Sancerre, August 1-3

 It was just a little over 27 k and 5 locks to our next potential stop, one of the wine capitals of the region, Sancerre. Actually, Sancerre is at the top of the hill so the mooring is in a village at it’s base, Ménétreol-sous Sancerre. It’s a difficult mooring with sloping sides so careful fendering is needed and there’s not room for many boats. Luckily there are no hotel barges operating this year that we’ve seen. Last time we were here we were kicked out by one.

We arrived kind of late in the day, after 4 o’clock, but there were no other boats so we had our pick of spots. A little later another hire boat joined us and the next day the tie up would be full. The boats are coming in waves this year, mostly we think because it’s almost all hireboats and they seem to be all on the same schedule.

As you can see, the village is surrounded by vineyards, mostly planted with the sauvignon blanc grape, although there is some pinot noir for the Sancerre Rouge. On the west side of the Loire the wine is labeled Sancerre while the Pouilly Fumé comes primarily from the east side of the river.

It was a sunny, cool day. No rain for a change so we hiked up the hill on a well marked path through the woods and vineyards to the village.

The village of Ménétreol with Sancerre up the hill.

This is the Sancerre terroir. More rocks than dirt.

Those vines have to struggle!

We didn’t need to buy anything in town as our wine locker was well stocked and it was quite a hike back to the boat. We just wandered about town doing the tourist thing and picked a pizza restaurant for lunch. We enjoyed a well-made pie and a quarter liter of the local red. We did have a chuckle at the “knife” they gave us to cut our shared pizza in half, though.

Tuesday morning it was off again, further up the Loire lateral canal. We had a couple stops we wanted to make before we reached the end of the Nivernais. The weather was not supposed to be great, scattered rain and continued cool so there wasn’t much off-the-boat sightseeing to do and we decided to just keep moving. Since we’d be back along here in a couple of weeks we didn’t need to get wet but we were making careful note of the stops we wanted to make on our return.

Departure Day, July 30

 It was time to go. It was going to be a busy day.

Friday is market day in Briare. Plus we had to visit the butcher and do other chores so we decided we’d leave after the 12-1 pm lunch closure. We would have to clear the three locks on the Briare branch canal to reach the Canal Lateral a la Loire, but from there it’s 17 k to the first lock and we wouldn’t be going that far. We would make our first overnight in one of our favorite haltes, the village of Beaulieu.

You may have read that beginning in early August, France is going to require proof of vaccination for COVID to enter bars, restaurants, cafes and other crowded public spaces. So far our CDC cards and State of California proof had been sufficient (we had to show it to visit Chateau Chaumont). The French have developed an app, Tous AntiCOVID, that will provide a QR code that shows proof of vaccination. Unfortunately, as we are not in the French health system, we were unable to get the QR code, even though we are both fully vaccinated. Luckily, one of our fellow American bargees, Tom Cason on Vivante, had read of a way to get Americans into the system and provided us with instruction, helpfully in French, to take to a pharmacy. They are the ones doing the vaccinations and providing the code. 

The first instruction (in the English part) was to try to visit the pharmacy when it wasn’t busy so they could be convinced to perform this magic. As we walked by after visiting the butcher we saw there was no one in the store so we thought we’d give it a try. No sooner had we handed the instruction to the pharmacist and his assistant, who were scratching their heads trying to figure it out, but three people came in the door. The pharmacist told us to come back in an hour. When we came back, we were handed the two pieces of paper with the QR codes and we were successful in entering the information into the AntiCOVID app. We were now officially fully vaccinated in the eyes of the French health system!

A small hiccup with the timing of the lunch closure on the branch canal delayed our departure but by 1:20 we were off. By about 5 o’clock we were tied up. This years adventure on the water was underway!

Beaulieu. This is from 2016 but it looks exactly the same.

A Chateau Visit, July 28

 We developed a plan (I know, I know). We were going to head out for about a months cruising on Friday so we decided to visit one of the Loire chateaus on Wednesday. Our choice was the Domaine of Chaumont-sur-Loire, known for it’s beautiful gardens and installed art.

Originally founded around the year 1000 by the Count of Blois, it ended up belonging to the d”Amboise family for about 500 years. In 1465, Louis XI burned it to the ground to punish Pierre I d”Amboise because he was involved in an aristocratic revolt against the king. But in the fickle ways of the French aristocracy, he soon returned to favor and the land was returned to him, beginning its rebirth.

In 1559, Catherine de Medici, now in control of the chateau, decided she wanted something different. That would be the chateau at Chenonceau (so far, our favorite), then controlled by Diane de Poitiers. In return for the expropriation, Catherine “gave” Diane Chaumont and Mme. Poitiers proceeded to complete several construction projects that had been languishing. Over the years, several families controlled the property until is was purchased by the heir to the Say sugar fortune, Marie-Charlotte-Constance Say in 1875. In the 1880’s, the landscape architect Henri Duchene began creating the grounds, which today are the main attraction.

