Into the swing of things (20/05 – 28/05)

Melbourne – Auxonne

It was a routine flight on Singapore Airlines (SA), everything proceeded smoothly as it has in the past. Pretty much something to be endured rather than enjoyed in economy class but something we are now very well practiced in handling. SA handled Lisette’s inability to walk long distances and, again, her feet barely touched ground from Melbourne check-in to the taxi at Charles de Gaulle. It really speeds us through the check-in, scanning, passport and taxi queues – it will be a shock next year after Lisette’s second knee is upgraded and we don’t have the excuse for this favoured treatment.

Day 1

As we landed, I checked the train times for the two tickets to get us to Auxonne that I had booked five months ago. The trains had departed. The day before. Yes, I’d selected the wrong day. Most Aussies who’ve travelled frequently to Europe will have equivalent experiences. Lisette was very forgiving and by the time I was queueing for baggage I had rebooked equivalent fresh tickets for the same cost (just over €50) to get us to Auxonne 15 min earlier than we had originally planned. In the scheme of things, not a big disaster.

Two trains and less than two hours later, our fellow Victorian cruiser (and friends since we all had just dreams of owning a boat) Pete on Fairhaven picked us up at the station and drove us to the port where Catharina Elisabeth was moored bow to bow with Fairhaven, Pete and Deb’s barge.

Catharina appeared to be in excellent condition after eight months on her own.

It was about 2 pm and we set to getting the basics going. Lisette began unpacking and setting up the bedroom. Very kindly, Pete offered to take Lisette to the local supermarket for the first essential groceries. Lisette spotted a shelf of duck products, quickly identified the confit cans and secured four of them (Ian does like to empty the shelves when confit is discovered, leaving an obvious space for more cans to be stacked on the shelf, just helping the supermarket staff really.) So we are set for plenty of duck dinners with ten cans of four cuisses (marylands of duck legs) and eight of two cuisses that I found stored in the bilges over winter. Yum.

Meanwhile I started battery power, water and heating – all without incident. Working into the evening, I even managed to remove the tarp that covered the solar panels. We’ve started the season on battery, unconnected to shore power. We’ll see if we can make the entire season fully independent of shore supplies.

Our great friends from last year, Lon and Pat on C.A.R.I.B. III (Chill And Relax It’s Bargetime) were on the next pontoon. Lon’s bad luck was good fortune for us. Originally they would have been well away by the time we had arrived, but he had slipped, fallen on deck and cracked a rib. The rescue effort took dozens of men from all of the various emergency services and several hours to get him to an ambulance. Eventually they had to lift him overboard into a small boat and ferry him to shore. Fortunately, the injury will self-heal and some pain medication had him up and about. But this delayed their departure and very kindly, they added a couple of days of waiting so we could catch up again.

So, less that six hours since stepping on board Catharina, we were already socialising with other cruising folk, on another boat. A long chat over aperos we were then treated to a welcome meal of wholesome soup and bread, followed by strawberry shortcake.

We bid fond farewells (they head north, we south) as they were leaving next morning and then, tired but enthused by reconnecting with our cruising lifestyle, we dropped into bed.

Day 2

Next morning, we sadly bade Lon and Pat farewell, in rather depressing weather.

But it cleared rapidly and we both set about our respective jobs to get us fully settled in. Lisette worked inside unpacking more, moving clothes, food, wine, bedding and suitcases around to get some sense inside. Outside, I took down the second of the tarpaulins that wraps around the wheelhouse and replaced a water tap that had started dripping badly last season. Aperos this evening were onboard Fairhaven and lasted until quite late. We had a quick, small supper and tired but content had a fairly early night.

Day 3

The next day was more de-winterising, I managed to get the big tarpaulin off the top of the salon with Pete’s help and gave the decks a pressure wash to clean off the winter’s grime. That night, we slipped back into our ‘just us’ regime – beer and a few snacks under the bimini in the afternoon sun after the days events, home cooked dinner (duck breast, roast potatoes, green beans and Brussel sprouts) and then drank some wine while playing Gin. Score: one game each.

Day 4 – Bèze

Pete and Deb had asked if we would like to join them for lunch on Saturday. They had decided on a pretty little village some distance away, and Deb had found and booked a spot for lunch. A delightfully mild but sunny day saw us on a little road trip while Pete still had use of his hire car. Our route took us through pretty, green countryside, peppered with quaint villages sporting creamy stone houses topped with the ubiquitous terracotta tiles.

Lunch was in a shady terrace opposite across the road from the hotel/bar/restaurant.

It takes no time at all to feel comfortably nestled in the French al fresco eating, and we settled in like the old pros we are.

All the food and drinks had to be navigated across the road from the kitchen inside the building.

After lunch, we strolled around the pretty little village.

The church was open, so we made sure to check that out. Ian and I made our way around the church in opposite directions, (each secretly hoping to be the first to sight our favourite statue. As soon as we met up again, we both proclaimed “no Jeanne d’Arc” at the same time. It is our thing. The river Bèze flows through the village,

and the stone and half-timbered buildings were a treat for the eyes. I came across a gallery housing arts and crafts by local artists and Ian waited patiently while a number of small gifts were chosen. Several of the artists were hovering and peppered us with a few extra pieces, delighted to find a couple of Aussies in their shop.

