Home!
 
We had a quiet long weekend. Monday 14th July was a public holiday – what used to be called Bastille Day. So on Friday they flooded the dry-dock, floated out the Amoco Cadiz (not the one that sank – a 700 ton barge) and then moved 3 more barges in. The first was another 700-ton barge, and they had to get the barge in, close the entrance, pump more water in, then they could move the barge over the blocks it was to sit on. Then they opened the entrance again and brought 2 more 340 ton barges in. The dry dock is a clever (but not unique) affair. It is positioned just above a lock. So they can flood it by opening a gate into the canal outside. To empty it, they pull the plug out and the water drains into the canal below the lock. They then pump the last bit out. On Tuesday the workforce turns up and work hard. By after lunch there are 2 large bits of the side and large bit’s of the bottom of one of the barges cut out. 
They don’t waste time there.

The weekend was quiet apart from the fireworks which were spectacular. The surrounding villages had displays an Sunday, and then there was a (free) display in a large park on the outskirts of Douai. Many thousands were there, and it was a cloudless night. The Mayor of Douai announces at 11:00pm that it’s not quite dark enough so we had to wait another quarter of an hour and then there was a very splendid and pretty display around a lake in the park.

On Tuesday after various phone calls, we decide to abandon ship. We need to await an empty lorry returning to England otherwise it will double the cost – and it’s going to be an expensive operation anyway. We visit the station and a nice man finds cheap tickets back to England. 4 Euros to Lille, then 30 Euros to London. We had to buy a return ticket so it was actually 60 Euros each. When we arrived in London St Pancras we had a surprise meeting with son Matthew who took us to the bubbly bar for a quick drink with himself & partner Ros. Then a touch a reality as it cost £8 to get to Liverpool Street station and £61 to get to Ipswich.
We’re going back to France tomorrow in the car for a couple of nights to collect our luggage and do a wine shop. We could only manage a small bag each on the train, and there are many things we need at home which are on the boat. We have just no idea when Jenni Ann will be back. It might be 2 weeks time or 2 months time. We just don’t know.

I’ve put a few photos together taken since the last photos sent from St Jean de Losne. View Photo Album The 2 of Chateauneuf were taken when we were near the summit of the Canal de Bourgogne at Vandenesse. Mr B was rather pleased with his night time shot and you can tell from the day shot how far away it is. There’s one of us being towed back to Courchelettes. Various ones of the dry-dock and then of course Mr B had to include one of Mrs B’s Orchid. (Hope it’s still alive – all hell will break loose if that’s gone wrong). One of Monsieur Despinoy (the owner of the shipyard) and his sister Chantal. They have both been so very kind. One of an English narrow boat we saw, some barges dressed overall for a wedding, and one of an old bridge in the centre of Douai. The canal used to go through the town, but was limited to 340 ton barges. At some stage they built a bypass which can take the very big 2000-ton barges so sadly the canal is closed. They’ve built a few new bridges which boats can’t get under, but we did discover some yachts moored near the centre of town. There is a way in from the other end. So if we ever get back this area we might give that a try.
 
So that’s it for 2008. There were good bits, wet bits, expensive bits, and some very good meals.
 
Thanks for reading this.
 
