We have been madly trying to learn french and have decided we know the basics and hope that immersion will be the answer to improving. We have 10 weeks in France this trip to make the difference so it will be make or break.
After looking at the charts we mapped out where we thought we would go and became a little too enthusiastic about the distance we would cover.We have since realised that travelling up mountain areas takes a lot longer than it looks on the chart as there are numerous locks. One quickly learns that downstream is best but if you are going any distance and time in the centre of France there always seems to be a mountain range.
After surviving the plane ride which is a bit like having a baby, one forgets the trial soon after. Being stuck in one place for 17 hrs is no joke. We arrived with our baggage (all overweight, no payment thank goodness) and stayed in a hotel at the airport. Wednesday morning we picked up the hire car and drove to the freight yard trying to stay on the correct side of the road with me yelling at Kevin to move over. We lined up with all the giant lorries in our hire car to go into the freight yard with some very funny looks directed at us. Anyway after trying out some of our french we found a very nice lady at Schenkers (the freight company we sent our box over by) who arranged for our box to be taken out by forklift to our car. With much juggling we put 200kg of bicycle , BBQ, trolley, engel fridge, kevin’s tools , kitchen gear and bed linen into the car along with our luggage and drove off down the motor way to Dijon and then to St Jean de Losne.
We arrived in St Jean de Losne and it was with great excitement we got the keys of the boat.
Boy!!! Were we pleased when we saw it. We are sitting here drinking champagne and celebrating our bateaux extraordinaire. Courlis is perfect for us and all that we hoped it would be.
We spent a few days changing the oil and fuel filters and oil and connecting a new battery so we have one for the motor and one for the stereo, charging phones and computer, etc. We managed to talk out way thru to get a french pre paid sim card for our phones. We spent a day in Dijon getting other things we needed, it was like setting up house as the only thing on the boat was a kettle and the mattresses. Going shopping takes some time as you walk up and down the aisle trying to recognise something familiar and then it takes some time to translate the French to see if it is really what you want. I have already started to wash myself with what I thought was baby wipe type towel things and found they were for cleaning kitchen benches.
Everything is expensive here, food is the same amount in Euros as we pay in Dollars. Other things cost about three times as much, I paid 15 euros for the cheapest pillow I could find. However beer, wine, champagne and chocolate are very cheap so we manage. Our French is improving daily as we find something we need to buy and have to find out where to get it and what it is called.
The next few days we spent putting up the curtains( yes they all fit with a few hems to be taken up), attaching a flag pole for our Aussie flag, putting on more fenders so we don’t hit the lock walls, making sure the roof slides smoothly.
We are now on our way up the Doubs river. The weather is sometimes fine and then some rain. The temperature has been cold in the morning around 8 to 14 degrees in the morning and around 22 in the afternoon. It is light from 6am to 9.30pm.
The locks we are passing thru are automatic worked by a radar hand control pointed at a box on the bank this opens the lock gates and then we drive in.
then my job is to throw the rope over the bollards to hold the boat in to the wall while the water fills it up to get to the level at the other end. If I cant throw the rope high enough I have to climb the ladder to attach the rope. Very soon I am going to drive the boat so it is Kevin who has to climb the ladder.
Once in and tied up the blue rod is pushed up the lock gates close behind and the fill cycle starts.
We have just spent a few days in Dole, a lovely old historic town with a small canal system where Louis Pasteur was born. We were moored right in town and were entertained by the cathedral bells ringing every hour.
Another day and off we go, we spent a night moored alongside the canal then a few more locks and we are in Besancon, another fanatastic town with Roman history, plenty of 4th to 11th century churches and a fantastic Citadel fort up on the highest hill which took us half a day to walk up and look over it. The river makes a loop around the town and fort. We have learnt that travelling in May means 4 days of holidays and along with everthing closing for lunch between 12 and 2pm it takes some organisation if we want to shop.
After spending a pleasant day wandering around the citadelle yesterday today we looked around the other sights, like a huge clock built in 1858 with 30000 moving parts and 57 faces providing a lot of different information like time in different countries, calendars, time of tides, movement of planets and eclipses. Today is a holiday again but people are working and the wages are being given to the government to provide cooling for Old Seniors Homes as so many older people died in 2003 when they had the big heat wave and they weren’t equipped to handle the heat.
The next day we were going to leave when disaster struck. The starter motor wouldn’t work. Kevin pulled it to pieces and went off to find an auto electrician.(no mean feat in a strange French town but the yellow pages helped) After being directed from one place to another he came home very dejected. Another day of searching and we found that as it was burnt out and no parts available in Besancon we would have to search elsewhere. Up early next day and off we went to Dijon by train where we tried to find a rebobiner ( a rewinder for non French speakers) who was not sure if he could fix it, this didn’t eventuate and we were told we couldn’t buy another starter motor anywhere. Home to drown our sorrows and do the laundry. After another trip to Dijon we found an auto electrical supplier who managed to locate a starter motor in Denmark which should arrive in a couple of days.
Fortunately we are in S Paul's Marina right in town and a short bus ride to the station.
In between searching for starter motors we went sight seeing on our bikes and by bus to surrounding areas so all was not lost. We can tell anyone who comes to Besancon where to find what. I have also found out in our travels that one gets to know the town very well within a 40 minute radius of the automatique laverie (laundromat). Fortunately the internet shop is quite close to us and today we are going to the Orange phone provider as they keep sending us messages but they are all in French.
Great news today our starter motor arrived from Denmark and Kevin is getting ready to put it in. Hopefully we will be on our way this afternoon. We have been giving little Koalas to people who have helped us and have almost run out, Koala mania is taking hold so we have decided to go back to St Jean de Losne and head off in a different direction as we wont make the loop to Strasburg in time, we will do that next year.
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