to be continued....

If the outside was any indication we were in for a great show!

The gang's all here!

OMG, it was the most boring thing I have ever paid to attend!  Garth and I lasted about 20 minutes and left, followed by Terri and George then Frank and Carrie! Kudos to those who stuck it out!

Can you spot the Muskrat? Sid was feeding the swans and ducks and he just appeared!

We made it to Auxerre! August 26-29th

One thing I love about boating is being inside on a rainy day, in particular being below and listening to the raindrops. One thing I dislike about boating is being outside "working" in the rain.  We left the bank of Cravant and had a six hour run ahead of us.  This, of course, includes the mandatory one hour stop for lunch!
We arrived in Auxerre around three and tied up to the left bank. Within seconds Clipper one had their umbrella up and were just getting ready to settle in when the wind picked up and their umbrella went flying into the Yonne. The current was moving and it sunk within seconds ...woops!  We all walked around the town and later had docktails on Clipper followed by a great dinner at Le Quai.

We were now the third boat in the lock so I finally got to talk to Ginny!

Sid was having a competition with the female lock keepers as to who could get their side of the gate open first...Doug is Sids  cheerleader!! 

Auxerre fire fighters were training on the bridge as we entered.

WOW - here we are arriving in Auxerre. 

Entrance to St Etienne Cathedral

The clock tower was built in the 15th century, first used as a prison and turned into a clock and belfry in 1483. Destroyed by fire in 1825 and rebuilt between 1891 and 1893. Still ticking today.

Inside St. Etienne

We were all pumped for our big night. The Cathedral advertised a "spectacle of light and sound", it started at 10 pm and went on for an hour and a half. By the pictures it looked like it was indeed going to be a spectacle. The brochure and I quote says " Amazing! The Great times of Auxerre" Boaters I learned early on have different hours than the rest of the world. So for a boater to stay up until 10 pm it must be something pretty spectacular! Some of us even stopped drinking in the afternoon so we would be able to make the 10 pm SPECTACULAR EVENT!

TO BE CONTINUED............

Rainy days ahead.

We  left Clamecy about 9 ish and had several plans in mind. It all depended on the weather, choice one when leaving was three five hour day slow days to Auxerre. However, as you know all plans on a boat are written in sand and change with each wave. The weather was calling for rain an we thought we mine as well try to make time while we could. We were planning on stopping at a rock cliff area but when we got there it appeared that the docks were gone and there was not much of  a town. Choice two looked good on the map but there were three barges tied up there and about sixty eight year olds all running around ...say no more... we moved on. We arrived at the port of Clavant but the inn was full. We went a little ways past the port an tied to the side of the bank.

No singing in the rain today!

How much red wine Frank?

Love Bug!

Cool way to travel!

A meeting of the minds......

Chateau de Faulin

Ecluse #56

Rochers du Saussois

So, I am outside sitting on a cement table in the sun and having a hard time seeing the screen!

And on the seventh day they rested!

August 23 and 24th

We all brought small gifts for the lock keepers. The Royals were giving out Ghirardelli chocolates to the ladies (a huge hit) and notepads and pens to the men. Clipper One had Canada stuff,like us, and USA/France pins . On the last lock there were two kids. We gave the little guy a stuffed moose and his older brother a magnet. While we were on the wall in Chitry their mother , the lock keeper came by to see what time we were leaving and to tell us what time we could get into the first lock. She also thanked us for the gifts for her children. Terri asked her about the distance to the grocery store and as it happened she was on her way so off Terri went with her.  What goes around comes around!

Evelyn and Doug and I decided to ride the bikes along the towpath this morning. We could help get the locks ready, raise the bridges and see the world from a different perspective for a few hours.

Evelyn hard at work

All three boats fit in the lock at the same time!

How many people does it take to open a bridge - 3?

We were hell bent on making the Le Boat base in Tannay where we were led to believe there was laundry facilities - Lavoire automatique!!  We almost made it but were one or two locks short. At lunch we tied up in a lock again. Garth was a little skeptical, but said he would try it one more time.  He ate with one eye on the lock wall.  The lock keeper arrived and once again started the process of letting the water out.  We were kind of ready, the boat got untied pdq along with the two others.  We got to the base and much to our disappointment there were no facilities for laundry. We did get clean towels and sheets - kind of. Judy needed two single duvet cover and I needed two double duvet covers. I got two single covers and she got two flat sheets!

Cutest smart car yet!

The decision was made to carry on to Clamecy, a fair size town that had to have laundry facilities. It was four hours by boat and if all went smoothly we could make it.

Garth, Carrie and Sid took the afternoon shift. The first bridge was inhabited by two french couples and their dog. Looked they they all had a good laugh.

We arrived in Clamecy and tied up to the town wall. They provide power and water for a nominal fee knowing that people need to provision and in all likelihood will spend some Euros in the local establishments. We all went to dinner - not a huge choice even though it was a Saturday night. We ended up at a Mediterranean Couscous place. Let's just say it was different - the menu was limited and some of the entrees needed two days notice to prepare. 