Jenni Ann

We left the Seine and made our way up the Oise in an uneventful way. A night at Pontoise and then after a long but easy day we got to Compiegne. After that it was downhill to the Somme and then uphill again on the Canal du Nord which links the Seine basin with the northern canals which go to Calais, Dunkirk and Belgium. We stop one lock short of the end. The next morning Mr B does his daily inspection of the engine and finds that a bit of coolant has leaked out of the radiator cap. He has connected the overflow pipe to an old milk bottle so can see what has been lost. He tips it back into the now cold engine. Perhaps he didn't put the cap on properly the previous moning.
All else looks well. Mid morning we reach Douai, a medium sized town near Lille. It's where Mr B spent a few days in hospital 4 years ago when he broke his neck. We wanted to do some shopping, but Mr B decided to check the engine again. Horror! The top of the engine is covered in a black mess and there is coolant everywhere. He starts the engine and finds diesel vapour is squirting out around an injector, which is where the black mess is coming from. There is a steel ring around the injector which has popped out. Mr B sets to and removed the injector and cleans everything up. The steel ring is put back together with the injector. On starting the engine again there is a "pop" and the diesel vapour pours out again. 2 phone calls to Jason the engineer at Levington who gives very sound advice and a few things to try. He doesn't think it's a minor problem. Mr B tries all the options and there is no improvement. Jason suggests a Volvo engineer at Dunkirk. He doesn't want to know. Mr B phones the wonderful Volvo worldwide help line in Holland and they give the names of people In Arras (15 Km away) and 2 others. It turns out they are all lorry engineers and don't want to know. 4 Km and one lock behind us is a shipyard. We had passed it that morning. It was evening by now but we cycle back and have a look. It's an extensive operation with a floating dock, large dry dock and many barges around. We go back in the morning. M Despinoy, a delightful man who owns the yard, asks the secretary Chantal (his younger sister) to get a mechanic. Laurent arrives half an hour later in his van and takes us & our bikes back to Jenni Ann. He confirms Mr B's worst fears. The cylinder head gasket has almost certainly broken, and unusually, the copper sleeve which the injector fits into, has probably broken. With the radiator cap off and the engine running, the coolant comes out like a geyser. Gasses are getting into the water channels. This is either from the cylinder head gasket or from the injector sleeve. Laurent says the cylinder head will have to come off. They can't do if for at least 2 weeks, then France shuts down for all August, then it could take another 2-3 weeks depending on when they can get the parts.

Mr B has to make an expensive decision. It's going to be mid September before/if the engine is repaired & this will be very late to bring the boat back. The engineer who repaired the stern bearing in St Jean de Losne was
slightly dubious about crossing the channel with his repair. There is more vibration after Mr B went aground and almost certainly bent the propeller. So it is decided to try to bring the boat home by lorry. A phone call is
made to Suffolk Yacht Harbour for help. Bob puts me in contact with Terry who delivers boats. He's already in France he's told. A phone call to the office in England gets diverted to France. Yes he's the man Bob had spoken to. Yes he can help - sometime. Yes he's in France but he's on holiday on a boat on the Nivernais canal (which Mr B couldn't get into!). He'll ring back after the weekend.

In the meantime we are stuck in the middle of Douai with no engine, no means of charging batteries and less than half a tank-full of water. Another trip to Chantal. They haven't got a workboat to get Jenni Ann back to the yard. Perhaps we could hitch a lift from a passing barge. This gets vetoed and in a few minutes Chantal's husband Jacques arrives. He has a 20 metre Dutch built (1979) motor yacht moored by the yard and he will help. He's a retired captain of hotel barges on the Rhone (those big ones). So we set off and lash Jenni Ann alongside and bring her back to the yard. We now have electricity and are about to fill up with water. We have had to wait for that as the water is on the far side of the dry dock. This is/was full of water as they needed to move one barge out and 3 more in. When empty we can bring the hose across the floor of the dock to our mooring.

This morning Chantal tells us another yacht is being delivered to the yard on Thursday to be lifted in by crane. Perhaps the lorry can take Jenni Ann to Suffolk? She rings up and enquires. Not immediately was the reply as French lorries need 2 weeks to get clearance to enter England. But we are getting an alternative quotation, which Mr B is happy about.

So we're having to wait until after a long weekend (Monday is July 14th & France closes for a day) to find out what's going to happen. And the bills are mounting. It was ?100 for the mechanic, ?100 for the tow, and we've just been quoted ?500 for lifting out. This doesn't compare very well with the cost of the lift out in St Jean de Losne which was ?170. We have little or no alternative.

The decision we need to make next week is whether to stay here until the lorry arrives or whether to come home soon and drive out here if we need to. Perhaps we can leave the boat here and let them get on with it.

Mrs B is worried about what to do with her flowers when we leave the boat. She has just done some clothes washing and put it out to dry. No sooner done than it rained very hard. We live in different worlds!

More news when we have it.

Jenni Ann

The Seine. 4th July.

You may well ask where we've been and why the lack of news. I have several reasons (excuses) which I can offer. The first is the Canal de Bourgogne. It was very hard work. There are 189 locks, and some days we only covered about 5 km but did 20-30 locks.

The second was the weather. It went from cold and wet to very hot indeed. So after an exhausting day doing locks the last think on my mind was sitting at the laptop doing emails.

