After a delightful week in Auxerre, our next stop would be Gurgy. It’s a tiny town. Halfway between Auxerre and Joigny, it’s a very popular overnight spot. We were lucky. We arrived early enough to find a spot to squeeze into. It was a tight fit.
While there’s not much to the town, it does have some nice houses that overlook the Yonne River.
It even has a library – sort of.
There was a hotel barge moored close by – a chance for me to check something out. In earlier chapters, I have mentioned that Aleau is equipped with AIS (Automatic Identification System). It allows other AIS-equipped vessels to see you. Smaller boats, less than 20-metres long, are not required to have it and very few do. Twenty-metres or longer and it is mandatory. While our mooring in Gurgy was packed, I knew none of the other boats would have AIS. But the hotel barge would.
I walked over and asked the Captain a question he has probably never heard before: “Can I see your AIS screen?” A bit perplexed, he said yes. Now I know what Aleau looks like on other AIS equipped boats.
Our AIS is identical to the one above and is mounted in the wheelhouse. Since I prefer to steer Aleau from the aft-deck, we have a laptop that connects via WiFi to the AIS in the wheelhouse. It sits on the cabin roof whenever we are cruising.
On a busy waterway, I couldn’t manage without it – or without Jeannie looking ahead for any non-AIS equipped boats that may present a hazard. The laptop has a program called PC Navigo which shows every waterway in Europe – and every nearby boat with AIS. The shot below shows the Seine around our future home, the Port de Plaisance de l’Arsenal. (Yes, I’m jumping ahead with the shot above and the two below.) The first was zoomed in quite a bit and taken on a very quiet Sunday afternoon so you can get a better idea of what we see. Even so, the screen is overly crowded.
If I zoom in even more, the screen is easier to read.
The large waterway is the Seine. The smaller one is the Arsenal marina. Between the two is the lock that allows boats to pass from one to the other. The red, arrow-shaped icon just after the lock is Aleau. (Again, I have jumped ahead. You will see how we got to Paris in upcoming chapters.) The most important information AIS and PC Navigo give me is the direction of travel and the speed of other vessels. Especially if they are coming up from behind. We cruise at 6 km/h – and can hit 10 km/h if we need to get out of the way in a hurry. It is impossible for us to go any faster.
At the top of the screen, you will see that L’Espoir is heading upstream at 7.2 km/h. (SOG means Speed Over Ground.) Coming at us is not a big problem. We can look ahead and see whoever it is – and if she suddenly changes direction and will be crossing our path. Our bigger concern would be Le Grand Pavois (near the bottom right of the screen). She is going 13.1 km/h – and is heading towards the Arsenal lock. I would see her coming on the laptop and would stay in the lock until she passed. If we were already on the Seine, I would slow and move to the right. I would also call on our VHF radio to let her know our intentions. While I probably wouldn’t understand the rapid-fire French reply, I would know that Le Grand Pavois would be aware of us. The captain would be able to see on his AIS screen our icon and the fact we were slowing and turning.
Now, back to Gurgy – where no AIS is needed.
There is no longer a restaurant in Gurgy. But it is still possible to get a bite to eat – directly opposite our mooring.
The next morning, we continued our voyage north. This structure – partway out in the Yonne – caught our eye. What is it?
Could it be an old dungeon? It has bars and certainly doesn’t look very comfortable. We may never know.
By the end of the day, we were back in Joigny. And the mooring spot where we stopped on our way to Auxerre was still available. The barging gods were smiling on us.
There was no car show this time. We compensated by going out for dinner at Le Rive Gauche – coincidently (?) on the left bank. Two entrées, two plats, and the same dessert for each of us.
The next morning, we got up early to resume our voyage. We were up even before the swans which had chosen to sleep alongside Aleau.
