Author: Jonathan

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Below, in the dark, is Aleau – or Gillian B as she was legally called at the time – when we arrived in St. Jean-de-Losne on March 15, 2019 to begin the purchase. Much negotiating had already taken place over FaceTime during the previous months. But there was still much to do. 20-metres (65-feet) long…

As with buying a house, the purchase requires an inspection – by a licensed marine surveyor. This is done in two steps. The first is on the water. The surveyor takes the helm and determines that the engine not only drives the barge forward – but putting the engine astern, confirms that it can stop…

The second part requires taking the barge out of the water. This is often done in a dry dock – but in our case, a slipway was used. The barge is manoeuvred onto a carriage that is underwater – with the side of the barge against two metal poles sticking up from the carriage. Men…

When we bought Gillian B, the previous owner had stripped her of everything that wasn’t bolted down. This didn’t come as a surprise. He had told us this was his intention – but it was still a disappointment. Even the mattresses were gone. We couldn’t live onboard as we had nothing to sleep on. We…

While staying at the B&B in St. Jean-de-Losne, we made a few trips to Dijon. It’s 29 km. from St. Jean-de-Losne – less than 30-minutes by commuter train. We would later find out it takes two very long and tiring days to make the same trip by barge. If you’ve ever heard the song or…

Later that day, we saw a different style of dress was also in vogue in Dijon… We had rented a ground-floor apartment for the few days we were in Dijon. Sitting in the living room, I glanced out the partly open window and saw police standing just a few feet away. They were suited up…

On April 5, the mattresses arrived. After almost four weeks in a B&B, we could finally sleep onboard. We still had no furniture – that wouldn’t arrive for another three weeks. But we had a place we could call our own. Although it was certainly “high and dry.” Which meant climbing a ladder when laden…

We were living in a shipyard. There was no sound of water lapping against the hull. But we could look out through the portholes or from the wheelhouse and pretend we were actually on the water – and try to imagine what life will be like once we were there. As you can see, we…

On April 16, after more than a month in the slipway, Aleau was lowered back into the Saône River – although it would not be long before she would need to return to the slipway. Slipways and dry docks are in great demand. If work can be done with the boat in the water, that…

While the surroundings opposite the Atelier Fluvial office and dry dock were not the most attractive, the town of St. Jean-de-Losne is pleasant.

Like almost every small town in France, St. Jean-de-Losne has a pâtisserie. Actually, three if you include the ones in the adjoining towns of Losne and St. Usage. In addition to pastry, they sold ice cream and sorbet – served in, what else, pastry.

Directly across the street from the pâtisserie is a restaurant where we sometimes went for lunch. And only lunch. That is the only time it is open. The restaurant is mainly for workers in St. Usage/St. Jean-de-Losne – but everyone is welcome (if not outnumbered by men in overalls). The menu on the wall offers…

The anodes have arrived. We were told to take Aleau through the lock in St. Jean-de-Losne, onto the Saône River, and place her on top of the underwater carriage at the slipway. By ourselves. Keep in mind we have only been on Aleau in the water once. That was when the surveyor took her out…

With anodes installed, all repairs were done. (Or so I thought at the time.) It was time to start cruising. After all, that was why we bought Aleau. On May 7, we started off on the Canal de Bourgogne from St. Jean-de-Losne towards Dijon. But first, we needed to buy fuel. Aleau has two fuel…

Dijon is 29 kilometres from St. Jean-de-Losne. By commuter train, it takes less than 30 minutes. By barge, it takes two full days. (Locks open at 9am, close for one hour for lunch, and then are open until 7pm.) As we didn’t start until the afternoon, it took us three days. It’s a busy cruise….

We moored in the centre of a park right in the heart of Dijon. As you can see, we are proudly flying the Canadian flag at the stern. By law, every vessel 20-metres long or longer must fly the flag of the country in which the vessel is registered. As Aleau is 19.9-metres long, I…

Dijon is a joy to visit. An excellent tram system makes it easy to get around. Inside, on the walls and on the ceilings, are not advertising posters – but works of art.

As you saw earlier, they do dress a bit differently in Dijon. Maybe they were off to protect one of the cities many architectural treasures? Or just grab something from a local pâtisserie?

While Dijon might like to think of itself as head and shoulders (Well, at least a head) above its neighbours, we decided to check out the surrounding area – but by car.* At Châteauneuf, there is a castle to explore And from one of its balconies, a view down below of the Canal de Bourgogne…

After a week in Dijon, It was time to head back to St. Jean-de-Losne – through 22 locks. The two photos below show how tight it is as we enter a lock. There’s just a few inches clearance on either side – between our barge and unyielding stone walls. While I have to (somehow) get…

On our way back to Dijon, our bow thruster stopped working. The bow thruster is a hydraulically-driven-propeller placed in the centre of a tube that runs sideways at the bow at the bottom of the barge. It allows for fine tuning – to move the bow slightly sideways when moving slowly and a tiny steering…

As the thrusters are underwater, the only way to check them is to take the barge out of the water – or hire a diver to go down and have a look. Fortunately, the owner of Atelier Fluvial (That not-so-pretty mooring spot we had been calling home.) is a diver. I told him we had…

Unfortunately, it is almost time to go home – back to Canada. Schengen rules mean we must leave Europe. What’s Schengen? The European Union is comprised of 28 countries – 27 after Brexit. There are 26 Schengen countries. There are seven EU countries that are not part of Schengen and four Schengen countries that are…

Before we leave for Montreal, we must take Aleau to her new home, the marina in Auxonne on the Saône, 19 kilometres north of St. Jean-de-Losne – a three-hour voyage, passing through one lock and one flood gate. It was a chance for Jeannie to finally take the helm. Judging from the look on her…

Jeannie would not have been smiling if she were barging in another era. Actually, she would have had nothing to do with barging. Barges have been used on French canals for a long time – long before there were engines. In those days, the husband steered from the wheelhouse. He was protected from the rain…

As we had to leave France – and Aleau – for three months, we had to find a home for her. We chose the Port Royal marina in Auxonne. Because of Aleau’s length, she cannot fit into the slips. She has to be moored parallel to the dock. She’s not in this shot. Maybe next…

Auxonne is a wonderful home. The town is small but delightful. The marina has everything we need. At each mooring spot there is a “borne” to which we can plug in and get shore power. It is metered so we pay for whatever electricity we use. There’s also a water tap at each mooring spot….

The view from the stern of Aleau. The buildings behind the wall are part of a busy military base. It’s who lived in one of those buildings that makes them interesting. Napoleon served here. Had we moored here 230 years ago, he would have been our neighbour. We did get to see his bedroom.

Auxonne, like all of France is filled with history. The fort below is a short walk from the marina. As with buildings from that era, instead of a clock tower, it has a sun-dial. The date on one of the archways is 1673.

That’s Aleau on the left – with barges belonging to the wonderful people we have met all along the pontoon. (I’ve always called it a dock – but I have been told a dock is a fixed structure whereas a pontoon is a floating structure. I learn something new every day.) It’s important that the…

Port Royal is gorgeous when the sun is shining.  Of course, it isn’t always sunny – especially in the early morning.  The shot below is from Aleau looking across at our neighbours. The weather changes – as does who are our neighbours.  The spot where Effie is moored in the photo above is empty in…

A few shots of Auxonne – population 7,683.

There’s always someone coming in – or leaving. They all become friends.

It appears mandatory – although we have yet to receive a directive – to have a dog if you own a barge. Cats are permitted – but only if there is already a dog onboard. I wondered about cats – especially when moored in unfamiliar territory. But the two I have met apparently respond to…

I mentioned it appears to be obligatory to have a dog or cat. If you have neither, you will be adopted – by the swans who can sense a sympathetic bargee. At mealtime, they will appear. If they don’t see you, they will bang against the hull to get your attention. They recognize the barges…

We are members of the Dutch Barge Association – or the DBA as it is commonly called. (The website is barges.org ) Every summer, the DBA holds a rally somewhere in Europe. Bargees who can get there in time do so by barge. Others, like us, have had to travel by car.* We have been…

When we bought Aleau she was named Gillian B and was registered in the U.K. We were informed by British authorities that we would not be allowed to keep her registered there. To do so, we would have to provide proof that we permanently resided in the U.K. – which, of course, we couldn’t do….

