July 15
This evening we went to the local restaurant in the Hotel la Vallee which is just up the hill and across the highway, for dinner. Dave ordered escargots and chicken in a cassis sauce, I had ham and melon and for dinner, ham in a mushroom sauce. The escargots were the absolute worst we have ever had, but the rest of dinner was fine. The restaurant is on a terrace overlooking the valley and the evening air became quite cool, or relatively speaking. It’s amazing that 80+ degrees can be chilly but it certainly feels that way to us after the heat of the days.
July 16
We are in a time warp, we spent the day thinking today was Saturday but when Lizzi called she informed me that it is actually Sunday! Dave talked to Julie today and she filled him on the world news – we have not listened to a radio, seen a newspaper or had any clue about the outside world for days and days. We have not had internet since Reims and although our cell phones do work, calls to the US are about $1/minute.
Dave primed the aft deck and handrail where he had cut it. I stenciled, did laundry, and assorted odd jobs. We fixed our usually lunch of bread, cheese and pate. I found the loveliest cheese the other day in the grocery, Coulommiers, it is soft and creamy like brie but melts within minutes of sitting out on the counter. It has a delicate, and almost a bit of a sweet, taste unlike the brie which can have that ammonia aura to it if it is a bit overripe. This is made in Burgundy and the brand is “Maurice GIRARD”, I doubt if you can buy it in the States but if you have a cheese shop, ask about it if you like soft creamy cheeses. We contemplated a bike ride to the next lock where there is a small village but Dave’s bike is not working properly (it was tuned up just before leaving Bourne End – Dave loves that British workmanship!) so we just took a short walk instead and picked some wildflowers.
We fixed artichokes for dinner and the frozen escargot and coquille St. Jacques that we bought in St.-Dizier. They were amazing – the escargot were some of the best I have ever eaten (and I have eaten more than my share!), we didn’t have any escargot forks so we had to pry them out of their little shells with wooden skewers, which worked just fine. The coquille, although not usually my favorite, were rich in a creamy sauce and just melted in our mouths. I wish we had gotten oodles of them. A dozen escargot in a restaurant here generally cost13E, these, already in their sauce and an aluminum foil escargot dish, were about 1.8E.
July 17
Another bright and beautiful day; Dave painted the aft deck in the morning and I worked on stenciling, cleaning and odd chores. A mechanic from St. Jean de Losne showed up by mistake this morning – his firm was initially called but the engine manufacturer made other arrangements. The good news for us is that he looked at the engine and thinks the damage may not be all that bad. It turns out that Steve Dean neglected to hook a critical hydraulic hose between the hydraulic pump and the reservoir tank causing the seal in the hydraulic pump to fail and allow hydraulic fluid to enter the engine oil system. Vetus Holland, when they asked Dave about the fourth coupling on the hydraulic pump, which was missing, was amazed that the pump lasted more than one hour of operation and not the one hundred and eighty hours that it has lasted. This critical hose was designed to relieve excess pressure inside the hydraulic pump. It was that excess pressure that blew out the seal on the pump. Dave called and told Steve that he had “cocked-up” big time. Now the questionable news is that Steve Dean has gotten his insurance company involved and I’m hoping that doesn’t cause another delay, they apparently want to see the engine before it is repaired. The mechanic Vetus called for the repair was supposed to come tomorrow but informed us today that he will not be here until Wednesday.
The stakes which are pounded into the ground for us to tie to are coming loose and we have asked the VNF girl at the lock to call the VNF and have someone come with a sledgehammer to pound them back in. However, we waited until almost six-thirty and no one arrived so we got on our bikes and went 2k down the tow path to the next lock at Vesaignes-sur-Marne where there is a little bar tobacco shop and restaurant. The restaurant is only open for lunch and the bar closes around 7, so we had a drink and bicycled back to fix dinner.
The reflections in the canal this evening are so perfect that if you were hanging upside down you would think you were right side up!
July 18
After a very cool night, we awoke to a beautiful, clear day and the worry that the stakes in the ground to which the boat is tied, are coming loose. Yesterday a peniche went by and the boat swung out into the canal, the stern of the peniche barely missing our bow. As each boat has gone by us, the stakes have pulled out a bit and now they are not secure. I had nightmares last night of what would have happened if a peniche had been coming into the lock as we lost control going out – since we were across the canal, we would have been hit broadside and there would be no way that a huge peniche could stop or even slow down. At least when we lost the prop function at St. Dizier, we had the bow thrusters and were able to steer a little bit. As it seems right now, when the engine repair is made tomorrow, the hydraulics may not be fixed until we get to Rolampont. That means we have to take the boat through three locks without the bow thrusters and if there are wier outlets in front of the locks, it will be incredibly difficult to steer the bow into the locks. Of course, that is if they can fix the engine tomorrow – we have no idea of the extent of the damage to it.
A British boat went by us this morning, they told us they had to wait three days to go through the tunnel. If we left today, which we obviously aren’t going to, we would barely make it to St. Jean de Losne in time for me to get on a train to Paris to get my flight home on July 28. As it is, we have no idea where we will be and if we will be anywhere near a train station when it is time for me to leave. It also means that Dave will have to find someone to complete the trip with him and no one comes to mind. There is no way he can take the boat through either the tunnel or the subsequent 5+m locks by himself. If all goes well tomorrow and they are able to fix the engine and repair the hydraulics (doubtful), then we can press on and just hope. Being on that tight a schedule, with the possibility of being nowhere again, on July 26-7, is a bit unnerving. This trip has been a bit like a roulette wheel spin with four mechanical problems so far (losing the hydraulic hose in Belgium, electrical problem in Reims, prop nut lost in St.-Dizier, and this.) If Dave complained about British workmanship before, it’s nothing compared to what he’s thinking now!
The lock keeper came with bigger stakes and he pounded them into the ground for Dave to tie to, the boat is now aground in the stern and that may be damaging the keel coolers on the stern hull. The boat is also now listing to port at about a ten degree angle which has the effect of making me feel a bit seasick.
Dave called the Vetus France people to make sure they are actually coming tomorrow and their answer was – yes! Then they called back about an hour later to say that since Steve Dean had not made the installation properly that the repair is not covered under warranty and we need to pay them 2000E in cash when they arrive. Well – we are forever away from an ATM and if we could get to one it wouldn’t give us 2000E combined in one day. Several more phone calls and it seems they will be here tomorrow to fix the engine but not the hydraulics, and deal with the money somehow else.
Dave has been remarkably calm throughout all these disasters. This is his home, his dream of many years, and a huge amount of his retirement savings. I think I would have taken an ax to something and watched the boat sink as I called the insurance company. His only remarks have been that he just wants to cry. I tell him to hit something, yell, stomp his feet – DO something but he just shakes his head. Since we have been here, he has agreed to work only in the mornings on the boat and then relax in the afternoon –we were going to go exploring, he was going to paint, we were going to have lunches out; but by the afternoon he just wants a beer, his book and a nap. This morning Dave did give the watercolor he painted of the lock keepers house to him and he and his daughter were genuinely thrilled. I hoped it would inspire Dave to keep on painting as it is something that relaxes him and re-channels his energy into something creative. He got all his painting stuff out and started painting our orchid plant but he lost interest and momentum after a short while and went to nap with his book. Of course, tomorrow is a D-day for him – he will find out how badly damaged the engine is and is also concerned that the prop might have fallen off as well. I’m just hoping that it is not as bad as it could be. The best case scenario is that there is relatively little engine damage; the worst is that the engine will have to be replaced along with all the hydraulics. By 7:30 p.m. he didn’t even notice that I had switched his drinks from Scotch to Paddy’s Irish whiskey (8E a bottle). This is probably not a good sign.