Back at the boats, Ian hopped out and Pete took Deb and I to a local nursery to pick up soil and some plants to get my flower beds going. Not as much choice as I had hoped, and no marigolds yet, which Ian really likes. So we will have to expand our search. I really like to get the pots set up before we start cruising.

Day 5

A working day. Clean up, starting some painting and Ian started the main engine. The good old DAF yawned, stirred and chuntered into life – running beautifully. We also took off the old bimini cover that we use during winter preparatory to putting on the newer one for the cruising season.

One of the crucial features of our bimini is that it can be lowered. This is necessary so that we can make it through some of the low, narrow bridges on the Midi. One of these, the best known and probably the most challenging is the bridge at Capestang.

The dimensions of this bridge are just about at the limit for Catharina. A few years ago we had some of the red flange on the top of the wheelhouse removed to lower the front to just about 3.0 m. With a width of 2.75 m, we should have a few cm clearance for that aspect. However, the edges of the bimini are 3.8 m wide at that height and would hit the stone of the bridge. So, in 2018 Simon Evans and Mark also re-engineered our bimini to allow the vertical supports to pivot. This means we can uncouple the front of the bimini from the rear of the wheelhouse then push the frame back as it pivots down to rest on the stern railings. Now the 3.8 m width is less than 2 m off the water and will pass the bridge easily.

However, getting the bimini up again is difficult. While it’s not especially heavy, because of the pivoted supports it needs to be lifted up and forwards at the same time. I have to crouch under it to provide lift, but it also needs to be pulled forwards. This combination is proving to be more and more difficult for us as time and strength wane so we are looking for some mechanical assistance.

We offered to cook dinner for Pete and Deb, and a combination of confit duck and pork shoulder was roasted in the Weber, along with roast veggies. We then carried everything over to Fairhaven, who have a bit more indoor space for eating as it is still quite cool in the evenings and our wheelhouse is still full of gear. After dinner, Bob popped over from Electra, and Harold showed up. Harold is a German/Finnish all sorts of jobs man who lives with his wife a few kilometres up the Saône on their boat. He and I are working on an idea of some rope and pulley system that will just provide a bit of a tug forwards and upwards to get the bimini moving. Then I can set it in place with a final lift.

Day 6

Some working, shopping and socialising. G&T’s on Fairhaven. We did have an interesting conversation with a chap who was walking past our boat as we enjoyed our end-of-work day beers – Charles. It turns out that he was the founder of H2O, set up the company and organised the founding of the port de plaisance in St Jean de Losne. We asked him about our port, Port Royal, and it turns out, he built this also. In the early noughties, he was approached by the mayor of Auxonne and asked to set up a port for boats to enhance tourism in the town. After some to and fro, Charles offered the advice it would be a straightforward task to dig out a big pond and connect it to the River Saône. Again, after some hard bargaining about ownership, which Charles won, he set about digging out the port. It took something like 18,000 truck loads to cart away the soil but, over a period of about 5 months the port was completed. We’d have loved to have chatted more – the stories he could tell!

Day 7 ->

While we wait for some advice on how to proceed with the bimini raising assistance system (BRAS) we are getting organised for flowers, oiling the windows, cleaning the hull, collecting our 0nline goodies (sent from Amazon to nearby St Jean de Losne, the headquarters of the H2O) and getting prepared for one major painting job.

Auxonne

We haven’t spent much time describing the town in which we have spent three weeks last year and over a week this season so far. We will rectify this a bit here and in the next blog. Compare to Migennes this is a much nicer town. Larger, better provisioned and more interesting. Migennes was almost bombed out of existence in WWII while Auxonne was essentially unscathed so it has an ‘established’ French feel about it. Old buildings and so forth.

The centre of town is dominated by the Church of Notre-Dame which dates from the 13th century.

The outside gargoyles and statues are a feature

as it the ‘twisted’ spire. The latter is feature shared by a number of churches in the region and instead of vertical seams or circular construction of the spire, the structure is offset and spirals upwards. When you look at the spire from certain angles, it looks bent.

Inside, it is well maintained except for some chapels where the removal of some of the newer covering reveals some broken original ceiling decoration. Also, on some of the columns there are some ancient murals that have been revealed. One is a fresco of St Hubert on horseback with his dogs on a hunt for deer – which is just emerging from the bushes.

The statue of Jeanne d’Arc is nicely situated in a corner along with, as is quite common, commemoration of those who died in the Great War.

If you are keen, and Ian was, you can climb the bell tower. It costs €3 and two of the three people in the tourist office have to accompany you. So, ten or more times a day, they have to climb the tower. It must keep them fit – Ian was certainly huffing and puffing at the top.

169 steps and this gives a magnificent view of the town and the countryside. This view shows the River Saône and in a gap between the buildings (just under the water tower) you can see part of the port.

More about Auxerre later.

After a week of companionship, it was time for Deb and Pete on Fairhaven to leave – they are heading north having spent five years on the Midi/Garonne.

For our part, as we write this, we hope to start cruising south in a few days time, perhaps Tuesday 3rd of June.