Fortunately, The Netherlands – the home of Dutch barges – was more receptive. Of course, we still had to prove that Aleau was based in The Netherlands. Once we did that, we were put on the Kadaster and became a real “Dutch barge.” In the photo below, an employee of the Kadaster is chiseling our…

Our Schengen time was up. We had been able to make one cruise – to Dijon and back. Plus what was really a commute from St. Jean-de-Losne to Auxonne. We found a lovely home at Port Royal. Attended the DBA Rally in Den Bosch. And, most important, got Aleau registered and insured. It had been…

We enter Aleau through the wheelhouse. From either side. Steering can be done from the wheelhouse or from the aft deck. Climbing down the stairs from the wheelhouse, we pass through the galley to the living room – or saloon as British bargees call it. In the galley, the stove is induction. Quicker than gas…

Aleau’s engine is a 6-cylinder turbo-charged 175 HP Vetus-Deutz diesel. It is “keel cooled.” Most barges (and every ship that goes to sea) use water from the canal (or ocean) for cooling. You can see the used water squirting out at the stern. On a canal, this type of cooling system can become plugged with…

In September, back from our mandated exile from Schengen countries, it was time to start cruising. The excessively high temperatures (45-degrees) in France over the summer meant the water level in many canals was too shallow. In fact, the VNF had to close a number of canals due to a lack of water. Unlike rivers,…

The high temperatures caused a lot of water in the reservoirs and in the canals to evaporate – and there was little rain to make up for it. We were limited to cruising on a river. Fortunately for us, Auxonne is on the Saône. We would have no problems – at least none due to…

You may have noticed the flags flying on the mast at the bow. We display four flags. By law (if 20-metres or longer), a vessel must display at the stern the flag of the country in which it is registered. Instead of flying the Dutch flag (as Aleau is registered in The Netherlands), we fly…

Locks and flood gates aren’t the only challenge. We, successfully, made it through our first tunnel as we cruised up the Saône from Auxonne. I was a bit nervous. It was long, narrow, and with little headroom. There are other tunnels that are even more restrictive – I’m not sure Aleau would fit through them….

As we cruised up the Saône, we came to the tiny town of Ray-sur-Saône. It provided a lovely mooring spot. No shore power – but the charm of the place more than made up for that. We were joined by our friends Ross and Sandra onboard their Piper, Cleo. There’s a magnificent château overlooking Ray-sur-Saône….

From Ray-sur-Saône, we continued upstream to Soing. It saved us a trip to Paris. No longer any need to go there to see the Eiffel Tower. Soing is almost 100 kilometres from Auxonne. It is as far as we had planned to go. Of course, being the farthest from home, our thrusters – both of…

On the way back, we moored for the night in Pontailler-sur-Saône. Moored in front of us was a “hotel barge.” These are renovated commercial barges. They are longer than Aleau but have the same beam. (If they were wider, they couldn’t fit into the locks.) They travel the same canals and rivers as Aleau. The…

We had a mechanic from Vetus (who manufactured the complex hydraulic system onboard Aleau) travel to Auxonne to see if he could figure out why neither thruster was working. He couldn’t. Before he would delve any further into the innards of the hydraulic system, he insisted we travel to St. Jean-de-Losne and have a diver…

We have four spots at which we can dine onboard on Aleau. Half of the table in front of the couch rises and pulls back to a comfortable eating position. (It faces the TV. Handy for watching Netflix.) The small semi-circular table in the background is convenient for breakfast or a snack. Up the stairs,…

We were back in St. Jean-de-Losne. But this time, not high in the air on the slipway, nor moored opposite dumpsters in front of Atelier Fluvial. We were tied up at the Quai National. We were so happy to be there that we hung signal flags along the full length of Aleau. As mentioned earlier,…

No, we’re not talking about riding the rapids in a small inflatable boat. On the rivers and canals of Europe, rafting has a very different definition. Rafting means tying one boat against another. Think of it as double parking but for boats. In the shot above, two barges rafted together – but there’s plenty of…

After a lovely stay in St. Jean-de-Losne (in spite of the diver not coming up with a quick-fix to our thruster problems), we had to return to Auxonne and winterize Aleau. Schengen rules were about to kick us out of Europe. Again! This time, we left Auxonne early enough to allow us a few days…

We kept a log book. Here’s what it showed us: Days Cruising – when we were actually moving on the water… 23 Engine Hours – including idling in locks… 87 Distance Traveled – in kilometres… 350 Flood Gates… 21 Locks… 65 Tunnels… 2 (Same tunnel in both directions) Fuel Used – White… 265 litres –…

We are dreaming of spending Christmas in Paris. By train, it’s 30 minutes from Auxonne to Dijon – and then 90 minutes from Dijon to Paris on the TGV. But we want to do it by barge. That will take slightly longer. It would probably take four weeks if we cruised 20 km. every day…

While Paris remains a goal, there are a few other gems we must visit. They’re called “ponts canaux” Ancient viaducts – built to carry barges across rivers. My favourite ‘pont canal’ is at Briare. I first saw it at the DBA Rally there in 2016. It crosses the Loire River. Yet another “pont canal.” The…

There are many different types of locks awaiting us. There are staircase locks – sometimes as many as nine in a row. On the Canal du Midi, they are oval shaped. There are some small ones that you have to operate yourself. And there are some massive ones that are operated by someone you can’t…

By now, you may be wondering if Jeannie and I simply jumped on Aleau and started cruising. With 44 tonnes of steel – not to mention the law – that is not something we would want to do. To operate a barge, two licenses are required. (The barge requires two similar licenses, as well.) First,…

As Jeannie and I hope to continue life onboard Aleau and barging through France for years to come, I am sticking in the year each series of chapters begins. I hope that makes it easier for readers to navigate this account of our travels – or, during Covid, our non-travels.

I find it difficult to write about 2020.  As I type, I am aware that as of today (Nov 19) more than 56-million people have contracted COVID 19 – and 1.4-million of them have died.  There is no way not to feel uneasy about how fortunate we are – living our dream life on a…

When our quarantine was over, it was my birthday.  So we celebrated both milestones.  We ate – outdoors, of course – at our favourite restaurant in Auxonne – Le Corbeau.   The meal started with Crémant de Bourgogne.  What else would you drink in the Burgundy region of France?  Then, three courses – an heirloom tomato…

With quarantine over, there was a long list of things to be done.  First on the list, get the thrusters fixed.  You may remember Chapters 46 and 48 – describing the failure of our thrusters.  Now, it was time to get them working again.  A Vetus (the manufacturer of our thrusters) mechanic had come onboard…

We had to head to Dijon to pick up some supplies before we could begin cruising.  Eating inside was banned – but outside was okay.  I chose to wear my Joe Biden sunglasses. Here’s what had me looking so content.  The heart of Dijon is gorgeous.

It was time to head out on the water.  First stop – the St. Jean-de-Losne fuel dock.  Gazole is white diesel – what goes into Aleau’s engine. GNR (Gazole Non-Routier) is red diesel – what is used for the boiler (heat and hot water) and for the generator (electricity when we can’t connect to shore…

With our fuel tanks full and with the ailing engine-start batteries replaced, it was time to do what we had been waiting to do – to finally get out on the water and cruise. Chapters 42 through 48 describe our travels last summer north on the Saône from Auxonne to Soing. This time, we were…

Immediately after that massive lock is the town of Seurre – 28 kilometres south of St. Jean-de-Losne. Time to tie up and explore the town. We moored at the town pontoon – for a hefty €70.50 for two nights!

Seurre is a charming little town – population 2,500. We arrived on Market Day. Rotisserie chicken – with the drippings landing on roasted potatoes. Our pricey mooring fee in Seurre included guarding by a family of ducks. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad deal after all.

After two nights in Seurre – sleeping on Aleau, of course – we resumed our journey south on the Saône. Massive commercials were there to keep us company. One of the reasons we bought Aleau was so we could set our own schedule. No worries about having to arrive somewhere by a certain date and…

When we left St. Jean-de-Losne, we had hoped to make it as far south as Tournus – or, maybe, even as far as Macon – before heading back home to Auxonne. Our first stop after leaving Gergy would be Chalon-sur-Saône – a city (Population 45,000) that came highly recommended by many of our fellow bargees….