We have not been able to fill the water tanks for seven days (when we had guests we used 5” of water a day – we only hold 15”), we have not had internet for nineteen days, we have not been able to get fresh food for 5 days. As I previously stated, the food here has no preservatives and doesn’t last at all, even if refrigerated. Our bread was stale four days ago but we toast and eat it anyway, I am making a roast chicken tonight but the carrots were so limp that I had to freeze them in order to peel them as they were covered with black spots and as limp as ….. use your imagination. The mushrooms, just your garden variety white mushrooms – when the package was opened – smelled like a warthog had peed on them. I thought I could rinse them copiously and when that didn’t seem to help, I soaked them in sherry – well – not a good solution; they smelled like sherry induced warthog pee. Into the canal they went.
As for my afternoon – I almost finished the stenciling – that will be done tomorrow, the space is so small that it is impossible to keep moving with the stencil as the next one covers the last and the paint is oil and takes awhile to dry. I began the task of making curtains for the main cabin out of the extra fabric for the wheelhouse. It gets to be about 96 degrees in the main cabin after noon until 9 p.m. and the weather forecast is for more and more sun and heat. The portholes in our cabin get covered with dirty laundry – t-shirts work particularly well. We switch sides as the sun goes from one side of the boat to the other at mid-day. We have been together, twenty four hours a day, for forty three days. The only breaks we have had from each other were one night when Dave and John had a beer together in Belgium, and the occasional brief forays I have made to shop.
There is a huge spider web outside of one of the aft wheelhouse windows. Since it is safely on the outside, Dave watches it with fascination. It is a large brownish spider and it is racing around its web spinning and taking the caught prey and putting them into cocoons. The web is already about a meter square; Dave thought about knocking it down but I encouraged him to let the spider eat the bugs that are attracted to the light and fly into the boat at night. Dave has named the spider Jasper.
With dinner, we had our 3E bottle of “champagne”, it was actually sparkling white wine from Burgundy, therefore not truly champagne. But it was lovely, crisp, very bubbly and Dave said it had notes of apple. Of course, he was – self-proclaimed – “fit-chased”, after 4 Scotch/Irish whiskeys and a vodka. Anyway – it made us giggly – which was a good thing. At ten o’clock we heard the nearby church bells ring four times (this is France, after all).
July 19
It is another bright and beautiful day, the mornings have been crisp and clear. It is wonderful that we are at the top of the forest because the nights actually get chilly before it is time to go to bed and we are able to sleep very comfortably and enjoy the cool of the morning before the heat of the day takes over. Dave’s spider, Jasper, is in not in evidence – Dave says he hides during the day. I found another one in the window frame in the main cabin that is a beauty – it has a small green body and long burnt orange legs.
Dave is sitting in the wheelhouse with the French dictionary beside him, getting his notes and thoughts ready for the mechanic who is due to arrive from Paris and doesn’t speak English. We have no idea when to expect him – we were just told that he was coming from Paris (about a three hour drive). Dave is lost in thought and worry, sitting with his arms folded high over his chest. Fortunately he has an English to French translation program on his computer so he can type in a message or statement and translate it into French; this has been working well for him when my limited language skills don’t stretch into the technical areas. Our prayers have been said, all we can do now is wait.
Francois arrived at 9:45, (he does speak some English), by 11:45 he had replaced the engine oil and cleaned the injectors. At this stage he says it is good news. I have put a bottle of Tattinger champagne in the fridge in anticipation of a celebration. We believe in the power of sending positive energy to the Universe.
By 11:45 I had all the fabric cut for the curtains – with not one inch to spare. I had given Sylvia, in Cambrai, some of the fabric for her cushions and Dave was afraid I wouldn’t have enough left for whatever we might want – close call! They won’t be very voluptuous in terms of gathering width but since they are being made out of outdoor fabric, that is probably just fine as it would be difficult to gather them aside if they were much bigger.
Even though the thermostat in the wheel house reads 97 degrees at noon, there is a very nice breeze and the mosquito netting I have put across the open tops of the wheelhouse windows seems to be doing a good job of allowing the breeze and filtering the sun.
I hear Dave laughing with Francois in the engine room, finally some of the tension seems to be relieved. In a few minutes we can try to start the engine. I have all my fingers crossed in hope.
It doesn’t start, Dave says the engine is destroyed. I am afraid to go back the engine room and confirm his fears, so instead I continue to iron hems in my curtains and hope that Francois has another plan. I do slip back to the aft cabin to check Dave’s toilet kit for the bottle of nitroglycerine that he always used to carry with him. Now I am afraid that this will be just too much for him – his very worst fears confirmed. The boat cannot be fixed here and there is no way to get it anywhere else. Of course, there is no bottle of little white pills.
Vetus says it will take up to six weeks to manufacture a new engine. Dave can’t leave the boat here for any great length of time as it is tied to spikes in the ground and moves every time a big boat goes by. We are almost out of water, showers have been practically non-existent – I have gotten mine down to forty three seconds if I don’t wash my hair. We have not cleaned at all – saving the water to do dishes and a little washing for ourselves as well as water for drinking. I called American Express to see if there is a car rental place anywhere nearby, if at least we had a car we could get to the stores for food and other necessities, it won’t solve the water problem but if we could buy lots of hose we may be able to hook up to the lock keepers water. The only way we can get to the next town is with two tugs – one to push us and one to pull us out of the locks. VNF says this is not possible.
American Express found a car rental company in Langres – they will not have a car available until tomorrow but we have reserved one. So, once again, we wait but at least tomorrow we will be able to do some shopping, buy hose enough to reach the water outlet at the lock, etc. Dave said he will take me to the airport in Paris so I won’t have to worry about where to get the train, changing trains with my luggage, and having to spend the night alone at the airport hotel the night before my flight. A little freedom is finally in the wind and perhaps we can do some exploring.
Despite my worries, Dave seems better now that at least he has the knowledge of what needs to be done, and is in the doing mode. Steve Dean’s insurance will cover all the costs of replacing the engine as well as some expenses for Dave between now and then.
(I did take the champagne out of the refrigerator.)
We decided to go back to the nearby hotel/restaurant for dinner – but it was closed (Wednesday). What a mentally exhausting day!
July 20
Today we get some freedom – we get to pick up our rental car! The lock keeper took us to Langres around 10 and dropped us off at the car rental company. It took about an hour for the woman there to fill out the paperwork – I have bought cars in less time! Once Dave was behind the wheel we set off the find the hardware and grocery stores. It was about 11 by then and everything closes for lunch from 12 – 2 (as I have mentioned a zillion times by now) but a McDonalds beckoned and we had to pull right in for Dave’s big Mac craving. This left us about 30 minutes to shop when we were finished lunch. Our first stop was the garden store so we could buy 450 feet of hose; by the time we accomplished this along with some pots and soil for my plants, the hardware store was closed for lunch. We then proceeded to the “supermarche” which did not close for lunch and we got our groceries. Dave had to keep reminding me not to stock up for months as we could come back at will now. On the drive back, we went to the small town of Foulain where I had seen a vegetable truck in a parking lot last Thursday when the lock keeper took us to the store in Chaumont. We bought artichokes, the very sweetest cherries, melons and green beans. We headed back to the boat laden with fresh fruit, vegetables, and a new supply of frozen escargots and Coquille St. Jacques, among everything else that we craved. Only a few hours into our new found freedom I was already feeling like our camping and making do days were over and that made me a little sad (can you imagine??).