The chateau had its ups and downs during Mme. Says ownership and was finally expropriated by the French state in 1937.

Every year the chateau sponsors the International Garden Festival. Designers from all over the world design small gardens to the years theme, this year “Biomimicry in the Garden.” There were some fascinating displays. You can read greater details of all the displays  and see pictures of all the individual gardens here. 

 

A cactus garden was one of the displays.

We liked this creative display of scoops in another.

One of the permanent features of the gardens is the “Misty Canyon.” A small valley below the main gardens, it features man-made mist and some unusually crafted sculptures, as well as a rustic wooden bridge.

The interior of the chateau is as you would expect, with squeaky parquet floors, lots of hanging tapestries and ornate furniture. In keeping with the art-centric features of the chateau, we did enjoy what they’d done with the chapel.

It was a 2 1/2 hour drive each way from Briare so we didn’t have time to visit the permanent gardens on the northern side of the property. Maybe another time.

In Briare

Since we have all the deferred maintenance to catch up on our cruising is going to be pretty limited, but it hasn’t exactly been all work and no play.

In 2016 when we visited Roanne, we met another American couple, Jim and Mary Neil aboard their barge Festina Tarde. One pleasant afternoon they introduced us to Pouilly Fumé, a sauvignon blanc wine produced on the east side of the Loire in the Sancerre region. Their favorite producer was a small one, Sebastian Treuillet, in the small village of Tracy-sur-Loire. When we were tied up in Sancerre that year we tried to cycle to the domaine but it was just too far and up too steep a hill, but we saved the information, assuming some day we would be able to make it. Since we have a car, this was that year. Our very helpful navigation system got us close and luckily there was a sign. A quick tasting and a chance to exercise our credit card resulted in a trip home with some delicious wine.

A few days later it was off the the caves of Bailly, home of the Cremant de Bourgogne, sparkling wine from Burgundy. We’ve been there three times by boat, twice in 2018. Again, we got to exercise the credit card.

And one of the pleasures of French towns is the weekly market. Briare’s is Friday mornings and we make it every week.

Just one of the many vegetable stands. There are others for

meat and cheese and always the roasted chickens.

You can also find shoes, clothes, handbags, mattresses

and just about anything else.

There are a number of English speakers in the port and there has been a pretty lively social scene. Not great for our livers but it does help pass the time! It’s mostly Brits and they are having to navigate the complication of Brexit. Since England is no longer part of the EU they can’t just pop back and forth like they did before. Without a visa they are limited to the 90 days in 180, just like us. Add to that the Covid complication with testing and quarantines and traveling becomes pretty difficult.

Meanwhile because of the recent surge in cases, the French government has decided to require vaccination to enter bars, cafes and other places that draw crowds. The day after President Macron announced the proposal there was a huge surge in appointments for vaccinations. You’re going to have a hard time keeping the French out of their beloved cafes! We have our card and the digital info from the State of California so we should be good.

While there may not be many European and American boats navigating the canals, the hireboat business seems to be booming, and the customers mainly seem to be French. There is a Locaboat base in the basin directly behind us and the boats have really been coming and going. The French are mad for ocean sailing but the inland waterways were, in their eyes, mostly for commerce, not pleasure. It seems the canals are being discovered, which is a good thing. Without commercial traffic, the smaller canals rely on government subsidies to keep operating and the more the French realize the wonder of their canals, the better the canal’s chances of survival.

One of the big Locaboats returning.

At 15 meters, it’s the biggest you can drive without a license.

The Briare Marina.

Oldtimer is at the bottom (yellow arrow) and the exit to the lock is at the top right, under the bridge.

The hireboat basin is through the channels behind us.

Meanwhile the rain we’ve been getting (luckily not as much as Belgium and Germany!) is keeping the town flowers in fine form. There have been a couple of warm days, but mostly the weather has been cool and partly cloudy.

The walk up to the main street in town from the Capitanarie.

We’re thinking maybe we’ll set off for our cruise this Friday or Saturday. We plan to get away for a month or so and just dawdle down the Canal Lateral a la Loire and maybe go a way up the Nivernais, navigations that we’ve traveled before. Wish us luck!

One Week In

It’s just been one week since we left Southern California and we think we’re finally settled in.

Almost two years worth of dirt and moss have been cleaned off Oldtimer, many spiders have been evicted from the inside, we celebrated my birthday with Sunday lunch at our favorite restaurant in Briare and, in contrast to 2018 and 2019, it’s been raining.