The third was the European football competition & Wimbledon. The laptop doubles up as a TV so Mrs B was glued to the screen every evening, which meant no computing.

Another good reason was the severe lack of mobile phone signal in the remote areas we've been in, so had I written an email I would have been hard pressed to send it. Which takes me back to sending the last email (Jenni Ann 5). The marina we were in had it's own wifi connection. I managed to download all my emails from my normal accounts, and then it stopped working. They didn't know why. So the evening before we left St Jean de Losne I go round to the marina near the transmitter and get virtually no signal. Then I discover a weak but useable signal from across the harbour sent by the other marina. I sit in the dark getting eaten alive by mosquitoes for 20 minutes
while I send my email, which as it had several photos in it was 2 MB. I hope it arrived. No one has commented on the photos, but I do know that son Matthew got them.

So on with the news. We managed to get to Dijon in a day. That bit of the canal is dead straight with several locks, but we arrived in time to go into the town for a meal. Not been into the town (? City) before and we liked it. We then press on up the canal to the summit, which took another 3 days. Very pretty area, some of it very near the motorway which winds up the same valley. That evening a hotel barge arrived. We don't like hotel barges. They are very slow and often run generators all evening to power the air-conditioning etc. I'm watching it moor up with a delightful American in
his late 70's. The barge was skippered by a fellow American, and he made a compete mess of the operation. My friend was not any more impressed than I was, and he said he was used to mooring aircraft carriers. I got the impression that the bargeman would have been on a charge if under the command of the ex-navy man. We were moored next to a Belgian who had a very scruffy boat. It was 2 feet shorter than intended as he had hit something very hard. We soon found out why, as we spent the next 3 days with him as he bounced around the locks. He was a man in his 60s and was in love with a South African lady who he described as his fiancée. She must have been desperate, but as they spent most of the days in each other's arms, Mrs B had to open all the locks and do the work. His excuse was that his love didn't understand boats and he couldn't leave the ship! Anyway the next morning Hercule & I had booked the first lock at 9:00 am. We cast off and were heading for the lock when the Yank started shouting and jumping up and down as he said he was going first. There was a frank exchange of views on the subject and we entered the lock. We got to the tunnel at the summit shortly after this where we were inspected for lifejackets, lights etc and
then had to wait for a day trip boat full of pensioners which spent it's day going backwards and forwards through the tunnel. Very odd. Hercule came and went a bit, as he had a motorbike on the boat and a car on the shore. So every now and then they would disappear and move the car further down then canal.

Jenni Ann went aground. Seriously aground. We approached a lock, went into the bank where Mrs B got off and went (ran) to the lock to work the lock. This involved closing the lower gates, filling the lock and then opening the upper gates. Hercule went in first as was his custom, and Mr B went nowhere. Filling the lock had reduced the canal level by a foot or so. God knows how, as the lock isn't that big, but we were stuck. The lady lock keeper said she'd go back to the previous lock and let some more water into our bit of canal. Eventually the level rose a bit and we got off, but not before the propeller hit something nasty. Judging by the vibration we've had since the
prop is somewhat bent.

One day Hercule returned alone and declared he was single again. Better that way he said. We carried on without him to Montbard where we moored on a quay near a bridge. A railway bridge. It turned out to be the main north/south line in France. A train at least every 10 minutes, day & night. Then Hercule tuned up in his car with his love again. Big smiles. He wanted to know if it was a good quay. Excellent for love I told him. We didn't see him again. The locks became increasingly disorganised. A lock keeper would do either 1 or 2 locks but wouldn't be in touch with his/her neighbours. For some curious reason this canal has a rule that the locks must be left ready for ascending traffic. So every lock we came to was empty. This apparently was
to save water. Mr B was in despair..........! It was getting hotter & hotter as well.

There was a strike on the canal which we missed - it was a bit behind us. They are striking over automation - which will mean job losses. They don't seem to realise that unless the canal is automated it will have to close and they will all lose their jobs. It's in its death throes as it is. The hire boats aren't being hired, the hotel barges are getting more and more empty. The general tourist infrastructure is collapsing due to lack of custom. We were last on the Bourgogne in 2003, and made a note of nice restaurants. They have nearly all closed. A pretty canal - but totally hopeless. I very
much doubt if we'll do it again. The problem is partly that each canal is run locally. They have very little to do with each other, and the Bourgogne has only to look at it's neighbours, the Centre and the Marne Saône, and they would see the way forward.