When we arrived at the boat, the lock keeper came running up to us and said that the “bateau partie” – in other words (English for instance) – the boat had come untied and had gone out into the canal! He apparently had to jump in the canal, climb up the stern of the boat on the stern line and retie it to the stakes which had come completely out of the ground and been lost in the canal. Driving the stakes into the ground is no easy thing – they are about 4 feet long and the ground is full of rock – it tales a sledgehammer and some brute force. Dave tried it a couple of times and the lock keeper finally had to take over! The passerelle had gone overboard as well and we didn’t know if only the stern had come untied or the bow as well. I couldn’t believe we missed it (by about 5 minutes) and Dave was relieved that we weren’t there to witness it.
After we got back on the boat and started putting our goodies away, a gentleman on a bicycle stopped to chat with Dave. After a few minutes of conversation Dave invited him for dinner and to spend the night on the boat! He was thrilled as his camping choices here were very limited (he carries his life on the bike – like a turtle: tent, camp stove, etc.). Chris turned out to be very interesting. He lives in Paris and works for the Paris opera doing set design. He told wonderful stories of the Paris opera, the set designs and how elaborate they are and how competitive the costume designers are. He had lived in the US for awhile so his English was rather good. He is on vacation on his bicycle for a month, going from Paris to the mountains of central France. Needless to say – the invitation for a real bed was a joy for him. Since our shopping included things in threes (two for Dave, one for me – i.e. hamburgers, pork chops, etc.), we were at a bit of a loss to decide what would stretch for dinner. We decided on the artichokes, escargots and coquilles; Chris contributed the bread. He told wonderful stories and gave us very good information about living in France in general.
For instance, he told us that the lock keepers generally sell food, and it turned out that, indeed, our lock keeper sells eggs and rabbits – unfortunately the rabbits are not hopping about with their fur still on. He also told Dave that a good gift for the lock keeper is a bottle of Pastis. We had a lovely evening and felt blessed that he had happened along.
July 20
Today we get some freedom – we get to pick up our rental car! The lock keeper took us to Langres around 10 and dropped us off at the car rental company. It took about an hour for the woman there to fill out the paperwork – I have bought cars in less time! Once Dave was behind the wheel we set off the find the hardware and grocery stores. It was about 11 by then and everything closes for lunch from 12 – 2 (as I have mentioned a zillion times by now) but a McDonalds beckoned and we had to pull right in for Dave’s big Mac craving. This left us about 30 minutes to shop when we were finished lunch. Our first stop was the garden store so we could buy 450 feet of hose; by the time we accomplished this along with some pots and soil for my plants, the hardware store was closed for lunch. We then proceeded to the “supermarche” which did not close for lunch and we got our groceries. Dave had to keep reminding me not to stock up for months as we could come back at will now. On the drive back, we went to the small town of Foulain where I had seen a vegetable truck in a parking lot last Thursday when the lock keeper took us to the store in Chaumont. We bought artichokes, the very sweetest cherries, melons and green beans. We headed back to the boat laden with fresh fruit, vegetables, and a new supply of frozen escargots and Coquille St. Jacques, among everything else that we craved. Only a few hours into our new found freedom I was already feeling like our camping and making do days were over and that made me a little sad (can you imagine??).
When we arrived at the boat, the lock keeper came running up to us and said that the “bateau partie” – in other words (English for instance) – the boat had come untied and had gone out into the canal! He apparently had to jump in the canal, climb up the stern of the boat on the stern line and retie it to the stakes which had come completely out of the ground and been lost in the canal. Driving the stakes into the ground is no easy thing – they are about 4 feet long and the ground is full of rock – it tales a sledgehammer and some brute force. Dave tried it a couple of times and the lock keeper finally had to take over! The passerelle had gone overboard as well and we didn’t know if only the stern had come untied or the bow as well. I couldn’t believe we missed it (by about 5 minutes) and Dave was relieved that we weren’t there to witness it.
After we got back on the boat and started putting our goodies away, a gentleman on a bicycle stopped to chat with Dave. After a few minutes of conversation Dave invited him for dinner and to spend the night on the boat! He was thrilled as his camping choices here were very limited (he carries his life on the bike – like a turtle: tent, camp stove, etc.). Chris turned out to be very interesting. He lives in Paris and works for the Paris opera doing set design. He told wonderful stories of the Paris opera, the set designs and how elaborate they are and how competitive the costume designers are. He had lived in the US for awhile so his English was rather good. He is on vacation on his bicycle for a month, going from Paris to the mountains of central France. Needless to say – the invitation for a real bed was a joy for him. Since our shopping included things in threes (two for Dave, one for me – i.e. hamburgers, pork chops, etc.), we were at a bit of a loss to decide what would stretch for dinner. We decided on the artichokes, escargots and coquilles; Chris contributed the bread. He told wonderful stories and gave us very good information about living in France in general.
For instance, he told us that the lock keepers generally sell food, and it turned out that, indeed, our lock keeper sells eggs and rabbits – unfortunately the rabbits are not hopping about with their fur still on. He also told Dave that a good gift for the lock keeper is a bottle of Pastis. We had a lovely evening and felt blessed that he had happened along.
July 21
It is Friday morning and Chris has volunteered to speak with the lock keeper for us to find out what is what around here. Unfortunately, the lock keeper and his family were not home and Chris thought perhaps they had gone to market. He was right.
While we waited for him to return I got busy on sewing curtains for the main cabin. But, wouldn’t you know it? The motor on the sewing machine quit after a few minutes of sewing! We must have a motor jinx aboard the Shenandoah!
When they came back, Chris found out what the market days are around here, and that he does actually sell eggs and rabbits. Dave bought a dozen eggs for 2E. Chris was going to leave in the morning since it is too hot to ride during the middle of the day, but since the lock keeper didn’t return until just before noon, Chris decided to spend the day exploring with us. We headed to the town of Nogent, famous for making knives, scissors and cutlery. When we got there, we went to a very strange restaurant in a hotel for lunch – the restaurant was in the back of the ground floor of the building and although it had green colored glass windows, it was like being in a time warp in a strange movie. They had about three choices for lunch – Chris had some sort of beef in mustard sauce, Dave had fish and potatoes in a white sauce, and I had a croque monsieur (ham and cheese grilled sandwich) made with the local Langres cheese. The boys had coffee and Cuban cigars after lunch. We went to the tourist office where they had an amazing display of the articles made – past and present – in the Nogent area (remember – this area of the country is know for metal works). The once hand-made tools are now replaced by the manufacture of surgical tools, scissors of all types imaginable, as well as beautiful table settings and serving cutlery. The only shop in the village sold scissors made by the proprietor himself as well as several kinds of pocket knives. The most beautiful of the knives are sold in a store several kilometers away, unfortunately. On display, there were carving knives and forks with deer feet as handles, sailor’s knives with exquisite carvings on the handles, sewing scissors with bird or flower handles, and knife blades that were hand etched with intricate designs. I purchased a pair of sewing scissors and a couple of little gifts for my son.