There is no escaping it – COVID is everywhere. More and more places in France are requiring people to wear masks – outdoors as well as indoors. While our visit to Chalon-sur-Sâone was before France’s nationwide lockdown, the streets were eerily quiet. Pretty – and pretty-much deserted. We spent our evenings on the aft-deck –…

We had hoped to head farther south – to Tournus – or maybe to Macon. We knew Lyon, even farther south, would have to wait until another year. As we plan to visit Avignon, Arles, the Canal du Midi, the Canal Latéral à la Garonne, Toulouse, and Bordeaux, we would have to pass through Lyon,…

France is now in a nationwide lockdown – and I couldn’t be happier. It began Oct. 30. Before it was implemented, the government tried a 9pm curfew. It didn’t work. Cases were skyrocketing – far worse than our European neighbours. Now, we must behave. We must stay at home. No visitors. If we leave home,…

I think we all need a bit of that about now. A few kilometres down the road from Auxonne is the town of Pesmes. (Pronounced Peme – as in ‘them.’) It’s a lovely town. I could show you the usual – typical charming homes. But as this chapter is titled ‘Levity,’ I thought I’d show…

One of the things our surveyor discovered back in March 2019 was a leak in or around the potable-water tank. There was always a pool of water on the roof of the tank. But where was it coming from – and what needed to be done to stop it? We paid experts to have a…

It has been non-stop work.  It has taken weeks – and it’s not quite over – to find and fix three water leaks in the garage in the bow.  That involved removing everything that was stored there.  Everything that can survive rain is piled on the aft-deck.   Everything that needs to be protected from…

With everything having been moved to the aft-deck and the wheelhouse, the garage had never looked so clean. But that meant it was time for the really hard work to begin. Much to the annoyance of many of our neighbours, the cabinets and garage flooring had to be piled on the pontoon. A big No-No….

We have found the leaks! At least we have found three – and hope there are no others. The biggest was the roof of the water tank – at the “inspection cover.” It was held in place with 22 bolts. Okay, I exaggerate. It was not held in place at all. The threads in the…

There was only one way to discover the other leaks. I got into the garage. Keeping my head as low as possible, Jeannie closed that massive steel door on top of me. It became pitch black. Fortunately, I do not suffer from claustrophobia. For someone who does, it would have been a frightening experience. Jeannie…

With the leaks fixed, I had to climb into the water tank, vacuum away all the tiny pieces of metal that fell when I was tapping new threads on the lip, wire-brush away rust, paint (Rust Converter, then primer, then rust-proof paint), then scrub clean the entire interior of the tank. It was the most…

With the leaks found (and maybe repaired), with the tank cleaned and painted, we could finally get life back to normal. First, fill the water tank so we’d have water for washing, cooking, and flushing the toilets. Next, we had to get our wheelhouse back. Little by little, things were moved to the garage.

What with the wheelhouse emptied and everything in its place in the garage, it was time to rest and relax. After all that hard labour, we deserved it. But it was not to be. The first night that things were back to ‘normal,’ a red warning light appeared on one of our electrical panels. We…

France has more than 8,000 kilometres of waterways – a series of connected rivers and canals. We could see a lot of France as we cruise on Aleau. But not all of it. Not even close. Plus there are the winters when we can’t cruise at all. What to do? We decided to buy a…

In Canada, Santa Claus is called, well, Santa Claus.  He travels in a sleigh pulled by nine reindeer.  It lands on rooftops and Santa slides down the chimney to fill stockings with gifts and in return enjoy some milk and cookies. In France, it’s a bit different.  Santa is called Père Noel – although there…

Jeannie and I had a lovely New Year’s Eve.  It was spent alone onboard Aleau.  Jeannie prepared round toast with foie gras topped with fig… …and then a delicious duck confit with yellow plums accompanied with butternut squash and sweet potato mash along with a crisp salad .  We sat on the couch, a lovely…

The year began as the previous year ended – with us cloistered in Aleau but able to take daytime walks and enjoy short drives to nearby towns.

We weren’t here for winter 2019-2020 so have no idea what it was like.  But we can report the first snow of winter 2020-2021 fell on Aleau on January 3, 2021. Most of it had melted by mid-morning when we thought to grab this shot. It wasn’t much but it was the first white stuff…

While Canada is divided into 10 provinces, France is divided into 96 departments. (See map at bottom of the page.) We live in Côte d’Or, #21. We border on Jura, #39 (where some of the photos you have seen have been taken). Both departments (and others in the area) are experiencing high levels of Covid…

OFII stands for “Office Français de l’Immigration et de l’Intégration.” It’s the government department that decides whether we are worthy of staying in France. Jeannie had a crack-of-dawn appointment in Dijon. I had already had my appointment so I went along so I could hunt for a parking place while she dealt with the bureaucracy….

No matter how many layers you’re wearing, you can’t escape the cold. The dampness ensures that it cuts through everything. This morning, we woke up to find the marina had turned to ice overnight – with a sprinkling of snow on top.

It was time to escape cabin (barge?) fever and visit another new-to-us French town. We opened up Google Maps and threw an imaginary dart to choose our destination. For the first time (other than trips to Dijon), we would be traveling farther than 20 kilometres from home. Orchamps (Population 1,086 ) is 25 kilometres from…

Once upon a time, I learned that “March Winds and April Showers Bring May Flowers.” In France, that verse should begin “February Floods…” As the new month began, the water began rising – flooding at least one street and some of our favourite walking routes. The major consequence in the Port de Plaisance is it…

Imagine my surprise to look out the wheelhouse window and see the sky had turned into one massive red cloud and watch the rain coming down as mud. Was it the apocalypse? Every boat in the marina was covered in it. As if washing all the grime that had accumulated on our barges over the…

In Chap. 88, I wrote about the high waters on the Saône and the flooding of the marina where Aleau is moored. I also pointed out that none of the boats was at risk as we are all moored to floating pontoons that rise and fall with the changing water levels. Being out on the…

We pay €20 each month for SIM cards. Jeannie has one in her phone. I have one in my phone. And one lives inside our router. (While most home routers are connected by wire to an internet service provider, that option does not exist on a boat. Fortunately, there are now routers that accept a…

It was just a week ago that the pipe from our water tank below the garage floor in the bow froze. Solid. We had no water until Ian, our saviour on Daisy, crawled into the tiny hole where the uninsulated pipe was and thawed it for us. It was another example of how willing everyone…

The wild side of the river, that is. Surrounded by lush vegetation, covered with a canopy of trees, and not another human in sight. Our only exercise, aside from eating, is walking. We try to find new routes as much as possible. Sometimes, as you have seen, that means driving to a new town and…

The chapter title, “Signs, Signs, Everywhere a Sign” is from a hit song from 1971. As Jeannie and I are Canadian, I should point out that “Signs” was written and performed by a Canadian group from Ottawa, The Five Man Electrical Band. This page is a mini-guide to the signs we see when cruising. Some…

CEVNI rules state that any vessel 20-metres or longer must be equipped with a Blue Board with a flashing white light.  In earlier days, this was a Blue Flag.  Being just eight-inches short of being legally required to have a blue board, I decided that courtesy and safety meant we should at least have a…

CEVNI rules state that any vessel 20-metres or longer must be equipped with AIS (Automatic Identification System).  Being just eight-inches short of being legally required to have AIS, I decided that courtesy and safety meant we should have one installed. AIS is a bit like radar.  Except it uses satellites and GPS to “see” other…

We awoke to a beautiful sunny day – and frost covering Aleau. Why was it possible to sit outside in a T-shirt and shorts in February (See Chap. 92) and consistently have overnight temperatures of below-zero in late March? But the chilly weather wasn’t going to stop us from taking a drive to Bèze (Population…

On our way to Bèze, we saw Easter displays in every town. The one in Poncey-les-Athée was a little out-of-the-ordinary. To entertain the children, the town put up carrots – big and small – and an assortment of Easter eggs. To entertain the adults, the town put up two bunny rabbits doing, well, what bunny…

It’s always beautiful to lookout over the marina on a sunny day. Sometimes, we see the unexpected. Today, it was a hot-air balloon getting ready to lift off. We were alerted to it by the roar of its propane burner. Directly across the Saône from our Port de Plaisance, it was close enough for us…

Back home in Montreal, take-out food had pretty much been limited to picking up the phone and ordering a pizza or a BBQ chicken. Of course, you could always pick up something yourself by going to a drive-through such as Burger King or McDonalds. Covid has changed that slightly. With dine-in eating banned, a few…

It is April 17th. We woke up to a heavy layer of frost covering Aleau. It has been like this every morning for weeks. By now, most bargees would normally be out on the pontoon sanding and painting – getting their barges “ship shape” for the summer cruising season. In warmer times, some of them…