We left the Bourgogne at Laroche Migennes and started "downhill" on the river Yonne. This is a very pretty river, and we saw it at its best. Some of the locks are a bit tricky as they have sloping sides which are very difficult to tie up to. Most have little pontoons on sloping rails – but some don't. In these they allow you to stay in the lock untied. This is tricky if there's a breeze, but we were lucky enough to go down with a
loaded barge. He moored to the side - we moored to him. Nice man who came and had a chat with Mrs B in the locks. It took 2 half days to reach the Seine, and that's where we are as I type. We spent last night at Melun - pretty town. Set off early this morning having booked a berth at the Arsenal in Paris for this evening. We'll be there a bit early as it's now 2:00 pm and we've only one more lock to do. We could go further, but we've done 47 km already today. Quite enough. Tomorrow we'll go down the Seine and then turn right into the Oise and hopefully get to Pontoise.

I have just remembered that both Mr & Mrs B had birthdays recently. Mrs B had hers while J&J were here and we went out for an excellent meal. Mr B's was a more modest affair in a remote village with no facilities after a hard day. Thanks to all around the world for your greetings, which were gratefully received.

Later

As we were steaming down the Seine near the marina entrance, the barge we had tied up to in the sloping locks came the other way. He'd unloaded his cargo of gravel and was going back for more. Lots of waving, and he left the wheelhouse to wish us a "Bon Jour". Nice Man.

We eventually got into the marina at 15:30 so it's a meal out in Paris tonight. And it'll cost. Mrs B still hasn't forgiven Mr B for taking her to do the Burnham Week regatta on their honeymoon when she thought we were going to Paris.

So it will be a week or so before we get to the coast, then we have to wait for good weather to make the crossing home.

Saturday

I was going to send you 2 more photos using a wifi in the Paris marina. It's a very weak signal and you have to take your laptop into the children's playground alongside the marina. I found the wifi but I couldn't connect. I was on the way out of the playground when I saw another man with his laptop. "Do you speak English?" I say. He was English and he wasn't having much luck either. We had a chat about where we were both going, and cutting a long story short, he used to keep his boat at Shotley near our home port. I thn discovered he knew some other Pin Mill sailing club frinds
well and they were in Paris as well. (The Hardings). Further chat led to finding out he used to live in Maldon next door to my cousin Tony Plumridge. Small world!

We left the marina at 9:00 this morning and set off down the Seine. Immediately below the marina is the Isle de la Cité where the river goes either side of the islands. The left bank route had a red light,and the right bank route said passenger boats and unladen barges. Mr B thought he'd give that a go so off we went. Notre Dame to our left and light rain. There was a Police RIB (rigid inflatable boat) near a barge coming the other way. Anyway once he saw us he zoomed up and informed us we weren't allowed to be there. Mr B was very apologetic and said as passenger baots were allowed he thought he was. You are a pleasure boat was the reply, and then gave up and told us to carry on. Mr B was going to point out that the notice said nothing about police boats being allowed (or swimmers who he was accompanying) but Mrs B though that might not be a good idea.

So we are now 36Km downstream from the marina in quite heavy rain.

Jenni Ann

St Jean de Losne 19th June

It's been an eventful and very wet 10 days since I last wrote. My sister and b-in-law John arrived on 9th June. The carefully worked out plan was to cross the river Loire, moor outside the station and then go north up the Canal du Nivernais - probably the prettiest canal in the area. It had rained very hard f0or days. This not only made our life less pleasant but it turned the river Loire into a torrent. The crossing was closed. There was a hydroelectric station further up river and every day or so they had to release huge quantities of water. They were 20 hours upstream. Anyway, it had been closed for 20 days and there was no promise it would reopen. So J&J had a half-hour walk laden with stuff. We then had to change course and go east along the Canal du Centre. It's quite pretty - if you can see anything through the rain. We did have the odd day of dry weather. Little sister went shopping. She wanted some stamps (which went missing and were eventually found in the bananas) and was not best pleased when they refused her money. Big brother was shown the evidence when she returned. He pointed out that £1 & £2 coins weren't legal tender in France. They do look a bit similar the Euro coins I suppose. We took J&J to the end of the canal where it joins the river Saône at Chalon sur Saône. When there, we saw a Citroen 2CV which had been modified into a boat. Very strange. When we arrived at St Jean de Losne 2 days later a crane was lifting it out and putting it on a trailer towed by an equally ancient Citroen DS.