Chris was on a mission to find someone who could fix my sewing machine (we determined the problem was actually in the pedal). He asked everyone we met who might be able to fix it. The woman in the tourist office sent us to a shop in town that sells washing machines, vacuum cleaners, and small electrical appliances – she didn’t touch sewing machines and told us of a sewing machine repair shop about 10km away. We went back to the tourist office and asked the woman to call that store and indeed, the owner said she could send the foot pedal out for repair but it wouldn’t come back for two weeks. We went to the museum shop next door and Chris asked the woman there if she knew of anyone and she told us to go to an antique store that might sell old machines, or to an Emmaus (church charity shop), that was not too far out of our way back. We never found the antique store, but we did find the Emmaus. It is huge – about the size of a Wal-Mart! It was not open for business but the workers were inside so we went in and spoke to a gentleman there who said he had had the exact pedal we needed and had just thrown it away that morning and the trash had already been hauled away! Oh, he said repeatedly: “Je suis desole!” (I am sorry!). We must have looked so desole ourselves that he proceeded to tell Chris that he (Ivan) had come to France from Bulgaria and within a couple of weeks had his passport and all his money stolen. The only place he could work without papers was for the church, who had taken him in. Apparently he had been an electrical engineer in Bulgaria; he cheerfully took the foot pedal apart for us and wiggled around a wire or two (there is a transformer in the foot pedal that keeps your sewing machine from interrupting the signal on your tv or radio), and assured us it would now work. He also gave us an extra foot pedal that would be able to be converted with a different plug. There must have been 50 old sewing machines in that place! Dave gave him 20E and off we went. OK- electrical engineering in Bulgaria must not have had sewing machine pedals as part of their curriculum because it still didn’t work. But Dave figured out to simply remove the transformer – and voila – I was back in business! Meanwhile, I did a hop, skip and jump around the Emmaus and found a table full of wonderful old linens – will have to go back tomorrow when it is open.
Chris was telling me stories of his travels on bicycle. He said that when he rode through the countryside he would often see acres and acres of graveyards; one French, then German, then American. He said the number of graves was staggering. I commented on the small graveyards I had seen and how beautifully they are maintained and with such elaborate decorations. He said that is a problem with the French – they save such things for after they have died, not while they are living.
By now it was rather late in the afternoon and still hot so Chris decided to spend another night with us. He went for a walk in the forest while I did some sewing and Dave read for awhile. We reconvened for cocktails and a cold supper of deviled eggs, ham wrapped around melon, salad, and cheeses. He will have to leave early in the morning to make the 30km ride to a friend’s house south of Langres where he has arranged to stay tonight. Apparently his friend, Eric, speaks some English so we have invited them to dinner on Monday. It would be nice for Dave to meet someone in the area.
July 22
After breakfast of pain-aux-raisins and coffee, Chris packed up his bike and off he went. We cleaned things up a bit and I went to work on finishing the curtains. By 2:00 the curtains were finished and went off the Emmaus in search of who knows what. When we got there about 15 minutes ahead of opening time – there were cars and cars and people waiting at the gate to get in. It must be Saturday afternoon’s entertainment. Of course I was sizing up everyone in the parking lot to see if I thought they were going to run in ahead of me and grab my precious linens. I certainly did spy antique dealers – a woman nicely dressed with good jewelry driving a BMW, a middle aged man in topsiders and khakis, clearly there were bargains to be found! Since places like this are my absolute favorite for shopping and finding treasures, I was thrilled – now remember I had seen nothing but supermarkets, hardware stores and the occasional village pastry shop for two months. When the gates were opened, people actually ran into the shop! Dave wandered about as I found the linens I wanted; then I found Dave, he paid and we left.
When we got back to the boat – guess what?? The Shenandoah had made another break for freedom! One again the lock keeper had made the rescue, and again, we only missed the drama by about five minutes! This was enough – we tied the boat to another set of stakes, now mid-ship as well as double stakes fore and aft. We were informed that there would be five boats coming through the lock tomorrow. We debated going out for dinner but Dave was exhausted from the heat so he fixed us as light supper and we enjoyed our beautiful view.
July 23
Dave set off this morning for the hardware store, despite the fact that it is Sunday and not likely to be open. I stayed with the boat in case there was a problem with the five boats due through today. Of course, if a big peniche came through at any speed my plan was to jump ashore so I don’t know what help that would have been. I cleaned the mud off the aft deck left from yesterday’s climb aboard the lock keeper had to do after the boat escaped again. He must have to jump in the canal and climb up the rope onto the aft deck to get aboard because the passerelle (gangplank) also takes a dive into the water so there is no other way to get on the boat if the stern is in the middle of the canal. Dave is glad that he wasn’t here those times because he doesn’t fancy a swim in the canal and I just don’t see him climbing up the rope and over the stern – I certainly couldn’t haul my butt up there!
When Dave left on his foray to the (closed) hardware store, he ran over one of the lock keepers flower pots and smashed it. I was thankful I hadn’t done it because when I looked at where it was in relation to the car – I thought that if I have to back that car out I will certainly run over that flower pot! So a new pot and flowers are on our shopping list.
Dave had a bit of cabin fever and suggested we go see the hours the Emmaus is open today and have lunch out. So I drove – now driving a stick-shift with which I am not familiar on hills is not my cup of tea but, nonetheless, off we went. The little bar/restaurant down the canal was open but not serving lunch so we had a beer instead of lunch. When we came back, the boat was still tied up and no sign of muddy feet – a very good thing. I’m a bit afraid if the boat is too much trouble the lock keeper will tell the VNF he doesn’t want the boat to stay here. Even though having the car provides us with some freedom, we really can’t go far or for long in case there is a problem with the passing boats. It also makes me sort of peeved as I no longer feel like we are camping out and enjoying the wilderness of our situation. We used to take long walks and bike rides and now I don’t know how all that cheese I consume is going to disappear.
At the appointed hour, 2:30, I set off for the Emmaus while Dave stayed behind to write his journal of our story. He has not been in a mood to write since we left Reims so this is good therapy for him. I came back with two European size pillowcases, one in red and one in white – just the right size for us to make the international distress flag that Dave wants to fly from the mast. I also found two more lace curtains, three weights for the flag, four more sheets to make a tent for the wheelhouse, and two pillowcases which are long enough for two pillows. Some of the sheets are heavy cotton, but a few of them are linen. Some of them are embroidered, hemstitched, etc., it seems a shame to use them for tents but at 4 – 10E apiece, they make very affordable tent material. It is in excess of 95 degrees every day from about 10:30 in the morning until around 8 in the evening, so we are hoping this will work better than the towels, pillowcases, and bike cover we have safety pinned to the windows in the wheelhouse and have to move every day from side to side as the sun goes overhead. The curtains I made for the main cabin are doing a much better job of keeping the heat out, they keep it almost ten degrees cooler inside. It feels like a bit of a cave to me as now you can’t see out the windows but I guess the trade off is worth it. Dave doesn’t mind not being able to see out but I like to see what is going on outside.