If there is one thing that is sacrosanct in France, it is lunch hour. There is probably nothing else that is of greater importance.  In fact, it is illegal for a worker to eat lunch at his or her desk. Both the employee and the employer can be fined. Nobody messes with the French lunch…

We may have been accepted. Not by Harvard, nor Oxford, nor McGill. That would be easier. We may have been accepted by Arsenal. We don’t yet know for sure. Arsenal is the marina, the Port de Plaisance, in the heart of Paris. It sits at the foot of Place de la Bastille – the birthplace…

We could begin showing Paris to friends without even stepping off Aleau. At one end of Arsenal is a lock that leads onto the Seine… …and all the sights one can see from it. The Seine is beautiful – and busy. Full of commercial barges. For them, the Seine is a vital waterway. At the…

Aside from architecture and language (Quebec excluded), France doesn’t appear to be very different from Canada. It is. And that’s where visitors, especially from North America, get in trouble. Over time, I will try to add chapters pointing out differences that visitors should be aware of. In Chapter 100, I emphasized how important lunch hour…

France is the gastronomic capital of the world. Restaurants range from Michelin starred ones with more courses than I can count (too pricey for us) to truck stops on D roads that have no menu and you eat what is put in front of you (always both delicious and affordable). Navigating the dining-out experience in…

Little did we know when we bought Aleau that we might need her to be an ark. Pelting hail.  Blinding lightning.  Thunder that rocks Aleau.  And wind that is destroying the flowers that Jeannie just spent a fortune on. It has been raining just about every day for, well, my memory doesn’t go back that…

You’ve seen a few barges over the past 105 chapters. This one is a bit different. Even though it ends with an ‘S’, it’s singular. And doesn’t float. Barges is a town 45 kilometres from Auxonne. With a name like that, we had to go see it. It’s not big – 637 people call it…

Dining in is now allowed in France. Even though we’ve both had our two shots of Pfizer, we’re still being cautious. But we needed our restaurant “fix.” We chose an outdoor table. We had driven by Auberge du Paradis on our way from Auxonne to St. Jean-de-Losne many times. It was always closed. We crossed…

One week ago, restaurants in France were allowed to reopen. Of course, we took advantage of that – while being cautious and eating outside. (Chapter 107) Today, seven days later, we couldn’t resist – we had to eat out again. And again, outside. What a spectacular place we found to do just that. We went…

We’ve had guests.  Not onboard – but close.  It’s the first time this year that the cygnets have shown up in the Port de Plaisance.  And they came straight to Aleau.  Mum must have told them we had Corn Flakes.  Actually, we call them Swan Flakes and always have some in the wheelhouse. Corn Flakes…

I’ve never seen anything like it. And I’ve survived a lot of storms. Last night, Jeannie and I witnessed the most spectacular light show. It went on forever. It began long before I decided to take this video – and continued long after I stopped. The world outside Aleau would change from pitch black to…

By now, you have likely heard about the horrific flooding that hit parts of Europe. Germany suffered the worst – but parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland are also under water. France escaped without too much damage. Here in Auxonne, the rain was almost non-stop – and it came down hard. It was…

All that is left of the only path to dry land is a bicycle. It won’t be of much use. Pete, the Capitaine, has been using a motorboat to ferry people stranded on their boats. He has also been moving boats from affected pontoons to ours. Mooring them stern-in so he can squeeze more in….

We decided to drive to Gray – 40 kilometres north of us on the Saône. We stayed there two summers ago. Friends who are now back in Auxonne told us how they had to flee because of the rising waters. We wanted to see how bad it was. Since the Saône flows south, if it’s…

After that delicious lunch at our balcony table in Pesmes, we continued to Gray. We were shocked at what we found. While we have been there before, I didn’t take any pictures. So, the ‘Before’ photos are from Google Maps. The ‘Now’ photos are mine. I begin with the lock in Gray. The arrow on…

On Monday morning, there was nothing to be seen of the path that joins two pontoons to the mainland. As the photo below shows, both the sign that says ‘Peche Interdit’ and the vegetation along the bank were under water. Only the bicycle shows where dry land usually is. 24 hours later, the water level…

It is now exactly 24 hours since the photo at the top of the previous chapter was taken. I am amazed at what happened overnight. All that land is back. The ‘No Fishing’ sign (at least the back of it) is clearly visible. Although that bike may never be ridden again. It is as if…

Blanquart Yachting in St. Jean-de-Losne did an excellent job of repairing our Bimini. We can now have shade – just not right away. The bridges on the Canal de Bourgogne are far too low for us to travel with the Bimini up. We’ll wait until we’re in Dijon to put the canvas back on. At…

We’ve arrived! Our first ‘Port of Call’ of 2021. What with Covid and flooding on the Saône, Aleau couldn’t start doing what she was built to do until late July. A disappointment but compared to how others have suffered this year, we can’t complain. Now that we’re here, we can attach the canvas and raise…

While moored in Dijon, we met old friends and made new ones. From left to right: L’Escapade, Melba, and Aleau. Later, we were joined by Peary and Maria. (That’s Oscar on Maria’s aft – eyeing the ducks just out of reach.) We cast off at different times – but all headed in the same direction….

Our next overnight stop was in Gissey-sur-Ouche. (Remember, almost every town along the Ouche River ends with “…-sur-Ouche.”) It was a “wild mooring.” Unless otherwise posted, you are allowed to moor anywhere along the canals in France. Simply hammer in stakes and tie up. The only rules are ropes can’t cross the towpath or be…

We haven’t seen each other since Dijon. Today, in La Bussière-sur-Ouche, we met up with L’Escapade, Melba, and Peary. From left to right – Peary, L’Escapade, and Aleau. As a hotel barge was about to arrive and moor in front of Peary, there was no room for Melba. Hotel Barges take priority over every other…

In the previous chapter, I mentioned that hotel barges have priority. They get to go first in locks and must be given room to moor. We were told that, after the Dixieland jazz concert, L’Impressionniste would be mooring in front of Peary and we must make sure there is room. We paced out 40-metres –…

As you saw in Chapter 121, we (L’Escapade, Melba, Peary, and Aleau – along with the hotel barge L’Impressionniste) tied up in La Bussière-sur-Ouche – an idyllic spot to moor. The town has a population of 817 – large enough to have a boulangerie and a restaurant. Above, the boulangerie. Nice crumbly croissants for breakfast….

It was an armada as we all left La Bussière-sur-Ouche and headed towards Pont d’Ouche. First, Peary. Then L’Escapade and Melba. And then, us. The locks aren’t big enough to hold Melba and Aleau together. We had to wait as we watched Melba rise in the lock – and then wait some more as the…

The Ouche is a 90-kilometre long river that starts in Lusigny-sur-Ouche. It seems the name of just about every town along the Ouche ends in “…sur-Ouche.” We spent a night moored in Fleurey-sur-Ouche. We passed through Ste. Marie-sur-Ouche before spending the night at Gissey-sur-Ouche. The next day, we passed by Barbiery-sur-Ouche and St. Victor-sur-Ouche. After…

We have made it to our turn-around point – Vandenesse-en-Auxois. While the Canal de Bourgogne continues on for another 164 kilometres and 121 locks, we must stop here. We won’t make it through the Pouilly Tunnel. This will be the end of a lovely journey up the Burgundy Canal. Of course, we’ll have to retrace…

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 our way south from St. Jean-de-Losne, we spent a night in Seurre – and then moored in Chalon-sur-Saône. You may recall that during our last visit (Chapters 67-69), there was nowhere to moor for boats as long as Aleau. The marina wouldn’t accommodate anything longer than 15-metres. At 20-metres, there was no way we…

Finding a place to moor can be as difficult as finding a parking spot in a large city. St. Jean-de-Losne has a population of 1,057. Not very big – but as you can see, there are almost as many boats as people. A voyage from Chalon-sur-Saône to Auxonne would have been more than we could…

We had a hectic five-week visit back home. Although we’re not sure what to call home anymore. It was nice to see a bit of Canadian snow shortly after we arrived. Especially since we knew we wouldn’t have to put up with months of it. I confess, it did look pretty. Even driving was fine…

Shortly after arriving in Auxonne, we hopped in Peugey and drove to Strasbourg. (Population 285,000, Metropolitan Strasbourg 790,000) It is a beautiful and vibrant city. With an amazing history. It’s more than 2,000 years old. It has been part of either France or Germany four times within 73 years. All street signs are bilingual –…