Just before J&J arrived I started getting vibration in the rear end. Nasty. It was fine at 1500 rpm, which is quite adequate in a small canal, but if I increased the revs to 2000 rpm it didn't sound good. I couldn't find any rope, plastic etc around the propeller (we did get a bit of plastic round something one day and managed to get it off), so failing all else Mr B decided to wait until he got to St Jean de Losne and if the problem persisted get the boat hauled out and investigate. The problem there was that we were now on the river Saône and it was quite full as well. So our trip up to St Jean se Losne which is 2 days up stream might have been a problem. Mr B found that at 3000 rpm the vibration was minimal so we carried on and made it to St J de L yesterday lunchtime. After the compulsory lunch break Mr B found Monsieur David Blanquart busy lifting the 2CV with his ancient crane. Jenni Ann is 10.5 tons minimum. The ancient crane was only good for 10 tons. It might not lift it he said. But he'd have a go. So we moved to the quay by the crane and with a struggle Jenni Ann left the water. Nothing wrapped around the shaft - but the stern bearing had come unscrewed - so there was in effect no stern bearing. So the boat was very carefully deposited on the shore and the engineer screwed the bearing back in and drilled 2 holes and inserted locking screws. In theory it shouldn't come out again - we hope. Later that afternoon they needed to lunch a 15-ton boat and a huge crane arrived. The use of the ancient crane had cost Mr B ?170, so he enquired what that one cost. "Not very much" was the answer given with a grin. The crane happened to be going home past the boat yard after another job.

Yesterday summer arrived. It's baking hot with a strong south wind and wall-to-wall blue sky. Not the best day to be typing emails, but the boat yard has a wifi which means I can send a few photos. So all being well you'll see a bit of France. I've named them as best as I can.

Just been told that we have to leave the quay at 8:00am tomorrow as a 40-metre barge loaded with a boat needs this berth. We're heading north now along the Canal de Bourgogne which after 189 locks will join the river Yonne which in turn joins the Seine. It's quite pretty but is quite hard work. The lock gates are mainly very old and have large iron bars you have to push (or pull) to open the gates. In hot weather these are not nice - far too hot to handle.

Enough for now. Hope this arrives as it should.

Jenni Ann

PS No more wifi - so no attachments please.

Photos

Friday 6th June.
This letter has been drafted over a week or so. Whenever I've felt like sending it out there's been no mobile phone signal. Then the computer gets converted to a TV set and we watch repeats of programs we saw in the last century. And so it's gone on. We are now back at Decize wainting for Mr B's sister and B-in law (J&J) to join us on Monday. There is however a potentially serious problem. The river Loire is closd to navigation, and has been so since the day after we left it last Friday. It's been raining so hard that the river is in spate - flowing very hard and has been very high. We have to cross the Loire to get into the Canal du Nivernais. We lock out into the river, go downstream about 1/4 mile and then lock back into the other canal. They had hoped to open it again today, but there was a serious amount of rain yesterday and the level/flow has gone up again. The Romford navy arrived last Friday, didn't bother to cross until Saturday, found they couldn't and have been here all week. Their boats live at Auxerre they told me, and they are in a serious muddle. It all just underlines the serious state the French canal system is in. The infrastructure is in poor condition. A couple from New Zealand called for coffee this morning and told us that last year, 2 days after buying a boat they visited Roanne (not far from here) which is at the end of a "dead end".
The canal was very near the Loire, the bank fell into the river and they were stuck for 2 1/2 months before they could move on. 10 days ago we heard that a barge had hit a lock further east near Chalon sur Saône, a stretch of the canal had to be drained so the lock gate could be replaced/repaired. Anyway, here is a slightly out of order diary.