We rapidly made the distress flag before the peniche was due at 5, and when it came through we didn’t have a problem. The third set of stakes seem to be doing their job. The lock keeper came over after the peniche went through and told us that there will be six peniches tomorrow. We have hardly seen any boats on this canal at all – some days there are none, and two or three is the most we have seen on any day so far. So tomorrow is definitely a stay at home day. I took two of the lace curtains and draped them over the handrail on top of the aft cabin and fixed them to the portholes in our cabin – Dave thinks that the reason everyone here has lace curtains on their windows is that they keep the bugs out since they don’t have screens; we shall see. If Ellie-May comes to visit she will be right at home.
We decided to go out for dinner since we haven’t been out to dinner for a week, but Sundays are not good choices for anything here. Many of the restaurants are open for lunch on Sunday since that is when the French go out for their main meal of the day, but most close in the evening. We looked in a guide that we got from the tourism office and found a restaurant in Rolampont that did not say it was closed on Sunday evenings and off we went. When we drove by the restaurant, the chairs were on top of the tables which seemed to signify that they were no longer serving even though there was a table with people still eating. We drove around a bit to see if there was anything else but the only other restaurant was closed, and of course the first one was no longer serving by then. The book said that the restaurant here was closed on Sunday evenings but they were open so we went back there and had the same disappointing meal that we had last week. There is another restaurant in Foulain that we haven’t tried and may check out before I leave. Dave would like to find some place close where he feels comfortable going after I leave.
July 24
We are boat bound today with the anticipation of the six peniches that are coming through the lock. Since we are expecting Chris and his friend for dinner tonight it gives us a chance to get things put away and an excuse to clean up. We started the morning by putting up the sheets I bought yesterday on the outside of the wheelhouse sides to form tents against the sun. This way we can get the breeze and not have to block each window, it seems to be working very well, although we now look like we are stranded in the desert rather than on a canal. The lace curtains I put over the aft stateroom windows last night did a good job of keeping the bugs out and when the sun came through them this morning they cast a very pretty pattern on the ceiling. I took one side off and put it over the aft wheelhouse windows to diffuse the sunlight.
Dave decided to put the rest of his beers in the refrigerator and wanted to know if he could take out the champagne to make room for the beer – he was kidding, wasn’t he??
Chris called around 11 and told us they would not be coming for dinner. I’m just as glad not to have to go to the fuss, although we have all the food and wine ready; however it is a bit disappointing as I was hoping the friend would be nice and someone Dave could get together with after I leave on Thursday.
We basically had a lazy day waiting for the peniches to come by – and they did – but seven – not six. The boat did not move much at all so, hopefully, we are in good shape. One peniche did come through with a tent just like ours! I finished the stenciling in the aft bathroom and put a lace doily that I found at the Emmaus on the porthole in the main cabin. This may look strange, but it is traditional that Dutch barges have lace curtains at all the windows and lace is inset between the layers of glass in the portholes. We have enough extra lace from the curtains from the Emmaus to cover all the remaining portholes in the forward part of the boat – a project for my next visit.
We were very pleased with the results of the curtains and tents – it was 106 outside this afternoon and it did not get above 88 inside. Even as a (part-time) Southern girl – I find 88 to be a bit toasty and Dave finds it to be quite energy draining. Pete called him today and when Dave told him about our projects – Pete said: “What about the air-conditioning?” For the rest of you who have not figured this out yet and why we are complaining about the heat – we don’t have air-conditioning! The boat is plumbed for it but Dave decided not to have it installed because the cost was so prohibitive. We did have air conditioning we would have to run the generator to turn on the a/c and the heat from that would probably be almost a wash. If we want to turn on any electrical appliances here, including the hot water heaters, we have to turn on the generator since we have no electrical connection. When we turn on the generator, although relatively quiet for such a big thing, does make noise and generates heat which radiates to the rest of the boat, especially the wheelhouse and aft cabin; in addition to which it uses fuel which is very expensive here. In the course of our planning, we thought we had enough fuel to last for quite awhile but we were not planning a lengthy stay in Marnay-sur-Marne. When we leave here, we cannot get fuel for another 120km, so conservation of fuel is another consideration as well.
It is an amazing and wonderful thing to not be concerned about anything complex at all; such as the news of the world – we have no comprehension of world news – and basically no way to find out. The newspaper at the bar is only local, and in French. Of course, it does touch on the highlights of world news in one small paragraph on the next to last page. (Obviously we don’t have a television.) Our biggest concerns are protecting the boat and keeping the sun at bay! We do have the car now so we can go to the store whenever we want (when the canal is closed for the day), but aside from fresh fruit, bread and vegetables, we have enough food in the cupboard and freezer to last for weeks. We now have access to water so we can do laundry and dishes and finally take showers.
When I write that we are miles from anywhere with facilities – let me explain. This village has one hotel with a restaurant (and not a very good one). Two km down the canal is another village with a bar/tobacco shop and restaurant that serves lunch on some days.
Rolampont is 8 km south of here – it has two restaurants and a small grocery store. Langres is a big feudal town 20 km south which has most everything and a train station.
To the north, the next village is Foulain, which is 7 km away, and it has that lovely hotel/restaurant, Le Chalet, where lunch cost 95E. It also has a bakery (not worth mentioning), butcher shop, bar/tobacco/restaurant, and pharmacy. Chaumont is 19km north and is also a big town with most services. We have yet to find an internet café but we’re going looking today. There is an open air market in Rolampont on Friday mornings with food, Chaumont has a market Saturday morning, and Nogent has a market on Tuesday mornings with food as well as clothing. This is all well and good now that we have a car but as you can see, with bikes, or walking with our shopping trolley, we really are a long way from anything. Having a car to go shopping is a new experience for us, the first in all the time we have been on the boat, including when we were in the UK. I still don’t have the understanding that I’m not buying for every eventuality – Dave has to keep reminding me that we can go shopping whenever we want. Isn’t this amazing? We never have to even consider these things at home – we get in the car whenever we want and can find food 24 hours a day. The stores are all closed on Sundays, and all but the huge supermarkets, are closed from 12 – 2 so that takes some reminding. Nothing opens before 10 and everything closes at 7 or so.
The highlight of our day may be looking for the fox in the field when he usually makes an appearance around 8:30 in the evening. The fields are so beautiful here that I will miss the beauty and simplicity when the boat gets to St. Jean de Losne and there are probably about 200 boats and campers alongside the canal. Basically we have no one to talk to but each other and we have been together now for 50 days with no more than an hour or so apart from each other the entire time. We have been alone on the boat together for 28 days with no one else to talk to but our visitor, Chris. Phone calls are few and far between and very brief due to the expense. It has been wonderful – I’m sure it is going to be difficult to adjust to the noise and sensory overload when I get back to the States. This evening we had a 4E bottle of sparkling burgundy white wine at cocktail time (wonderful), and Dave cooked hamburgers for dinner.
July 25
Today promises to be especially hot, so first thing we took the small oriental rug, a gift to Dave from J., from the galley and washed it on the forward deck. We have a deck wash pump which pumps water directly out of the canal so we can wash the boat without having to use fresh water. The canal water here is much cleaner here than the last place we used it. While I was out there I washed the forward deck as well. Even though we are not under way it gets crummy with dirt and dead bugs. This boat, if just brushed and rinsed, with the windows squeeged, it takes about three hours to wash. I love to wash boats – forget about my kitchen floor – never want to wash that, but I grew up with one of my boat jobs being washing and polishing the boat. Also it is nice in the heat to be outside with a hose – even if it is canal water.
