Today was supposed to be our final day on the water for 2021. We were heading home to our base in Auxonne. But it was not to be. We woke up to a thick layer of fog that persisted all day. No radar. No AIS. No way.
The fog gave me time to look back on the preceding weeks.
After our wonderful trip along the Canal de Bourgogne to Vandenesse-en-Auxois and back (See previous chapters), it was time to attend the Salon Fluvial in St. Jean-de-Losne. It is an annual boat show. The biggest attraction is the Piper Boats display.
Aleau is going through the lock (with just inches to spare on either side) on her way to attend the Salon Fluvial. Jeannie is at the bow – getting ready to get a rope around one of the red and white bollards at the top of the lock.
As I have mentioned, Piper treats its customers better than any company (boating or otherwise) I have ever seen. We didn’t buy from them. We bought Aleau second-hand from its previous owner. Piper didn’t make any money from us. But they have treated us, not only as if we had bought from them, but as if we were their best customer. I had a long list of things I was hoping they could do – drilling holes through steel to install a 230-volt outlet at the aft-helm, ditto a USB outlet at the aft helm, ditto two AIS antennas – along with installing CCTV cameras. These all required serious drilling and miles (almost) of cables be run behind walls in the wheelhouse, through the engine room, and back up to the wheelhouse. An easy job if done when the boat was being built – a difficult and labour-intensive task once the boat is finished. Piper does not have a plant in France. Working out of a van with tools brought over from the UK, Piper technicians spent days completing all the work I asked to be done.
This is on top of work they were doing on the 17 other Piper boats that showed up for the Salon Fluvial. They even built a tent alongside one boat so they could spray-paint parts of the hull suffering from “lock rash.” Below, Vinnie is prepping before the paint booth was built around him.
Aleau moored with other Pipers in the St. Usage basin – triple rafted on the outside – and third in line.
With another nine on the other side.
All those Piper barges are floating show-homes. Prospective customers can look at different size boats and at different layouts. It pays off. Over at “Piper House,” a few orders were placed and deposits left.
You can check out Piper’s website here. https://www.piperboats.com
The Piper barges shared the basin with an assortment of ‘commercials.’ Pink Floyd can’t be this one’s original name. The group was founded in 1964 – long after this barge began carrying cargo.
With the Salon Fluvial over, it was time to leave the basin, pass through the lock joining the Canal de Bourgogne with the Saône – and head south to Chalon-sur-Saône.
The commercials we passed on our way to Chalon-sur-Saône were slightly newer than the ones in the St. Usage basin – and perhaps more deserving of the name Pink Floyd.
It was nice to see at least a few hotel barges were operating – although likely with far fewer passengers than they’d like to have.
We were back in Chalon-sur-Saône. When we first came here, there were no mooring sites for a barge as big as Aleau. As you will see in the next chapter, the city is now much more accommodating for larger vessels.