Sunday the day of rest!  Well, kind of but the first order of business was laundry -

FINALLY!

Now, do they look like a happy bunch or what? Terri is the only one smiling cause she got there first and was almost finished! Judy is sleep washing....even though she had chocolate!

Once the laundry was done people just did their own thing. We went to the Kebab place Garth spied the night before - it was just OK. He compares all kebabs to Ali Babas on Queen Street and so far not much compares! We went to the local museum - for such a small place it was pretty impressive. The first two floors were a little iffy but the third floor had some cool art and the fourth floor was the history of the "logging" in the area. Some pic from the town.

So old!!

Our boat is the one behind the barge.

What a difference a few hundred years make. All the logs came out of the tributaries and floated to  Clamecy. They were destined for Paris.

Early 1800's!

August 2014

Early 1800's

There is light at the end of the tunnel & Murphys law strikes in France!

Thursday Aug 21st, Friday August 22nd!

We pulled out of a  Chatillon en Bazois after lunch and continued on our quest for laundry automatique! We all need a quest and we all need clean clothes! The Royals had pulled out ahead of us in order to get to the machines first. Ha Ha ... we knew there was at least one machine in Etang de Baye. Carrie figured she would get hers done and then when we arrived it would be free and available. Well, we did not realize that the french washing machines are unionized cause they do not work after 5. Even though the port office was open there was not enough time to complete a load so once again we were without a machine! We were told that he machine would be available at 9 am tomorrow morning but we needed to leave at 10 in order to make it through he tunnels! OH well !
We all got together on the Royals boat for docktails and hit the hay early!

The Royals cleaning up after docktails...they are called the Royals because the name of their boat is Royal Mystique! Judy aka Galley Wench seems to be the only one cleaning .


We were all up and ready for the tunnels! It is unseasonably cold for France this time of year so we were all bundled up.  Sid was so anxious he kept yelling over - IS THE LIGHT GREEN? At exactly 10 the light turned green and off we went.....it was really awesome. The first tunnel was 754 meters long...dark and scary...but you could see the light at the end of the tunnel! Pretty cool experience! In all the 5000 + nautical miles we did on the loop we never experienced tunnels like this! We did three tunnels in all, the other two were shorter, one being 268 meters long and the last 212 meters.

Did I mention the bats in the tunnels!

 Once we came out of the tunnels we had a series of 16 locks to go through. The good news was that we were going down , so it is a little easier!

Sid and George became the lock keepers assistance for the day.

Some very interesting lock keepers houses!

Student lock keeepers in love - she lost her hat into the water and Sid retrieved it!

Fisherman line the banks

At lock 8 we asked the lock keeper (a student) if it was Ok if we stopped at lock 9 for lunch. He seemed to understand, and it was all good. We were having a leisurely lunch up on the flybridge. Now, this is France and from our experience they take their lunch breaks very seriously.

Clipper 1 - Gene, Evelyn,Ginny and Sid enjoying a peaceful lunch.

 It was about 12:50, Garth had gone back to talk to Gene and Sid about where we were stopping. Terri and I were on the bridge and we noticed the kid had closed the gates at the back of the lock. Then without notice he started to let the water out of the lock. Now keep in mind we had been there for lunch so the boats were both tied securely to the lock wall. Something you never do when locking through. Cause what happens is when the water goes out the boat starts to list and ends up on the lock wall.

Like this!!

Terri ran down the back steps and I ran through the front - we were yelling  NO, NO, NO,  STOP ,~ finally Terri had the presence of mind to scream ARRET!!! Talk about panic - the boat was listing on the lock, we were all yelling and screaming. The lockkeeper was panicking at this point, my heart was pounding, the stuff in the boat was all over the place!! AHHH - I will let the pictures speak to the panic but I think I can safely say that had we been wearing heart monitors the reading would have gone off the charts!!

I was trying to decide whether to go down with the ship or jump !

Oh la la!!!

It all worked out ...there are certain phrases that are international and Garth used a few of them! The kid realized he messed up and we are none the worse for wear! Our troubles did not end there however, a few locks down the river we noticed that the lock wall had holes in it and the water was coming right out of the wall into our open door ....so we mopped up the salon floor a few times and all was well.  At the next lock we almost lost our umbrella going under a bridge but thanks to a fast maneuver from George it was saved!

According to the maps and information we were given by Le Boat there was a full service facility at Chitry les Mines. We pulled in and dock with the aid of a Brit. Looking forward to finally getting some clean clothes...not so much.....full facilities does not include laundry.

All in all a great day, beautiful scenery, lots of work and lots of excitement. We all worked hard and got through the 16 consecutive locks then did 13 more.  That has to be some kind of record -29 locks, one tipped boat, a flood, a twisted umbrella ..... wine at night and Ibuprofen in the morning is helping to ease the pain.  At least we will have some interesting stories for the old folks home, if we live to get there!

Life is good and boating is fun!! Is that right Frank?