By 10:00, two of the three anticipated boats for the day have already been through the lock, and they were just small pleasure boats. The first one was going quite fast out of the lock toward us and when Dave asked the skipper to slow down – he told us to slow down! If he was not clever enough to see that we are tied up with a distress flag flying – he really shouldn’t be operating a boat. The third boat was owned by a British couple and they went through just prior to the noon lock closing so they tied up on the other side of the lock and the woman, Chris, came by for a chat. She was lovely but could only stay for about thirty minutes before they had to take off again for their next lock opening.
Afterwards, Dave and I went into Langres to find the internet hot spot that T-Mobile told Dave was there – and guess what? That café is no longer in business. One bar that had internet was loud, hot and the “computer” doubled as a game machine so we didn’t even attempt that in the noise and heat. We had lunch at an outdoor café – we both had salads – Dave’s had bacon bits, little fried potato squares, and a poached egg over lettuce. He enjoyed his, but mine was just my cup of tea. My salad was lettuce with a light mustard vinaigrette dressing, a quartered tomato, and – best of all – Langres cheese grilled on slices of baguette on top of the salad! Anything that involves cheese and bread is my favorite – but what a great way to make a salad! We wandered through the narrow and charming streets a bit but it was just too hot to stay outside. We made a quick trip to the hardware store and grocery, stopped at the nearby bar for a beer and came back to the boat. I had a headache, sore throat and was a bit dizzy When we got back to the boat I tried to lie down for awhile but was too uncomfortable, when I suddenly realized that I was suffering from dehydration. The temperatures here are record breaking and I simply didn’t realize that I wasn’t consuming enough fluids, I drank several bottles of water and soaked my feet in a bucket of canal water and feel somewhat better.
In the evenings we put our camp chairs on the shady side of the boat and sit there in the breeze and look for the fox. We haven’t seen him for several days – perhaps he is staying in the shade of the forest. I am very sad to be leaving the day after tomorrow and hate to leave Dave here alone. He is giving his language skills a good run for the money and can understand a bit better than he can speak but he is generally able to make himself understood. Plus he has his computer with the translation program that he can take with him if he needs to, but there just isn’t anywhere, except maybe the bar down the canal, where he can go and simply have a conversation after a day alone on the boat. He has many projects on the boat to keep him busy so I guess he will get lots of work done but it will be lonely. If things continue the way they have been, someone will come along the canal and he will make some new friends.
We fixed a simple light dinner of pate on cheese bread with melon, which was just perfect for a hot summer night. We ran the generator for a few hours yesterday to do laundry dishes etc. until it got too hot and our sheets never made it out of the washing machine onto the “clothesline” (i.e. handrails); so I ironed two of the white linen sheets from the Emmaus and put them on our bed. They were wonderfully crisp and comfortable; we went to bed and hoped to escape the nightly battle of the bugs who are attracted to our reading lights at night.
July 26
I woke up early this morning and came to the wheelhouse to see if I could see the fox. The sun rises over his field and the light coming through windows gave all the little spider webs a prismatic effect. The air is very still and today promises to be especially hot again; there was a bit of mist over the canal but the temperature didn’t drop enough last night to even create dew on the decks. When Dave got up to make coffee and I went to make the bed I found little dead bugs squished all over the sheets! More on his side than mine, although I remember a particular battle I had with one in the middle of the night. It’s difficult to imagine I am going to miss these little things. We do have mosquito netting which will work better over the stateroom windows than the lace curtains, but the magnetic tape we have to fix the fabric to the windows is at my house in PA. Oh well – we will think of something, necessity is the mother of invention is our motto here.
We went into Chaumont to find a French cell phone for Dave, so whoever wants to call him from here doesn’t have to make a long distance call through the States to reach him. In the process, we found a real internet café with two computers – of course they were closed for lunch when we were there. We had lunch at a little cafe and then came back to the boat so I can pack. We found that the train from Chaumont will be longer than from Dijon for me tomorrow but will have a better connection in Paris for me to get to the airport hotel where I am staying tomorrow night. Since the trains from the south do not go directly to the CDG airport, we decided it was better for me to leave the day before to be sure to be there for a 1 p.m. flight. How I hate to leave a day early!
At 2:30, the sky is hazy and it is 97 in the wheelhouse – we are hoping the haze is an indicator of some rain. It rained the other day briefly, when we were in Nogent with Chris and all it did was add humidity to the already oppressive heat.
No rain – it just got increasingly hotter. I packed and Dave took us out to dinner at Le Chalet, it was lovely.
August 17
I arrived in France yesterday after a long but simple journey. The blessing was that the airport was not crowded and I got my bag immediately, then a taxi that got me to the train station in time to make the 9:45 express train instead of the noon train and I arrived in Chaumont at 12:00. That was about three hours sooner than I had expected. Dave met me at the train and we went right to the grocery store; we came back to the boat where we had bread, cheese and wine and I took a nap. We went to his cafe at 5:30 but none of his buddies were there. We had cocktails and came back to the boat where he fixed me the most incredible dinner of sole dipped in crushed almonds and served with a butter and caper sauce, fried potatoes and artichokes with champagne.
Today we went to the hardware store where he bought 2 c-clamps that cost 60E each!
We had lunch in Langres at the restaurant where we had been before and had that salad with the Langres cheese melted on slices of baguette on top of the salad. We came back to the boat, repositioned the stakes and just lazed around. The weather has changed drastically from when I left – it is cool during the days and chilly at night. It is a little too much like fall to please me.
We had a violent rainstorm complete with thunder and lightning around 5:00; when the rain slowed down a bit we set off for Dave’s bar. All his buddies were there this evening – Michael, the midget (Dave says he isn’t quite 4 feet tall) who was wearing a beret with straw sticking from it – Dave called it the barnyard look as Michael has a small farm with sheep; Roger, Michael’s buddy; Mr. Salad – Dave doesn’t know his name but he gives Dave lettuce, Dave says he has a farm and he can tell because Mr. Salad always comes into the bar with cow poop on his shoes; Willie, from Belgium, who was a street urchin as a child, now sells real estate in Brussels, and is here on vacation. Willie speaks English – his mother is French and his father was American but he only met his father four times.
It is quite an interesting group. The all speak to Dave in French and he answers “Oui, oui”, having no idea what they are saying to him most of the time but he manages with sign language and head nods. The Dave we met in St. Dizier, told Dave (Webb) that he learned most of his French in bars, seems to be a good method of schooling.
We came back to the boat for dinner, Dave is cooking roast beef, potatoes with carrots and onions, and Yorkshire pudding. He is drinking an aperitif of Pastis – I am having “Spiritueux” which is a French “whiskey” – seems to be 98% grain or corn alcohol and 2% malt whiskey. I bought it yesterday because of the name, and the price (7E). After the first sip or two it tastes like Scotch or Irish whiskey of a certain price – and is actually not too bad. Hic. Our big decision of the evening is which movie to watch on the new tv!