After leaving Strasbourg, we headed to Colmar. Population 69,000. Entering town, it was New York that came to mind. It didn’t take long to realize, no, we’re still in Europe… …and Colmar is decked out for Christmas. Like Strasbourg, there are canals. Fittingly, they are smaller. If you were strong enough to brave the cold,…

2021 ended with France having record a record number of COVID cases – for days in a row. Unfortunately, that trend continued into the new year. While the vaccination rate in France is high – 90% – a combination of the highly contagious Omicron variant and the unvaccinated meant record numbers of new cases at…

It was a tough call. Omicron had us worried. Do we stay locked inside Aleau – or do we try to continue our lives while mitigating the risk as best we can? We’ve had our three shots. We wear the best masks we can find – even outdoors. Knowing that everyone else inside would also…

Cabin fever has set in. Even though we went to Beaune for lunch two weeks ago, we needed another break from the almost deserted pontoon in Auxonne. We decided to drive 100 km. south alongside the Saône to Tournus. We almost went there by barge two summers ago – but when a storm warning was…

Belfort was more beguiling when the sun was out. Unfortunately, that seemed to happen only when we were indoors. In this case, looking out our hotel room window towards the Citadel – overlooking the city from the top of the hill. To get to the Citadel, we had to walk through town. The buildings were…

We pay the VNF €580 (or about $825 Canadian) for a one-year ‘vignette’ that allows Aleau to travel throughout France. The VNF, Voies Navigables de France, is responsible for most of the more than 8,000 kilometres of inland waterways in France. That’s close to 100 canals – and 1,800 locks. All of which must be…

Aleau proudly displaying her name while moored in Chalon-sur-Saône. In Montreal, Jeannie and I live across the street from the Atwater Market.  In summer, it’s half-indoors and half-outdoors. In winter, glass walls are installed – and what was once an outdoor market, becomes an indoor market. In December, the parking lot becomes a giant Christmas…

French voters go to the polls on Sunday, April 10. Eleven candidates are vying for the top job. But no one will get it this weekend. To be declared the winner, a candidate must get more than 50 percent of the ballots cast. That won’t happen this weekend. Instead, the top two finishers will face…

Only in France do you see a bottle of wine in a bicycle’s water-bottle holder. Partly drunk. But then, it was only lunchtime. By evening, I’m sure the bottle will be empty.  

The title actually refers to the price of 12 new 2-volt MasterVolt 1,000 amp gel batteries. Of course, there was another shock when we had to pay for the removal of the old ones and the installation of the new ones. But yes, the 1,000 amps could have given us a shock, too. We were…

The batteries are in. We can finally begin our voyage to Paris. It means leaving Auxonne which has been our home since we bought Aleau in the spring of 2019. We made many friends. Since we all live on barges, we won’t be leaving them. They, too, will be cruising and we will bump into…

We left Auxonne on June 7, 2022 and headed south on the Saône to Chalon-sur-Saône. If you have read earlier chapters, you will know what a lovely city it is and how much we enjoy visiting. We moored at the recently constructed pontoon close to the heart of Chalon-sur-Saône and just a few minutes walk…

After spending a few days in Chalon-sur-Saône, we cast off on the morning of Monday, June 13, 2022. We turned off the Saône and onto the Canal du Centre, the first of four canals (and the Seine) that would take us to Paris. We found a lovely spot to moor for lunch in Fragnes-la-Loyère. It’s…

We moored in Rully for the night – well, as close to Rully as we could get. We watched a hotel barge ($1,000 Cdn per night per person) squeeze by and then began the 2.5 kilometre walk to the town and Restaurant Le Vendangerot. The walk must have made us very hungry – even after…

While it had been raining on our trip down the Saône to Chalon-sur-Saône, the sun has been with us everyday since. The Bimini provides much needed shade. Santenay is in the heart of wine country. A beautiful town with vineyards around it in all directions. And of course, there were superb restaurants to choose from….

Only eight kilometres and four locks from Santenay – we’d make it just in time for lunch. The restaurants seemed to be getting closer and closer to the edge of the canal. Maybe we’d have to swim to our table at the next one. At Le Marchand, still on dry land, we were shown the…

No bollards to make life easy tonight. I had to hammer stakes into ground that felt as hard as concrete. Maybe doing so burned off a few of those extra calories I’ve been packing on. To burn off even more calories, we took a long walk along the canal exploring the town of Écuisses. Some…

With a population of 17,000, Montceau-les-Mines is the largest city we’ve seen since leaving Chalon-sur-Saône (which has a population of 45,000). I’m not sure anything between the two could technically be called a city. Montceau-les-Mines reminds me of Amsterdam. The Canal du Centre passes through the heart of the city and has a number of…

We left Montceau-les-Mines and headed towards Palinges – 21 kilometres and eight locks away. It took five-and-a-half hours under a beautiful blue sky. We knew that Palinges had bollards for just one boat and hoped the spot would be available when we arrived. It was. With barely a cloud in the sky, imagine my surprise…

Paray-le-Monial is one of those towns that has you immediately saying, “Wow, how pretty.” The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus dominates the town. It is visible from just about every street. Since almost all roads lead to the basilica, that is where we went. It seems everybody else was going there, too. Although…

Our next stop was Digoin where we would moor for a few days. Not because of any special attractions – or even restaurants – but because of prior commitments. Aleau’s length meant we got a reserved spot right in front of the Capitainerie. The first thing I noticed in Digoin was all the fire engines….

The next day, as we pulled into a lock, the lock keeper informed us a deer had fallen into the canal behind us. He was going to try to rescue it – if we didn’t mind waiting. Of course, we didn’t. We looked behind us. At first we couldn’t see anything – then, a tiny…

We were waiting at the lock gates at 9am – eager to get underway. We wanted to get to Fleury-sur-Loire by noon. We were told there was a mooring with bollards, electricity, and a restaurant under a tent. It sounded perfect. It was. I don’t imagine there’s a restaurant anywhere that would have Aleau so…

After lunch under the tent, it was time to explore Fleury-sur-Loire. It didn’t take long. It’s a tiny town – population 225 and dropping. What it lacks in numbers, it makes up for in charm and creativity. Recycle. Reduce. Reuse. Fleury-sur-Loire certainly practices the last part. Used tires are reused to make all sorts of…

Nevers isn’t on the Canal Latéral à la Loire. Anyone wishing to see it has to leave the canal and take a three kilometre and two-lock detour along the dead-end Embranchement de Nevers. It ends in a large marina. Luckily for us, one that has no trouble accommodating large barges. While it was nice to…

While TripAdvisor lists 82 restaurants in Nevers, our Michelin Guide lists only one in the city – Jean-Michel Couron. We phoned and tried to book a table for dinner. “Complet.” Full. “What about tomorrow night?” “Complet.” We decided to stop. No sense going through the entire calendar and getting the same answer. Then, an offer…

I’m surprised at the number of bargees who’ve told me that, when cruising on the Canal Latéral à la Loire, they passed the turnoff to Nevers without a second thought about taking it. They had no idea such a lovely city was just a half-hour away. What a shame. The turnoff is clearly visible when…

We spent two weeks in Nevers. We hadn’t planned to be there that long. We were anxious to continue our journey to Paris. But we were waiting for a (relatively) nearby shipyard to tell us the part we had ordered had arrived. Finally, we got word. Aleau was cruising again. It wasn’t long before we…

The next morning, it was off to Beffes for lunch. We chose “À la Bonne Époque,” the nicest restaurant in town. (And the only restaurant in town.) We entered by the side door, the one facing the towpath. First, we had to pass through security. It was a charming place that had Jeannie looking very…

As the sign says, we are actually ‘below’ Sancerre. (It should say ‘way below.’) The good news is we are, once again, moored just a few seconds walk from a restaurant. It is a 4-kilometre climb (Jeannie and I are on foot.) to Sancerre. A very steep climb. We think of Peugey and how much…

Wednesday was my birthday. Jeannie planned on treating me to dinner at a nearby restaurant in Saint-Satur. Turns out, the restaurant is closed on Wednesdays. So it was a “birthday plus one day” dinner. “Le Bord de Loire” is 4-kilometres from where Aleau is moored in Ménétréol-sous-Sancerre. From the street, it doesn’t look too exciting….