Saturday 31st May.
Jenni Ann has proceeded along the "canal lateral à la Loire". There is very little traffic - the odd barge, a few hire boats and a few privately owned boats - some are large barge sized floating mobile homes - some our sort of size. The weather has been grim. The TV tells us that it's not been to great in England either. Our rain has gone your way I'm afraid. But it's not all French rain. We have been covered with Sahara sand mixed in the rain as well. So the decks are yellow with an amazing mess. This weather has curtailed our activities somewhat, as we usually go for a cycle ride around where we have moored. Not so this year.

Just to liven up Mr B's day, Mrs B decided to block the loo. It's an ordinary marine loo & you pump water in and the waste out. The waste can either go directly into the river/sea or can go into a holding tank. When we were in Briare "harbour" for a couple of days Mr B changed it to go into the tank. Anyway, there was a lot more grunting from the loo than usual, and eventually Mrs B confessed that she'd blocked the system. There are strict rules about ship's loos. Nothing goes down the pan that you haven't eaten first - apart from loo paper. It turned out to be Mr B's fault of course - he hadn't turned the valve to the tank fully on so a slight constriction had caused a blockage. Mrs B's frantic pumping attempts had created substantial pressure build up. Luckily Mr B diagnosed the problem before dismantling the loo. He was reminded of a similar situation in June 1970 when Mr B was in a party on the good ship Vivette and the loo got blocked. Nasty business that was. A lot of very hard pumping failed to shift the sh*t. The owner, Mr C, went to the boat a day later and took the loo apart. There was a violent explosion and he and the forward end of the boat was covered in the unmentionable. It turned out that Miss C, Mr C's daughter, had caused the problem. The previous weekend she had been allowed to borrow the boat by herself (without dad) for the first time. When she left it she turned off every seacock she could find. This included the "out" seacock from the loo, which was a bit difficult to get at, so Mr C never turned it off. And of course the solution to the problem was merely to open this seacock. I still hear Mr C muttering about this from time to time. A bit different from the time the surgery loo got blocked a year or so later. Mr B & Mr C sent for the plumber, one Duggie. After a thorough investigation he pronounced that the problem was caused by the waste pipe being a 3-inch pipe, and someone had a 4-inch ar*ehole.
Enough of loos.

The wild life has got a lot better of late. We have seen a lot of water voles, the odd Coypu (since writing this I have confirmed that it wasn't a Coypu I saw but a Beaver. I have seen many Coypu over the years and this one was bigger and had a hairy tail. I had no idea Beavers are in France so assumed I had made a mistake)., and a variety of different birds, a little Egret, a Hoopoe, a Golden Oriole, lots of Kites and Buzzards, and then we were amazed to see a Stork's nest. It was on a purpose made platform near an electricity pole, and we could see the adult and could just see a chick. Then we saw the other adult on the other side of the canal in a meadow wandering about looking as if it was grazing (probably looking for frogs). The lock keeper nearby told us it had nested in the electricity pole last year for the first time. So the Electric people had built the nest site especially for it, hoping it wouldn't nest on their pole again. He told us that 2 locks further on there was another nest in a tree. We eventually found this, and saw 2 an adult and 2 chicks in that one.

On Tuesday we arrived at La Chapelle Montlinard where our old friends from Ipswich, Derek & Wendy Parker, have moved to. They had a 22 metre steel mobile floating home built many years ago. They lived on her for about 6 years I think, and then saw a house they liked and moved in. When we last visited them in 2003 they had just sold the boat and the new owners, Walter & Gail (from the USA) were doing a refit. Anyway, this year, no one was to be found. But 2 days later we found them all on the now renamed boat at Decize.

We've got to Decize a bit earlier than planned, as we are picking up Mr B's younger sister and brother in law from there in a week's time. So we are going further along the canal for a few days taking life a bit more gently. The problem has been that the weather has been so wet we've just kept going rather than our usual habit of shorter days and then a bit of sight seeing.

Saturday 7th June
The river crossing hasn't opened as hoped. We couldn’t get much sense out of the waterways people as the "brains" are having a weekend. It will probably be Monday before any decision is made. It's stopped raining but is cold.

