Our trip in 2006 started in St Jean de Losne and ended 4 months later in Lagarde where we left Courlis for the winter and returned to Australia. We had a fabulous time with a 2 weeks spent visiting friends we have met on our previous trips. Strasbourg and the Alsace area was a highlight and anyone visiting France should include this area in their trip whether by canal or by road.
St Jean de Losne to Toul
We arrived late in the night after a long drive from Charles de Gaulle, Courlis was warm and dry with no smell after having left it for the winter in St Jean de Losne. Captain Bob, who lives here on his boat all winter gave us a photo of the boat with two feet of snow on the back of it so it was great that it was so dry.
To start with we drove down to Lyon and organised to pick up the freight out of customs on Friday. Driving on the wrong side of the road takes a lot of concentration, next time if we do any long trips in a car we will get a GPS.
Once we loaded up the car with the goodies we sent over it was back to St Jean. Then it was a busy time putting up the bimini ( to keep us shaded on the sunny days) and the rails around the bow (to stop Kevin falling off when we are negotiating putting the rope on in the locks) as I will be driving the boat. We plod along everyday doing something in between talking, eating and drinking. We know quite a few people from last year who are getting their boats ready to set off. The weather had been fine for the four days then it started to rain.
We went to visit Annie and Paul whom we met last year who are renovating a big barge, they gave us a lot of off cuts of marine ply and let Kevin use their machinery to make boxes so where we had two steps we now have three and it is easier on my knee to go up and down. The barge is looking great a lot of work has gone into it since we saw it last year.
Our electric bicycles go well and we zoom along when we go out to look about.We plod along everyday doing something in between talking, eating and drinking. The boat next to ours Tija is owned by a French couple, Josy and Jean Pierre who want to improve their english so we try our French with them and have a hilarious time.
The other day while having drinks and our language lesson a duck paddled past the boat, they started to show us the dance of the duck (canard) and were very surprised we knew it, then we had to explain we called it the birdie dance.
Taking french lessons with us are June and Michael Hill from New Zealand on Legend. They are going in the opposite direction to us so we will catch up late to hear their travel stories.
Sylvia and Deidre arrived safely from Amsterdam by train with only a little hiccup and some frantic phone calls at the last train change only 20 k from St J when they met one of the few unhelpful French men (this is when I need to learn more rude French expressions other than Merde).
After a great night at L'Amiral we set off next morning in the rain and this weather continued on for several days. Our first stop was Auxonne the famed town where Napolion Bonaparte started his career and Kevin had a ride in the fire engine last year. Needless to say he was made to stay in the boat while we went to town to see the sights.
The first night we parked along side the river and as the boat was coming in the steering stopped working and we ploughed into the bank. Thank goodness it was just grass and mud. Kevin fixed the wire which had fallen off and D &S decided not to abandon ship. We have been drinking some good Burgundy Reds and Rose with Kevin tasting all of the beers.
We left Burgundy and went into the department (state equivalent)of Haute Saone. We continued up the Saone River where the lock system was started by turning a pipe placed on a wire across the river. 
There were only a few locks which gave Sylvia and Deidre time to hone there skills at putting the ropes on in the locks. We then continued up the Saone and then into the Canal de Vosges which goes up the Vosge Mountain range. It has rained everyday and is quite cold as we are going up the mountain. 
We left the Saone at Corre and turned into the Canal de Vosges which goes up the Vosge Mountain range. It has rained everyday and is quite cold as we are going up the mountain. We stopped for 2 nights in a little town called Fontenoy Le Chateau where last year we met Marion and Roger, a Brisbane born schoolteacher who had married an English schoolteacher and retired here. We have kept in touch and they were waiting for us to arrive with a roast lamb dinner and a washer drier for our clothes. Marion migrated with her parents to Brisbane from near the same town in Holland that Sylvia migrated from as a child.
After leaving Fontenoy le Chateau we locked up the mountain so Deidre and Sylvia were very busy we went 28 kilometres through 35 locks and went up 130 metres.