It has been a challenging few weeks – both physically and mentally. The previous chapter describes our wait in Météréol-sous-Sancerre. The VNF informed us that the depth of water in the stretch in front of us was down to 0.7 metres. Aleau needs almost twice that. We were on our way to Paris – to…

Finally, a change in the weather. The temperature has dropped. The sky is overcast. But there’s still no sign of the much-needed rain. As with just about every town in France, the church dominates the skyline. We weren’t going in the church – we were going behind it. To the market. Just about everything you…

We were off to have dinner in Briare at L’Hydropathe. And no, even after eating, I’m not sure I know what Bistronomique means. Maybe the menu will help you decide. As soon as I saw “Crémant,” I knew what I was having to drink. Jeannie chose Caipirinha. Before even deciding what we were going to…

The pressure to push on to Paris is never-ending. And it sometimes gets a bit stressful. This morning, the Capitaine of the Briare port informed us that the VNF were going to be closing the two canals we still need to take – the Briare and the Canal du Loing. It seems that every time…

After two nights in Châtillon-Coligny, we woke up to this. (A screen-shot from my phone.) What a shock! My phone said the temperature outdoors was 12 degrees. I can’t remember the last time it was this cold. I had to put a sweatshirt on as we pulled away from our mooring. Of course, it wasn’t…

In Montargis, a large “commercial” passed by as we were moored. This morning, it passed by again. It is well-equipped. Among other features, it carries the family’s car along with a fenced-in area from when the children were younger. As the next lock was nearby, I decided to run ahead and grab a few photos….

The men and women of the VNF are wonderful. On a number of occasions, we have arrived at a lock to find the lights out. We at least want to see a red light. We know we’ll have to wait a bit for a green – but at least we know the lock is operating….

A few minutes after leaving Moret-sur-Loing, we had a choice. Left onto the Seine and a two-day trip to Paris. Or right onto the Seine and a two-hour trip to the Yonne River. We weren’t due in Paris until October 1 – more than a month away. We turned right. Life was different on the…

We moored right below the sign that welcomed us to Sens. It was a beautiful spot. Shortly after we arrived, we were pleased to see we had a new neighbour. Sens caters to bargees. The mooring, electricity, and water are all free. We spent a week exploring the delights the city has to offer. Starting…

Our first stop after leaving Sens was Villeneuve-sur-Yonne. Just 17 km, three locks, and three hours on the Yonne. Of course, those locks, too, had sloping sides. And we didn’t have C’est la Vie to raft against. Even so, this would be easy. The VNF had installed a floating pontoon inside the lock. We simply…

The Yonne is a river. It flows. Sometimes, very fast. It can flood. This morning, as we left Villeneuve-sur-Yonne, it was as smooth and shiny as a mirror. We had to rush. Because of work the VNF was doing, it had restricted use of one lock to 10am, 2pm, and 5pm. Arrive after 10 and…

Aleau looked a little forlorn at her mooring spot in Joigny. She was eager to cast off and continue her voyage to Auxerre. It would be as far as we would go before turning around and heading to Paris – our winter mooring beginning October first. In two days, we were tied up at the…

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…

By the time we finished our Pre-Cruise Checklist and cast off, the swans were awake and the morning mist was gone. It was going to be a beautiful day on the water. On the northern edge of Joigny, an arched bridge marks the beginning of a detour. North of here, the Yonne is too shallow…

This is our fourth summer on the waterways of France. By and large, traffic has not been something we’ve had to worry about. Yes, twice we had to pull over to make room for a hotel barge coming the other way on the Canal de Bourgogne. But the ‘éclusiers’ at the lock warned us well…

Earlier, I said our best meal in France was at La Madeleine in Sens. Now, let me say the best patisserie in France that we have found (so far) is Au Faubourg de l’Écluse in Moret-sur-Loing. Here is a sampling of what was on display. I did get the Tarte Myrtille (blueberries). Words cannot describe…

Bargees who have been to Paris before us have all told us to cruise along the Marne. And they all have given us the same directions – just before Paris, turn right at the Chinese restaurant. It had me wondering, how am I supposed to notice a Chinese restaurant on shore as we cruise along…

We made it! On October 1, one half-hour after passing the Chinese restaurant, we entered the lock that would take us to our mooring in the heart of Paris. Le Port de Plaisance de l’Arsenal will be our home until April. It was hard to see the entrance. It’s just to the left of the…

At the other end of Arsenal is a tunnel. It is the beginning of the Canal St. Martin. It passes under Place de la Bastille and continues under Paris streets for more than two kilometres. Who knew barging underground could be so beautiful? Throughout the tunnel, skylights let the sun shine down. Above the tunnel,…

Most of the tunnel follows Boulevard Richard-Lenoir – or is it the other way around? Starting at Place de la Bastille and continuing for many blocks, outdoor markets are held on top of the Canal St. Martin. Just about anything you would want for that night’s dinner is available. From roasted chestnuts… …to a Jeroboam…

Arriving from upstream and turning into the Arsenal lock on October 1, we still hadn’t seen the sights of Paris from the Seine. That’s pretty well everything downstream from our new home. It was time to do something about that. With Jeannie at the bow to warn me of any threats coming our way –…

Officially, it won’t arrive for another two weeks. Unofficially, it’s already here. Early morning temperatures have been around zero – or below. This morning, we awoke to see a dusting of snow coating the cobblestones of the port. Yesterday, the Capitainerie (the port office), sent us an e-mail saying they were shutting off the water…

One of the more frequent questions we get asked is “How did you end up doing this?” – or words to that effect. For me, it began in the summer of 1984. I went, along with a former girlfriend, for a three-month trip to Europe. (A mistake by CBC management allowed me to keep accumulating…

It was time to celebrate our first anniversary. Observant readers will know that Jeannie and I dated in 1967 when we were both 16 – ended up going our separate ways for 44 years – and reconnected in 2011. Last year, since it was the 10th anniversary of getting back together, we decided to mark…

I think we have the best mooring spot – not just at the Arsenal marina but likely at any marina anywhere. We have a magnificent view of Place de la Bastille – by day and by night – from both outside and inside. It’s not just the view. We are moored closer to the Seine…

As Groucho Marx points to a viaduct on a map, Chico responds by asking, “Why a duck?” If Chico had asked me why, I would have taken him here. To the Viaduc des Arts. A few minutes walk from where Aleau is moored, the Viaduc is what is left of an elevated rail line that…

Let’s be frank. Paris is known more for gourmet dining than fast food. Fast food does exist in Paris. In tourist areas, McDonalds and Burger King are ubiquitous. But they’re not for us. In New York City, a hot dog is called a frank. Having spent many of my childhood years in New York City,…

We brought in the New Year in Paris. A dream come true. But we’re only here until spring. Our mooring contract ends at the end of April. All we know now is we’ll start our cruising season on the Marne. We are told it’s lovely. We don’t know how far we’ll get as we plan…

In an earlier chapter, I said lunch in France is sacrosanct. It’s from noon to 2pm. Don’t even think of messing with it. Just as important to the French is retirement. Specifically at what age retirement begins. Here’s what happens if you suggest raising the age. Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, wants to raise…

In many parts of the world, “statue rubbing” is common. Rubbing part of a bronze statue is supposed to bring good luck. At Harvard University, rubbing the left shoe of John Harvard, one of the university’s founders, is supposed to improve one’s life. In Paris, statue rubbing is more intimate. At Place Dalida in the…

With so many restaurants in Paris, it was hard to choose. Fortunately, the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand came to the rescue. On the other side of the Seine (aka, la Rive Gauche), and a two-kilometre walk from Aleau, sits Baca’v. The name is a combination of ‘baca,’ the slang word in the Limousin region of…

It seems that almost every time we go for a walk, there is a “manif,” a “manifestation.” We know one is planned when we see police getting ready. They are there long before demonstrators begin arriving. They start by closing all streets in the vicinity of the planned route – turning them into parking lots…

In earlier chapters (Such as Chap.100), I have mentioned how important lunch-hour is in France. I used the word sacrosanct as it best describes the reverence with which the French respect lunch-hour. From noon to 2pm, virtually everything stops – even parking meters. (Large department stores stay open and the Métro continues to run –…

On May 8, we left Arsenal to begin our cruising for 2023. We headed downstream and had one last look at Paris from the Seine. Our last peek at this magnificent city until we return in October. Then it was time to make a U-Turn and head upstream. We got off the Seine and onto…

They say good things come in small packages. Mary-sur-Marne is certainly proof of that. The town is barely bigger than the tiny pontoon we moored against. Just a few metres from our wheelhouse stood two buildings. Each housed a truly wonderful restaurant. We arrived just in time to have lunch at the one on the…

We made a brief stop in La Ferté-sous-Jouarre. As usual, the Mairie was the most elaborate building in town. But what caught our eye was something we wouldn’t see in Canada – a butcher shop prominently and proudly advertising that it sold horse meat.

