been so very humid.  By 09:30hrs  the storm clouds had passed over so we set off on our northward journey. We had a very uneventful and deserted passage up the river reaching the town of La Ferte-sous-Jouarre  ( Don’t ask me to pronounce it) at midday and found the 100metre long pontoon had only two cruisers on it, so we were able to pick a prime spot. Apparently the town was internationally famous for the production of millstones right up until 1950 when the trade died out. (presumably because new methods and materials had become available). The weather today has been once again very hot and humid (so much for the storm clearing up the humidity) After lunch we had walk around town but found the Tourist Information office closed until tomorrow. We stopped on the way back to boat for some refreshments (what a surprise) and when got back on board all of a sudden lots of boats turned up and in no time at all the pontoon was full. Then a yacht called “Midnight” came in and as it passed us we spoke to the English couple on board and asked where they had come from, to our surprise they said, “Portsmouth”. They could not find a mooring so they went round the island again and came moored up alongside us. They had just started their journey virtually repeating what we had done last year, sailed across from Pompey to Le Havre, took the mast down in Basin St Gervaise in Rouen then stayed in Paris, in the Arsenal before joining the canal system. They like us were hoping to get down to the Med. The temperature and humidity was getting really uncomfortable and everyone started looking at the thickening clouds in the sky hoping it would rain and cool everything down. Finally at 22:00hrs the threatened a frightenly heavy storm broke and the rain came down in stair rods. Finally the temperature did come down, but only a bit, so I think it will be an uncomfortable night.
Poincy 29.06.2011  48:58:39N  02:56:38E
What a noisy night, a violent thunderstorm right over the top of us from around 23:30hrs to 01:00hrs. it was deafening for a while, with the rain drumming on the cabin top. It did cool things down though. We awoke late to find all bar one cruiser and “Midnight” had gone. The weather had improved somewhat and was just a bit overcast, without that horrible sticky humidity. Steve moved “Midnight” into the now vacant berth in front of us then he and Tina came aboard for coffee while Maureen gave Tina a run down on all the good and bad spots to stop at. I chatted to Steve and found out that their boat is kept near  Hardway Sailing Club in Portsmouth harbour, but he and Tina live in Bromley. Small world. Steve said he was gradually getting used to the very slow pace of life on the canals, just as I did last year. We said farewell and good luck to them at 11:30hrs, slipped the mooring and crawled out the very narrow and shallow exit channel at the other end of the island and out into the main river, turning northwards. Maureen has now got a new hobby Arachnid Swimming. It consists of going meticulously through all the nooks and crannies on the mast and ropes hooking out all the spiders, chucking the over the side and seeing how far they can swim before a fish eats them. A bit cruel really but we seem to have been inundated with the little blighters ever since we collected the boat from Pont du Vaux. With all the thunder flies that have been about, these little blighters have grown into quite big uns. Maureen has got fed up sweeping spiders webs off the rigging. So now you can be in the middle of meal or a conversation and she will suddenly say, “There’s one now” and scramble down the boat grab the stowaway and deposit it into the water and gleefully watch it swimming for its life. After a very uneventful trip down river through very rural countryside between tree lined banks we arrived at 16:00hrs at a very small marina called Poincy situated in the middle of nowhere and tucked behind an island. We were greeted by a Dutchman off a beautiful cruiser who told us that although the channel was extremely narrow it was deep enough for us and pointed out the Capitainerie to us. The whole place was very run down but had the essential electric and water hook-up points. The weather today has been very strange, first it is very cold enough to need a jumper on, the next minute you have to strip down to a tee shirt because it is so hot. But it has not been at all humid, so no complaints.