August 18
It is a cool and cloudy morning and our mission to day is to return and re-rent the car in Langres. Again it took nearly an hour to get the paperwork completed. When we accomplished that we set out for St. Jean de Losne to see if there is a place there to keep the boat for the winter. We took the back roads most of the way there and it was a lovely drive. When we got there we stopped for lunch first – escargot for me again and ham for Dave. After lunch we drove over to St. Symphorien where some people keep their peniches. It is desolate, although in a pretty setting on the river. Even though there were not lots of boats there, it seems like too small a community if you may not like the other people there. The other two boat yards/marinas in St. Jean – H2O and Jean-Luc’s – have hundreds of boats there. It is like a condo community. H2O has no room for the Shenandoah, it is the more desirable as it has docks with locking gates and individual slips. Jean-Luc’s, where it looks like the Shenandoah will be, has boats tied side to side and you have to climb over other boats to get to your boat, or other people will climb over yours. There is nothing pretty or charming about either place, and the only redeeming factor is that the work that has to be done on the Shenandoah can be done at Jean-Lucs. Dave, however, is on the waiting list at H2O and it is possible that something will open up. Boat owners make several reservations at boatyards for the winter and then decide when the time comes where they want to winter over. There is another place where there are lots of boats – about ten minutes by car, on an ancient canal spur. You come into it through an old lock and it is closed at the other end. It reminds me of a cross between a gypsy camp and recreational facility in the Appalachians. The boat owners there have made little yards and picnic areas on the side of the canal next to their boats and it looks like one of those places where everybody knows your business before you do.
St. Jean is not a particularly pretty town, but it does have the necessary conveniences within walking distance – two or three grocery stores, a few restaurants, a train station, bakery, butcher, a few little shops but nothing very entertaining.
Dave is looking forward to being in a community with people with whom to socialize but judging by the conditions of the boats in the canal spur and at Jean-Luc’s, he will have to have some teeth removed if he wants to fit in socially. The boats at H2O look a bit nicer so he will have to wander over there. A problem is that he says most of the boat owners there are British!
On our way back to the boat we stopped at the Café and had a drink then came back to the boat for a light dinner and a movie.
August 19
In the morning we went to Chaumont to buy fabric for the windows in our cabin; we found a lovely polished cotton in tangerine and a taffeta ribbon that will look very nice with the quilt. We then went to a wine store where we bought a box of wine and had lunch at a new restaurant – we shared a pizza with ham, potatoes, and Langres cheese.
We went to the grocery store and bought supplies for a few days. Then we went to the Emmaus in the afternoon. I bought a print for Elizabeth, a piece of linen for curtains in the forward cabin, a sheet with pretty pink trim, a spare coffee press, and some handkerchiefs. Then we headed to the Café de la Gare for a drink with the “boys”. However it was a bit early and they were not there yet.
When we got back to the boat I started to wash the linen fabric only to find that it has a design drawn on it in ink –it is actually a table cloth waiting to be embroidered! Well that was a surprise and a lesson not to buy anything there without first fully inspecting it but it is actually a fun gift as I love to embroider and it will be a good winter project; the pattern is not too complex so it is not daunting in terms of the time that it will take to do it.
We played a game of scrabble, had dinner and Dave watched a movie while I fell asleep on the sofa.
August 20
Today we went to a flea market in a nearby village. Dave bought 3 dvd’s and I bought an assortment of little goodies – a deviled egg plate, a pretty small pink bowl, a toile de joue lunch box for Meredith, 2 teste au vin key chains, a funny bottle opener-sardine can opener-corkscrew. Later we went back to the Emmaus for a set of china Dave had seen yesterday that he bought for 35E – lots of plates, soup bowls, gravy boat, serving bowls… and I bought another 2 sheets – 1 for the bed, 1 for the forward cabin curtains.
We came back to the boat, played gin rummy and fixed a chicken for dinner and watched the movie “I Dream of Africa” – I forgot that I had seen it – it is the movie where they move to Africa, the husband dies and the son is killed by a snake. I must have forgotten that I had seen it because it is such a disturbing movie to me. I hope to not have the same bad dreams that I had last night after that awful movie.
August 21
We again awoke to a cool and overcast day. The temperature is in the seventies and it feels like fall, too soon for me – I want it to be hot in the summer. It has pretty much rained or been cloudy and cool ever since I left at the end of July.
The mechanics are due to arrive this morning and Dave is a bit antsy so we started playing gin rummy with our coffee to distract ourselves. The arrived a little after ten and went to work in the engine room. The new engine is on a truck parked next to the boat – it is considerably smaller than the one being removed.
The day progressed quietly, the mechanics in the engine room and Dave and I in the wheel house playing gin rummy. By the end of the day we had played well over one hundred hands and our scores were fairly well matched I suggested we play for money and the winner takes us out to dinner with the winnings. The way it is going we will be eating one shared appetizer. I wonder if this was the way my grandmother felt when she played cards with me for hours on end when I was a child and had nothing else to do.
We took a walk to the eclusier’s house to see his rabbits. He has cages and cages of them – some so furry that their faces look like cotton balls, some with very long ears and resembles jack rabbits, some looked like wild brown bunnies and many were cute little white bunnies with black or brown spots. He let me hold a bunny and I tried to convince Dave that we should buy a bunny and keep it for the rest of the week or so and then just give it back to him but Dave wouldn’t even consider it. The eclusier also has an impressive collection of chickens and roosters – one rooster is huge and one has beautiful multi-colored feathers. I simply cannot imagine having rabbits as “pets” and then slitting their throats and skinning them. I wonder, what he does with the fur? Do they keep the feet and consider them to be lucky charms? I remember once when Alex and Lizzi were on the boardwalk at the Jersey shore and Alex took his own money and bought us all rabbit foot key chains for good luck. It was a sad gift as we had just had to give one of our dogs away and we went to the beach after we dropped him off at a friend’s brothers house. We thought the beach might cheer us up and Alex was trying to find a way to take our minds off giving away our dog. We loved him (a Bouvier de Flanders) but he was too big for our small yard and we traveled too much for us to take him with us and their dad would not allow them to take him with them when they stayed at his house.
After we saw the rabbits I walked up the hill behind the eclusier house between the fields where the cattle and horses are but they were grazing in far corners; I picked a handful of blackberries and followed Dave back to the boat. We aren’t getting any exercise now – all the good muscles I worked so hard for last month are at rest and when we return the car and have to walk and ride bikes again it will be difficult.
The thought of actually being able to leave here at the end of the week and resume our journey is not so appealing as it was in the beginning. Although with a new engine it is unlikely that anything will go wrong again with the mechanical systems, we have had enough bad experiences to be wary. And after we go through the tunnel, the down locks are in excess of 5 meters – my lasso throwing arm is as out of practice as the rest of me. I anticipate that Dave will just want to get the boat to St. Jean to have everything fixed and that the trip will be more stressful than fun and adventuresome with the chance to explore along the way taken out of the picture as one more canal side breakdown is a recurring nightmare. I will hate to leave here and be confined at St. Jean with all the people and accompanying noise and lack of privacy. There again, we will not have a car and have to resort to taking the trolley to the grocery store, the train station is apparently far from the town, and there just isn’t anything of interest within walking or bike riding distance. I was hoping Dave would be able to go back to the States with me in September but I foresee having to make the trip to Paris, spending the night in the hotel before the flight again by myself and the trip home through Chicago is very long. There is no security at Jean-Luc’s boatyard and he will want to oversee the work that has to be done. We met some people here last month who had all their electronics stolen from their boat while it was at that boatyard. At least Dave will find lots of company and won’t be on the boat alone which he seriously doesn’t like.