After passing on horse meat in La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, we barged on to Charly. Trying to see just how close to a restaurant we could get. Amazingly close. Just so you know, that red and white CEVNI sign at Aleau’s bow says “No Anchoring.” Mooring is allowed as long as we don’t drop our anchor. We…

Yet another example of just how close to a restaurant we were able to moor. The sign on the photo above says ‘Base Nautique’ and the sign in front of the restaurant says ‘La Capitainerie.’ Naturally, when I asked (in French) ‘Is this the Capitainerie,? I was told ‘yes.’ For boaters, Capitainerie means the marina…

As we cruised the Marne, we had to deal with sloping locks. Normally, locks have flat, vertical sides. We tie up to bollards at the top – and tighten or loosen our ropes as the lock fills or empties. Sloping locks are trickier. Going down, Aleau’s hull would scrape against the side as the lock…

We tied up in Dormans with a lovely view of the church – and to the sound of its bells which rang far too frequently. We were joined by Barberry – cruising from Northern Ireland to Turkey. Makes Aleau’s voyage look like a short walk in the park. There are two highly recommended restaurants in…

We passed by Cumieres without stopping. But one look at the fields, at the vineyards, told us we were now in Champagne country. Sculptures along the riverbank confirmed it.

Another 20 kilometres and three hours from Dormans is Damery. Since we usually get underway at 9am (The locks don’t open until 9.), we were feeling a bit peckish when we arrived just after noon. Luckily for us, directly across from our mooring was the Restaurant au Bateau Lavoir. As soon as our ropes were…

One of the joys of barging is making new friends and meeting old ones. After Damery, we pulled into Mareuil-sur-Aÿ – and found C.A.R.I.B III already there. It belongs to good friends from Florida. We had no idea they’d be there – but were thrilled to see their barge. Especially since there was nowhere to…

The dead engine-start batteries meant we couldn’t go as far as we had hoped on the Marne. We had to turn around and head to Auxerre. The Dutch Barge Association rally was scheduled to be held there July 14th. Going downstream, we would be stopping at many of the places we had visited on our…

I’ve mentioned how we seem to always arrive first at every restaurant we visit. In Chapter 195, I said there were two restaurants in Mary-sur-Marne and we would return to try the second. We did. And once again, we were there before anyone else. But it soon filled up. Were they following us? When we…

Coming upstream in mid-May, the port in Meaux was closed. The pontoons were in such bad shape it looked like they would never be used again. Exactly one month later, all had changed. We were able to squeeze in at the last remaining spot at the very end. Which gave us a chance to explore…

We’ve been to Moret-sur-Loing a few times. It remains as pretty as ever and is one of our favourite overnight stops. And has one of our favourite crêperies – where we can eat outdoors on a balcony.

We’ve now gone from the Marne, to the Seine, to the Yonne, as we make our way to the DBA Rally in Auxerre. Today, we passed Pont-sur-Yonne. Shouldn’t it really be called ‘Demi-Pont-sur-Yonne?’ The bridge was first built in the 9th Century. Rebuilt in the 1100s, 1300s, 1600s, 1700s, etc. It met its demise in…

As we headed south to the DBA Rally in Auxerre, we kept meeting other bargees who were also on their way to the rally. First, on the Marne. Then, on the Seine. And now, on the Yonne. Sometimes, it was a race to the next lock. We couldn’t all fit in. Those who didn’t make…

It was time to say good-bye to friends who had joined us at the DBA Rally. With so many, it took awhile to walk past them all and say “We’ll meet again.” It didn’t take long to ‘meet again.’ We’re always bumping into Lon and Pat – our friends from Florida. We were moored together…

After our brief stint on the Nivernais, we returned to Auxerre. As you would have seen in earlier chapters, it’s a beautiful city. But we had to leave. By train, not on Aleau. I had an appointment in Dole. We had been there many times. It’s less than a half-hour by car from Auxonne –…

I’ve already posted many photos of Auxerre but I’ll add two – just to jog your memory. Both from Aleau. One by day. One by night. We had already sampled a wonderful array of restaurants in Auxerre. But we couldn’t leave without trying just one more. Lunch at Restaurant Poivretsel. Yup, all one word. One…

It was late when we got to Villeneuve-sur-Yonne. And moored in our usual spot – just a few metres from one of our favourite restaurants. (Our list of favourite restaurants is beginning to get very long.) By the time we got to Auberge La Lucarne aux Chouettes, the sun was beginning to set. It lit…

Approaching Sens after an early-morning start from Villeneuve-sur-Yonne, a sight that triggered memories. That yellow umbrella is at La Madeleine. In the previous chapter, I said that Auberge La Lucarne aux Chouettes in Villeneuve-sur-Yonne is one of our favourite restaurants. True. But I think that La Madeleine in Sens is one of our favourite favourites….

Moret-sur-Loing is a boating hub. It sits on the Loing River immediately after the last lock on the Canal du Loing. It is a kilometre from the confluence of the Loing and the Seine. With the feeling of relief that comes with finishing the Canal du Lonig (ie. no more locks to deal with) and…

When we enter a ‘Freycinet’ lock, we have just a few centimetres of clearance on either side. Now that we’re on the Seine, the locks are monstrous. I thought I could hear the theme from the movie Jaws as we sat inside the lock. Rising from the depths behind us, the lock gate. Instead of…

To us, the Seine had always been a busy, commercial waterway. It was a way to get from Point A to Point B. Not a place to linger. And then we discovered Samois-sur-Seine. Tucked behind an island on the Seine and out of the path of those 185-metre long barges, it was the perfect place…

Samois-sur-Seine was a delight. While technically on the Seine, it is tucked on one side of an island – separating it from the busy traffic on the other side. Unfortunately, the island is small – and as soon as we left Samois-sur-Seine we were sharing the river and locks with barges much bigger than us….

We were back in Paris at the end of August as I had an appointment in Dijon. There wasn’t enough time to get there by barge – but the TGV would have us there in 90 minutes. Because it was a very busy time at Arsenal and because we’d only be there for a short…

Back from our short (and delicious) visit to Dijon, it was time to move on. We were headed downstream on the Seine. Once past the Statue of Liberty, all would be new. At least to us. We waved to the Lady as we passed – and said we’d be back in a month. We were…

Our next stop on the Oise was Pontoise – 6 km and one-hour upstream of Cergy. One of our shorter days. Little did we know we would soon have to pick up the pace. Pontoise is pretty. By day… And by night… As we were exploring the town, we stumbled across a restaurant that looked…

We cast off at 8am for the 14 kilometre voyage from Pontoise to Isle-l’Adam. The marina at Isle-l’Adam has its own lock and we wanted to get there before it closed for lunch. We didn’t want to be sitting in the middle of the Oise for two hours – fighting the current and trying to…

Eventually, the fog lifted. We could actually see Chrisya, the barge that had been guiding us through the fog. So long, I couldn’t get it all in one photo. We’re in a double lock. A good thing. We would not have been able to fit in with Chrisya. At the Isle-l’Adam lock, we and Chrisya…

After the strain Jeannie and I experienced navigating through the fog, we needed to unwind. Safely moored inside the marina at Isle-l’Adam, we took a few deep breaths and a few sips of beer (for Jeannie) and wine (for me) as we surveyed our home for two nights. Well, what was supposed to be two…

Fewer than 12,000 people live in Isle-l’Adam and the surrounding area. They get to choose from at least 40 restaurants. Some of them are hard to miss. For dinner, we chose a much more discrete, out of the way, place – a longer walk than we expected. But worth it. We didn’t even open ‘la…

The marina, Port de Plaisance Isle-l’Adam, is new. On Google Maps, it’s just a hole in the ground. The dirt path from the river to the water-filled basin is where the lock now is. That needle-like piece of land below and to the left of Isle-l’Adam separates the two big, parallel locks on the Oise…

The double red lights mean the lock is not in service. Not what we want to see. A single red means the lock is operational but is not ready for us. A simultaneous red and green means the lock is being readied – either being emptied of filled. A single green, what we want to…