It's pouring with rain so thought I'd better catch up on some news. We left Paris and pressed on up the Seine. It's a large pretty river with virtually no facilities for the likes of us. Big locks designed for 2000-ton barges - and there were plenty of them. They mainly carry sand & gravel which is extracted up-stream of Paris and then taken to the city centre where there are several huge concrete making plants on the riverbank. We find an old lock where we tie up for the night. Then press on until we reach St Mammes where the canal du Loing leaves the Seine. In the first lock we join up with a USA yacht. They don't speak English. Interesting....! The lady speaks French. It turns out they are Russian and have just picked up the boat and haven't a clue about locks. We persuade them to tie up rather than float about. General chaos. It's agreed that we should go in front and help them tie up. They were great fun, and before long the man is rushing about winding lock handles and having a wonderful time. We lose them that evening, as they wanted to go as far as possible.

Mrs B had become worried about a stain on the loo seat. The answer for such stains is apparently vinegar, so unknown to Mr B she removes the stains with the ship's vinegar. Mr B goes to the loo and notices a very odd smell. A nutty smell. He enquires. Confession is extracted under duress and it turns out the vinegar is special stuff mixed with walnut oil. Great. We have a loo which stinks of walnuts. Mr B sets about the seat with various chemicals as the stink has soaked into the plastic. It takes 2 days for the smell to go. We are now on a very small canal. 330 ton barges maximum, and not very many of them. 6 km per hour maximum. Weather good, and wildlife improving. Lots of birds, lizards etc.

As we drift down the canal we notice a gathering of cyclists ahead. There are often cyclists on the towpath as they have discovered that towpaths are flat so make for good cycling. The occasional rise or fall at locks, and no traffic. The only real hazard is losing concentration and cycling into the canal. And this is what had happened. A well-built girl in her late teens/early 20s was being pulled from the canal together with her bike. Her friends had to work hard to get her and the bike out. All was well they assured us. She looked very unhappy!

One afternoon we get stuck with a flotilla from the Romford Navy. Very loud Essex people, macho men issuing impossible orders, confused female crew trying to carry such orders out, then just dong their own thing with a lot a language. It meant there were 3 boats in a lock, which is not ideal. We were the first boat, and the bollards which are designed for barges were in quite the wrong place for us. They were deep locks as well, so the lock keeper had to help with a hook on a string to get our warps. We lost them that evening, and were able to carry on alone the next morning. We then came upon a series of automatic locks. You press buttons and it's all done for you. We get to one at 1 minute after noon. Big red light. Nothing worked. Some people who lived in a house by the lock waved their arms. We then realised that this machine was closed for its lunch break. Automatic locks clearly have rights, hard fought for by trade unions in smoke filled rooms - or got by strike action by melon throwing Frenchmen. Very odd. Very French We're having a 2-night stop at Briare where the canal crosses the Loire in a spectacular aqueduct over the valley. It then goes along the side of the river - which is not navigable.

Mr B's having more trouble than usual with emails - particular with anyone on Hotmail. With Matthew's help he's working on a solution. For some reason freesurf.fr and hotmail are at war and won't talk to each other. Very boring behaviour. It's still raining But Mr B's satellite TV system is working quite well. So not only can we see French TV but we can see the free view UK TV as well. We watched James Bond on an ITV channel this afternoon while the heavens opened on us. The forecast isn't very hopeful.

Jenni Ann

Hi all

We're now in Paris and with luck I'll be able to use the marina Hotspot so
I'm able to send some pictures. Well that was the idea, but the marina
hotspot didn't oblige, so we're now on our way up the Seine going south. So
no photos I'm afraid.

Thursday was wet. We had storms last night with strong winds during
Wednesday night. Mr B had to abandon his warm bunk at 2:00 am and take down
the bimini (a canvas awning over the aft deck which keeps the sun off us on
good days).

Got to Compiegne on Thursday. It's on the river Oise which is a major water
highway. We have had 1000 ton barges thundering past all evening. True to
form there was a nettle patch on the bank where we tied up and Mr B was
instructed to get rid of it. Do he thrashed it with his trusty broom handle,
which came to hand. Sadly it didn't appreciate this abuse and broke. A new
one is on the shopping list. We went for a beer on our bikes. So we had the
beer and set off for the boat. After half an hour Mr B had to concede that
he was lost. We went back into town. Found another café, had another beer
and got new directions. It was quite dark by now, and we had no lights. Mrs
B was getting anxious. Mr B was getting cross. More directions were sought,
and we eventually found the boat.