Late in the afternoon the mechanics began cutting the engine mounts off the engine block with t grinder – it sounded like a dentist drill to Dave but it wasn’t high pitched enough to remind me of the dentist or I would have had to leave the boat – we both hate the dentist.
At one point one of the mechanics went out to his truck and returned with a large fire extinguisher – Dave and I both just looked at each other as he walked past us with it in this hand – obviously we never considered the possibility of a fire in the engine room – one more consideration of the hazards of the work being done to the boat.
The had cocktails with us after they finished for the day, the younger man (whose name we haven’t quite figured out yet, speaks very good English and likes to practice which is nice for us. Francois speaks good English as well, but not as good as his assistant. After cocktails we chatted with each other for a bit about the nature of relationships and then fixed dinner and watched the movie Chocolat, which was a nice change after the movies of the past few nights.
Tomorrow they will finish removing what is necessary to take the engine out and we will prepare the wheelhouse for the crane which will arrive at 8 on Wednesday morning.
August 22
The sun peeked out a bit this morning but was quickly replaced by clouds – we are hoping for a nice clear and sunny day tomorrow but the omens do not seem favorable. Today the mechanics will do some welding and the power will have to be turned off – not a big inconvenience as we do not use it much during the day for anything but plugging in our computers and telephones anyway. Dave is cutting the molding away from the seating area in the wheelhouse – it is in the way of the soft patch in the floor which will come up in order to get the engine out. Dave thinks we only have to remove 3 sections of the wheelhouse roof and can leave the sides intact. I am not so sure – but we shall see.
After the mechanics arrived, and we had coffee and played some gin rummy, Dave and I went to the bakery in Foulain for some bread and pastries. We came back to the boat and played more cards – Dave was so distracted that he hardly won a game. The sun came out around lunch time and we went to the Café de la Gare for lunch where we joined Francois and Victor. Lunch there is whatever they are serving – there are no choices. Today was a quiche with tuna, tomatoes and cheese accompanied by a salad, and lunch was a sort of shepherd’s pie with more salad; that including coffee cost 6.90E. A full lunch which includes the above with a small carafe of wine, cheese and dessert costs 11E. A very good deal, and the food was quite nice. Dave, the owner and chef, used to cook for cafes and bistros in Paris.
After lunch we came back to the boat and resumed our game of cards but Victor was tearing up the carpet in the wheelhouse and Dave was again too distracted to concentrate. He is quite upset to watch the destruction of his boat and knows that the final repairs will take quite some time to complete. The woodwork in the wheelhouse will have to be repaired where he had to cut it, the carpet will have to be replaced and who knows what else will occur between now and this time tomorrow when the engine is taken out and the new one put in. Victor explained that when the engine is lifted out it will sway; since the space is small there is opportunity for things to be banged. At least the sun is out this afternoon and we’re hoping that tomorrow will be a nice, dry day. I’m taking advantage of the sun to wash my linens from the Emmaus and have the sun bleach them. It seems to be working. Dave gave up and went to take a nap.
Francois and Victor stayed for cocktails. Dave and I fixed a simple dinner.
August 23
The alarm went off at 6:45 to a 56 degree foggy morning. The men arrived at 7:20 and we took the wheelhouse roof sections off, removed the seat cushions and they took up the floor patch. The crane arrived at 8:00 and removed the floor patch and the engine, the old engine was out by 8:30. While Francois was making adjustments to the engine, Victor was cleaning the engine pan. All went well until it was discovered that some of the fittings do not work on the new engine; Vetus is to send a part that will arrive tomorrow, a new hydraulic hose is being made locally so it seemed we were in good shape until they discovered that the exhaust system doesn’t fit because the new engine is smaller than the old one.
The sun came out mid-morning and the rest of the day was absolutely beautiful. We went to the Café again for lunch and came back for more cards and Dave’s nap. Victor and Francois worked until after 7:00, then joined us for cocktails. Mohammed, from the Emmaus, rode up on his bike and joined the group. There was lively conversation in every direction until almost 9, when Victor and Francois left, having missed the dinner hour at their hotel. Mohammed left shortly thereafter. Dave and I had bread and cheese for dinner, being too tired to cook at that point. We played some more cards and gave up for the night.
August 24, Marnay-sur-Marne
We awoke to a rainy and dreary morning. Victor and Francois aren’t due to arrive until around 10 so it was a good chance to sleep in but a peniche went by a little after 7 and Dave was up and on the watch. We had coffee and went to the baker in Foulain for some of his wonderful bread but there was only one small loaf left! We will have to go earlier tomorrow. Then we went to Chaumont to check our emails and to the hardware and grocery stores. We bought enough food for a small army it seems. Dave got us sole for dinner tonight with artichokes and lemon meringue tarts. Afterwards we went to the Café for lunch – today couscous for the entrée and steak and mashed potatoes for the plat du jour. There was a program there of a chausse festival this weekend which is not too far away. It has all sorts of things – animals, booths selling clothing, art, pottery, wine, charcuterie, animal medicines, guns, fishing equipment, animal gifts, etc. I hope we will be able to go as it looks like fun. Finally the sun came out but it is still cloudy; it is one of those days when it is quite warm in the sun and then cool when the clouds cover the sun. It is a sweater on, sweater off, day.
When we got back to the boat Victor and Francois were struggling with the problems of the fittings, apparently Vetus sent the wrong part. One would think that when they manufacture an engine that they would know what fittings were necessary and different from the other engine we had but that didn’t seem to be the case.
I decided to take advantage of the sun to dry my bed linens on the handrails but of course, as soon as they were almost dry, it rained again. Hopefully it will aid in the process of the sun bleaching if there is enough sun to make a difference. We played some cards but Dave is again distracted. We are both a bit sad to be leaving here and there is the added worry with all the adjustments that have to be made to the fittings. Francois will go with us as far as Rolampont to make sure everything is working properly. We have no idea when that will be at this point. We are trying to provision the boat and be ready to go when he says it is time. The next opportunity we will have for major provisioning is the junction of this canal and the Saone River – about 5 days journey if all goes well. Then it is only two more days to St. Jean de Losne.
Victor and Francois didn’t finish working until after 8:00, so they stayed for dinner because it was too late for them to get dinner at their hotel. While I was preparing dinner, Mohamed came by for another visit –this time bearing gifts. He brought us a tea pot, small brass pitcher, small brass mortar and pestle, small brass ashtray, 3 rock formations of rose sable, a little ashtray of Langres, a plate with camels, photos of the Sahara, a cd of Algerian music, and best of all – a list of all the Emmaus in France! He didn’t stay long as it was getting dark and he had to ride his bike back to the Emmaus which is about 8km by the VNF path although only 4 or 5km by the road. Last night he left after dark and had to ride home completely in the dark.
I fixed vodka cream pasta, bread, salad, for dinner, and bread pudding for dessert. Dessert in French sounds just like desert – as it does in English but it is quite difficult to hear the difference in French. We had a conversation about those sorts of words, i.e. bear and bare in English with all the meanings, the sound of choose and shoes, Victor says it is the same with the synonyms in French. We didn’t finish dinner and wine and conversation until after midnight!