We were trapped in Isle-l’Adam for a week. There are worse places to be stranded. But I think everyone in the marina wanted out. Finally – a green light. We could go. Pouring rain or not. Once inside the lock, one final test of our patience. Was it really fixed? There was one more red…

We made it to Compiegne. Barely. We needed to get there to buy fuel. There would be nowhere else to get it on our way back to Paris. And not even in Paris. If we didn’t get it in Compiegne, we’d have to go all the way to Nogent-sur-Marne. On the Marne, well past Paris,…

We got off to an early start. Filling our tanks and heading downstream – trying to make up for lost time. We sped by the marina at Isle-l’Adam. We couldn’t risk being trapped again. We noticed the double-red lights. Oh, no. Was the lock broken again? We didn’t bother to ask. After an overnight stop…

A double-lock. The green light is telling us to go left into the smaller lock. At 125-metres long, even after Aleau is in, there’ll still be more than 100-metres available for anyone else. We feel tiny. Yet when we get to Cergy, we’ll be too big for the marina. Fortunately for us, the pontoon on…

Yup. Once again. We cast off from Cergy in less than ideal conditions. But we were racing the clock. It was September 30th. We had to be in Paris on October 1st. We couldn’t let not being able to see slow us down. It is 81 kilometres by water from Cergy to Paris. Almost all…

30 kilometres to go. Our final voyage of the year. With plenty of sights to see on the way home. A houseboat that really looked like a house. As we travelled slowly on the water, we could see above us the contrails of jets moving much faster. Ahead of us, a few of the skyscrapers…

When we passed through the lock into Arsenal on October 1, I thought it would be the last lock for 2023. But I had forgotten that we had guests coming – fellow bargees staying with us as they returned to their homes in the U.S. and Australia for the winter. Well, our friends from Florida…

Lon and Pat joined us on our cruise on the Canal St. Martin as they were staying with us on Aleau before catching their flight home to Florida. They left their barge, C.A.R.I.B. III, in Auxerre for the winter. We last saw them at the DBA Rally there in July. The morning after the cruise,…

As nice as it was to see Paris from the Canal St. Martin, it was time to get off the water and continue exploring the city on foot. When we were walking along Rue Saint-Honoré, I saw an unusual building. Actually, I didn’t see it. Not at first. Tucked behind the Louvre was this five-story…

Time is going by so quickly. It seems like it was just a year ago that Jeannie and I celebrated our first anniversary. Now, we’re raising a glass of Champagne to mark our second anniversary. We chose a nearby restaurant – Le Singe à Paris. I’m going to blame the Champagne for forgetting to take…

In what seemed like a blink of an eye, we were getting ready for Christmas. No matter the time of year, Paris is a beautiful city. But at Christmas, it sparkles. Place Vendôme The street joining Place Vendôme and the Jardin des Tuilleries. The Jardin des Tuilleries. (No, that’s not the real one.) Rue de…

While walking in our neighbourhood, we passed by Le Temps de Cerises. While the exterior looked quite nice, it was what was hanging in the window that caught our eye. Le Temps de Cerises was serving dinner on Christmas Day. We didn’t think anything would be open that day, so we quickly made a reservation….

This will turn out to be an interesting (and likely, expensive) year. On March 18, we will leave Arsenal, pass through Belgium, and arrive in Maasbracht, Netherlands on April 30. We will be going to Tinnemans Shipyard. (See link below.) Much work needs to be done. A paint job. (Aleau is now 10 years old…

It was minus 4-degrees this morning in Paris. Tempting as it was to stay huddled together inside Aleau, we decided to go for a brisk walk – and a hot breakfast. We didn’t have far to go. Just about every restaurant we have been to in Paris has been a short walk from Aleau. We…

We have been to Le Singe à Paris (The Monkey in Paris) before. We went last December for our second-anniversary dinner. This time, we went for lunch with some new friends. Relatively new. We met Howard and Deb at the DBA Rally in Auxerre. (Chapter 209) We discovered we were both going to be spending…

More guests with whom to share a meal. Once again, fellow bargees. We cruised with Mark and Debra on the Canal de Bourgogne back in the summer of 2021. Melba is their home in France. Not just in France. Like us it is their full-time home – wherever they happen to be cruising. Debra, keeping…

On New Year’s Eve 2022, we had dinner at Jouvence. (See Chapter 188.) For Valentine’s Day 2024, we decided to go there for lunch. The photo was taken before it opened for the day. A short while later, those chairs were all taken. The Menu, as is typical in France, left us with only one…

Stating the obvious, we are dependent on water. Either too little or too much and we can’t go anywhere. Too little and Aleau would be stuck with her hull resting on the bottom of the canal. Too little had us stranded for more than a week on the Canal Latéral à la Loire. (See Chapters…

Another because, in Chapter 240, I recounted our breakfast at Bouillon Café de L’Industrie – a few short blocks from where we are moored in Paris. The restaurant with the cat that tried to steal Jeannie’s breakfast. At the bottom of the chapter, I pasted a paragraph from Wikipedia that gives a brief history of…

Luckily, the chapter title does not refer to us – but to a barge that was passing through Arsenal. It had crossed the English Channel and was on its way from London to Épernay – on the Marne. Where we are supposed to be now. Not quite a catastrophe for us but beginning to feel…

Because it has nothing to do with us. Neither Jeannie nor I contributed anything. Nor does it have anything to do with Aleau cruising the canals and rivers of France. But it does have to do with Paris – the city we have fallen in love with. After a 13-year hiatus, the Waiters Race returned….

We have become fans of Duck Confit. (Please don’t tell the ducks we see swimming in Arsenal every day.) In Paris, there are even restaurants that specialize in duck. We went to La Grange aux Canards with Ian and Lisette from Catharina Elisabeth. They introduced us to Duck Confit back in 2016. (See Chapter 184….

Unfortunately, not very far – and not in the right direction. Aleau has been moored at the far end (or the very beginning, depending on your point of view) of the Port de l’Arsenal – the marina in the heart of Paris. We are the last boat before the lock that leads onto the Seine….

Propulseur is the French word for thruster. A thruster is a propeller that is placed at right-angles in the hull and – when moving slowly – allows the boat to be moved sideways. We have one at the bow and one at the stern. Since they are underwater and suck water through a tube in…

It took a long time. We were scheduled to leave Paris on March 18. We’d have a leisurely cruise to the Netherlands. We’d be on rivers and canals we hadn’t seen before – stopping in interesting towns in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands as we progressed. But it was not to be. First, our burner…

When we left Compiegine, we were on new waterways, new to us at least. We were eager to see what they would bring. Our first discovery? It appeared nobody else was on them. Just after Compiegne, we turned right (east and upstream) off the Oise river and onto the Canal Latéral à l’Oise. It took…

We felt both tiny and out of place as we inched our way into Tinnemans Shipyard in Maasbracht, Netherlands.  We were surrounded by large, commercial barges.  Were we really in the right place? We continued forward – two commercials out of the water on our starboard side, two commercials rafted together on our port side…

Our new mooring spot was right at the end of the channel into Tinnemans Shipyard. Jeannie and I sat in the wheelhouse and watched as this behemoth – 110 metres long and with a beam of 12 metres negotiated the narrow opening (with no room for a straight-in approach) into the shipyard where we are…

Did I mention that the massive ship that looked like it was going to end up in our wheelhouse was a fuel tanker? And that another vessel had plowed into the side of it – making a gash right through the hull? The captain of the other boat left the wheelhouse to use the toilet….

Freed from the ‘floating solution,’ with her bottom blacked and new paint on top, Esme left Tinnemans. Now, it was our turn.  Aleau was gingerly released from her mooring spot. The raft was waiting for us – although it first needed to be filled with water  and sunk so we could float on top of…

The town of Maasbracht is, for the time being, our home and is home to about 6,000 other people. It is not to be confused with Maastricht, the much larger city 40 kilometres to the south. (See the latter part of Chapter 252.) The first written mention of Maasbracht dates back to 1265. How long…

This evening, we finally had a different view when we looked out of Aleau’s portholes. There are more than a few people who might say it was not the most scenic view, but for us, it was beautiful. It meant we were at long last back on the water. It was more than a month…

Soon after we left the dry dock and Aleau was once again where she belonged, we hoped to explore the Netherlands. Tinnemans was about to close for its annual one-month holiday. We fully agreed that their workers needed a break – and to be honest, so did we. We decided to start our tour of…