Home Again

Finally we are home again - all of us. Here to celebrate the New Year and to recharge our batteries after a hectic couple of months in the UK.

It is good to be back and to relax in a relatively traffic-free, wine-fuelled nation. Life is simple once more and, instead of the motorway hum, our alarm call is the dawn chorus of hungry geese.

The boys are free range again and the goodwill of multi-national neighbours is abundant.

It feels good.

Lobelia goes to the party

H20 is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and we were delighted to be invited to the party weekend in September.
The occasion was marked with a parade of boats followed by a fabulous party in the Gare d'Eau.
Lobelia was bedecked with flags and bunting and looked splendid from the waterline up. (Her bottom needs cosmetic work - something I fully understand).
She joined the flotilla for a sail-past. Dan and Callum and their friend Clare dressed up as wolves and pirates and howled like dogs and staged mock battles on the deck. Other boaters returned the calls and the cacophony of boat horns, ship's bells and howling was unusual and rather unsettling for stowaway stray cat Tigra who paced frantically through our galley.

View from Lobelia's back cabin roof

Some of our neighbours' barges

Wolf Dan in full howl

Somebody is following us...

We returned Lobelia to her mooring and Tigra beat a hasty retreat to dry land.

Cycled back into town to the party at the Gare d'Eau which was excellent and filled with laughter, good wine and some hilarious performances from an alternative band.

The clarinet player in the tree receives a helping hand.

On the road

This summer the boys declared that they wanted to have a holiday away from the boat. And they wanted to go back to the South of France to play on the beaches and swim in the sea - just like they had done last year.
However, last year we went with the boat and travelled south down the River Saone and the mighty Rhone. We had moored for free in the South of France on the canal running parallel with the coast and had enjoyed the fun of the beach and the luxury of home comforts close by.
This year, rather reluctantly, we left Lobelia tied up and jumped in the car to motor south.
The Autoroute plays a coquettish game of hide and seek with the river and offers tantalising glimpses which made us crane our necks and hanker for our life afloat. But instead of relaxed and uncongested wide waterways we had to make do with fast-paced hell on the motorway.
We spent two weeks on a camp site and away from creature comforts like beds...
But our senses filled with the sights and sounds and flavours of the South of France. Ah, chilled honeyed Muscat - an excellent remedy for camping bad back (if taken in sensibly large quantities).

The best ever Pharmacy : Cave de Balta, Frontignan
Try their fabulous "Chant de Cigales"

And then we packed away our camp, threw it in the back of the car and motored seven hours back up the motorway with the windows closed and the air con on. It wasn't until we were off the motorway and twenty minutes away from the barge in Burgundy that we put a window down. The scent of fertile countryside and lush foliage was over-powering and made me gasp. The car had been a barrier to our sense of travel. It made us all realise the benefit of travelling at a snail's pace on the barge where we can appreciate the subtle differences in climate and aroma.

Lobelia and resident stray cat were waiting for us and both gave us a welcome home.

Island in the Saone

We had thoroughly enjoyed the privacy and tranquility of anchoring on the Saone and decided that we would do more of the same en route back to our permanent mooring at Saint Jean de Losne.
Set off from Chalons on yet another perfect sun filled day and motored off into an infinite avenue of green and blue.
Passing through Gergy we searched the riverbanks and skies for the resident colony of bee eater birds and got cameras at the ready...

and were lucky to capture this beauty.

Then motored on and found a secluded bay where we dropped anchor once again. The engine was barely stopped before the boys had jumped off the deck and into the water.

Olympic divers at the ready

The afternoon was so perfect for all of us that we decided to stay put for the night. Set up camp on deck and slept under the stars and woke up early in a magical misty world through which the commercial barges creep.

It was so good that we decided to stay another day, another night and finally tore ourselves away at midday on the third day.

Sunset Saone

Back out on the river at Chalons sur Saone and both Lobelia and her crew are happy once more. Walked into town to visit the Sunday fruit and veg market which was bustling and vibrant. Purchased a tasty selection of cheese, mushrooms, fruit and a rather stylish hat (for Dan).

Got back to the boat, created a delicious lunch with all but the hat, and then decided that we needed a swim in the river, so we cast off and motored a few km north of Chalons and found a peaceful spot in which to drop anchor. Spent a splendid afternoon playing in the cool waters of the River Saone.

Motored back to our derelict mooring which is strewn with the most beautiful selection of wild flowers.

The Guillotine

Callum and Shiv at the sharp end of the lock with a view of the Saone

A working holiday

The Canal du Centre's tight bends and awkward locks had taken their toll on our poor girl Lobelia. So when we reached the last lock prior to our return onto the River Saone we decided to spend a couple of days painting.
We have a continuous painting task and there is always a project on the go. However, in the space of a couple of days we managed to prep and paint her side decks and her pretty blue go faster stripe!

View down from Canal du Centre through lock to the Saone

Shiny decks!