An Irishman's boating diary
On Ireland’s river Shannon we don’t always get weather like this, so when the sun does comes out we have a tendency to panic and try to make up for lost time. This explains why in Ireland on a sunny day you will see snowy white bodies glowing in the sun and soaking up as much cancerous radiation as their bodies will accept. Today was an exceptional day for a spin on the river so I made the trip up
It was Marion who first set her eye on “Driftwood” a 10.5Mtr Drettmann DD yacht that had just been brought into Ireland on a truck to be sold into a growing boat market. She was called Staris at the time and at first I didn’t really like the look of her (the boat that is, not Marion.) I was very happy with our current boat and didn’t want to change. But those women folk know how to weave their magic on us men…
We had booked Driftwood into the shed so we could start painting the boat. The painting is the easy bit, first I had to scrape off the old rubber non skid deck matting that had become torn and was starting to lift. I found that a
I’ve mixed emotions about bringing Driftwood home to Ireland, but we had to make a decision one way or another. We’re both in Ireland full time and only getting out to the boat for two weeks twice a year if we’re lucky. Driftwood was becoming very neglected. Looking after a boat is expensive at the best of times but when it’s hundreds of miles away in another country it becomes even more difficult.
After over 1,300 Klm of French canals and Rivers and over 750 locks we are nearing our winter moorings in Roanne.
Well do you know what? this year has been a fantastic experience we have cruised all over central France, up the Rhine as far as Basel in Switzerland and lots and lots in-between. Sadly now we are in the first week of October and we
When we left Auxerre we left the Nivernais canal behind and joined the Yonne river fully. (although occasionally there are some short lateral canals) Almost immediately you notice that the locks have grown. Grown quite a bit really from 38 metres long to just over 107 meters long. This is to cater for the barge
The river Yonne is at the northern end of the Nivernais canal. We left Clemecy behind and continued our descent towards the Yonne. The canal here is exceptionally beautiful and the lock keepers go to great lengths to make their
After Chateau Thierry we headed to Epernay where I finally collected my bicycle trailer. Before entering the canal lateral a la Marne we stayed a night at Epernay because I wanted to continued up the river as far as the next bridge. This bridge marks the limit of navigation on this beautiful river.
Continue reading “Chateau Thierry to the canal lateral a la Marne.”
The river Marne is without doubt a beautiful cruising river. You can get to the river Marne just below Paris where the river Seine and the river Marne meet. The trip from Ferté sous Jouarre to Nogent l’Artaud on the River Marne is a lovely one and here is our account of it.
We have been in Meaux for over a week now waiting for a bicycle trailer! That is very out of character for us as we are normally randomly ambling around the canals & rivers. However there is a reason for this, because all French filling stations are strategically situated away from waterways boaters have to walk for miles with jerrycans of diesel. This forces them to buy the overpriced diesel from marinas where the diesel has been stored in a damp underground tank since last season. I’m
Certainly a lot has been happening even with the strike aside. Firstly the locks keep growing in size. On the southern end of the Nivernais the locks were just 30 meters long. From the summit level north they were 38 meters long. Then when we reached Auxerre they grew to 108 meters.
Continue reading “The barge men’s strike and Marion’s birthday”
We have arrived at the Nivernais summit level. Well what a trip this Nivernais canal is turning out to be. It is just beautiful with it’s winding course following the l’Aron and l’Yonne rivers. With over 150 locks the Nivernais is a bit of work too. The V.N.F. (Voies Navigable de France) lock keepers are superb and take all the hard work out of it. Because this canal is shallow we