Next morning we went to buy a French mobile phone sim card. Mr B knew what
he wanted, and Mrs B spoke the French. So we ended up with exactly what Mr B
didn't want. Divorce & and immediate return home were mentioned Mrs B took
her passport into her personal care for a quick get-away.

Friday was a foggy & frosty day. Foggy weather wise. We couldn't see across
the river first thing. The frost was another matter, but we managed to reach
Pontoise near to where the river Oise reaches the Seine. Nice meal out. It
looked like rain but Mrs B ridiculed the idea of taking a brolly. After we
left the restaurant the heavens opened. We waited in a doorway for a while
then somewhat reluctantly made our way back in a tropical downpour. Both got
very wet.

Saturday Mr B made up some ground. We were heading for the marina in the
middle of Paris called the Arsenal. We rang them to book a place and they
were full. Ring back later in case anyone leaves they said. We tried that a
couple of times, but gave up and moored up on the downstream suburbs of
Paris. As luck would have it just in time for the Cup Final on TV. So Mrs B
was able to watch the football and Mr B's technological triumph in
organising satellite TV on the boat was appreciated. He was already in
favour as he found Mrs B some terrapins on the banks of the Seine as he had
done before.

Sunday we rang the Arsenal marina again and yes they could fit us in. So we
set off and got here early afternoon. A visit to Notre Dame (ten minutes
walk away) and a stroll back to the Place de La Bastille. Riot police
everywhere. Ugly looking bunch. Mr B decided not to photograph them. There
was a demo nearby, and the police were taking no chances. A meal out tonight
and we will probably leave in the morning. We were going to stay for Monday,
but everything we want to do is closed tomorrow, museums etc.


Jenni Ann

Hi Friends & family

This is a trial email from the depths of rural France at the start of Jenni
Ann's 2008 adventures.
If you're new to this, I'm sending this via a mobile phone connection at 7
KB per second. Your broadband is probably at 8000 Kb. So the rules are: no
attachments, delete previous message if doing a "reply to", and send in
"plain text" not HTML. If you don't know how to do that either ask someone,
or do a "reply to" and delete the original message and alter the "subject".

The weather was brilliant last week and forecast to be "iffy" this week so
we brought our departure forward a few days and went on board Friday night
and set sail (motor) at 6:30 Saturday morning. We went straight to Dunkirk,
which took exactly 10 hours. Slight fog otherwise bright sunshine. Didn't
rush at it and used 75 litres diesel - 7.5 litres per hour, which is very
respectable. Dunkirk is so much easier than Calais - no ferries to wait for.
Filled up with diesel in marina and then entered via lock into canal system.
Hit the town, had a super meal. Next morning we were going to do a shop but
France was shut. Not only was it the weekend, but they had 3 bank holidays
to fit in. So nothing was open until this morning (Tuesday). Stopped at St
Omer Sunday night and found a friendly cafe. I've acquired a Satellite TV
system which plugs into my laptop, so we are able to watch UK TV as well as
French. Got it plugged in just as Match of the Day started with the final
day of the football so gained many bonus points with Mrs B.

The sad thing about bonus points is that they are soon lost. Mine are
anyway. Monday night was spent in Douai (where I spent a few nights in
hospital when I broke my neck). After supper we went into town on our bikes
to see where the shops were. We got very lost. Perhaps 2 bottles of wine had
affected my giro-compass, but after going round in circles for at least an
hour we called into a bar for directions. Had a couple of beers to steady
the nerves and set off again. Dark by now and we don't have lights. Got lost
again. Got more directions. 2 hours later found the boat. Mrs B not too
happy.

Next morning went shopping for French phone SIM. Mr B in bad mood. Mrs B
speaks French but doesn't understand phones. Mr B knows what he wants but
can't speak adequate French. The result was mutiny & a very frank exchange
of views. We did manage to change the gas cylinder, but not without
rupturing the flexible gas pipe. Serious explosion narrowly avoided.

Tonight peace has been restored, Mrs B is snoring in the fore-cabin and Mr B
is playing with his toys listening to his music. The screen to the laptop is
alive with bugs crawling over it.

The next task is to see if my bluetooth connection to the Internet works.


Jenni Ann
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