We were in the department of Lorraine, it was still raining most days and we went mad when we saw sunshine. Even the Europeans are growling as it should be fine by now. The fishermen were still out in force no matter what the weather, it must be a huge industry supplying their needs. While we were locking in the rain it was suggested that a good drink to have that night would be a mulled wine. As we didn’t have any spices I had a 2L bottle of Sangria and warmed that up. It went down a treat and I have since replaced the bottle for the next time.
It was nearly time for Sylvia and Deidre to leave and we had to make it to a town with a train station. We got to Charmes and left Kevin there in the rain to do some jobs on the boat while we three went off to Paris where D & S were leaving for London then home. Charmes must be just in the right place for touring mobile homes, we counted 75 there alongside the canal the night we were there.
We arrived in Paris on Thursday late in the afternoon and made our way to Hotel Blanche in Montmartre. It was just a hundred metres from the Moulin Rouge so a great place to be. The area is also home to many restaurants and sex shops so also an interesting place to be. We were on the fourth floor and the lift was a 1 person + 1 suitcase or 2 person lift. We were told not to worry about the noise it was OK. Whenever we were ready to go out Deidre got extra exercise walking the stairs. Our triple room was fine but with horrible bolsters for pillows. We were right at the metro and the open bus tour stop. 
On Friday we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower. We were lucky in only having to queue for a little over an hour to get a lift ticket to the three floors.( If you come later than 9.30 it can take up to 3 hrs in a queue.) How ever there was more queueing at the 1st floor to get the next lift. The view was great as the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. The afternoon was spent at the Louvre but with crowds of people and not enough time. A visit to the Mona Lisa and a few other stops then it was time to head back to the Hotel for D and S to put on their finery as they were going to dinner at the Eiffel Tower a cruise on the Seine and a show at the Moulin Rouge. I stayed home and read as I am spending my money later going with Kevin.
Saturday and Sunday it was time on the open bus tour and taking in Notre Dame, St Germain de pres. At one time we were in a scottish pub in Paris served by a Swedish bar maid drinking guiness. Very international. In this cold weather our sight seeing is directed by the need to find a loo. We even went into a McDonalds as they had a clean loo but did not eat there. We managed to find some lovely steaks at Buffalo Grill our first steak since leaving home.(Poor Kev he missed out). Monday it was time for D & S to go to the airport for London and me to take the train back to Nancy and to Charmes.
On Tuesday Kevin and I headed back up the canal and joined the Moselle River. Most locks we have been in have been 3 metres, now we were into 7 metre locks about 20 metres wide and 150 metres long.
We spent the night on the river bank on a little mooring at a local restaurant. It served traditional French meals and was nice and warm. While there we started talking to a family at one of the tables as the waiter couldn’t speak english at all and we needed a bit of explanation for the dishes offered. The father spoke some English as he had spent a year in 1987 in San Francisco and was very happy to help. Kevin gave his little girl one of the Koalas we take out with us and she kept asking her father why we spoke english when we came from Australia and she also wanted him to ask about Australia. We had an Australian travel book on the boat and went to get it for her to look at. She was wowing all night and told her father he should take her to Australia. His wife also asked him questions to ask us. We had some very nice wine from the Alsace area and went to bed in the rain again.
The next morning we headed for Toul for a few days. Toul an historic city with the typical huge cathedral. The town is surrounded by a wall with water circulating around the moat, there are still 4 city gates with one which still has the draw bridge.
The marina, Port de France is just outside the walls This area has always been fought over, Toul, Nancy and Strasburg are in the department of Lorraine - Alsace on the French German border and have been either French or German towns at various times in history up to the last war.
Now June is here and it has turned to summer very quickly and we are warm at last and it’s nice to have a BBQ and spend some time out of the boat. Oliver met us in Toul and delivered my Glucosamine which I had left at home.
Soon it was time to leave for Nancy.
____________________________________________________________