The flight from Los Angeles was blissfully uneventful. Angst over the possible corona virus restriction was unnecessary since we’re fully vaccinated. A look at our vaccine cards when we checked in for the flight was all that was required to escape both testing and quarantine requirements. There was no waiting at the check in counter and a very short wait to clear security. Sadly, the lounge was closed so we had to wait for our departure at the gate. The flight left a few minutes early and landed in Paris a little more than an hour early. CDG, usually packed, was eerily quiet. After we picked up our luggage, a phone call to the car lease agency brought the shuttle van to the terminal, we picked up the car and managed to find our way out of the airport without getting lost. The hour and a half drive to Briare went off without a hitch (well, aside from the traffic which was its usual Paris self) and the key worked in the door to the boat. We filled the water tank, visited the restaurant (not our favorite which is closed on Tuesday) just steps from the boat for dinner and collapsed in our bed.

Wednesday was shopping day in the morning and in the afternoon we began the monumental cleanup, removing. By Friday things were pretty much under control and we could relax a bit, tackling the long list of chores to be completed this summer.

A newly clean Oldtimer.

Yesterday, much to our surprise, the engine started without too much trouble and didn’t even smoke too much. The balky generator refused to start, however, so that will need some more work.

It’s been raining off and on since we arrived and was really pouring last night, putting a damper (sorry) on the festivities for the Fete National. They did manage to get the fireworks off, terrifying all the dogs in the Port, but we could only see the ones that went high in the air because the main venue was behind the trees at the back of the boat. We weren’t going out in the wet at 11 o’clock.

Speaking of rain, there are no worries about the state of the canals due to water this year. The Loire River is still in its banks but moving right along, quite a contrast with 2019 when sand banks were visible nearly out into the middle. The Trézée River that empties into the Loire through the Port, is flowing nicely, unlike the swamp that it was when we left in Sept. 2019. The reservoirs that feed the canals are all full so any cruising we do this year will be unhindered.

The Trézée enters the Port.

Last year is was barely moving.

The Loire from the Pont Canal in 2019

The Loire this year. More water!

We still haven’t decided where or how much boat traveling we’ll be doing this year but since we have a car for the whole three months, any time not cruising or working on the boat we’ll be able to do some touring.

People are gradually showing up to their boats in the Port so the social life is slowly returning. We’re glad to be back!

And We're Off! (We Hope)

 Back in late April Cathy Jo found some great airfares to France. There was word that the EU, desperate for the summer tourist season, was going to allow foreign visitors for the first time in over a year so we went ahead and pulled the trigger. The tickets, departing LA July 5 and returning Sept. 27, were fully changeable and refundable so we were protected. Still, it was a big step.
My treatments completed and followups showing me healthy, we were anxious to get back to Oldtimer.
June 9 came the announcement that France would indeed open to vaccinated foreigners, albeit with a negative COVID test right before departure. We were going to France!
Then even better news. On the 17th France dropped the testing requirement. All we would need would be our vaccine card and we’d be on the way to Briare!
As luck would have it, friends happened to be passing through Briare in mid June and sent us pictures of the barge. We were pleasantly surprised that it looked in pretty good shape considering it’s been almost two years since anybody was there to take care of it. We’ll have some major spider webs to clear and a little bit more of the mossy stuff to clean but the varnished door doesn’t seem to have totally lost it’s shine and all the paint we put on in 2019 seems to be intact. Still, everything looks better on the internet so we have our fingers crossed.

 It probably won’t be a very active cruising year. We have much deferred maintenance to catch up on and since we only have three months and we’ve already planned to keep the boat in Briare for another winter we won’t be able to get too far away. We’ve been informed by the French waterways authorities that there’s plenty of water in the canals this year so that should not effect travel.

We did find a program that allows non-EU resident to lease a car for a short term so we’ll have a car available all summer. That should allow us to do a little traveling away from the waterways.

So look for the first blog postings from France sometime in early July.
We hope you all have a safe and fun summer!

Stuck

By now the visas and plane tickets should have been in hand along with the health insurance for the EU and the cruising license for Oldtimer. The house should have been ready for it’s summer tenants and we should have been getting the giant suitcases out of the basement for their load of boat bits and the few pieces of clothing we haven’t left on the barge.

But…

When we returned from France last fall I went to the doctor for my usual yearly checkup. “What’s that lump on the side of your neck,” he said. “What lump,” I said. After ultrasounds, biopsies and scans I received a diagnosis of Stage 2 cancer in my throat that had spread to a couple of lymph nodes in my neck.

Seven weeks of chemotherapy and radiation began in late January and finished the first week in March. We spent the weekdays in Hollywood (Really. Near Sunset and Vermont). Since the radiation was a daily  5 minute treatment, our health insurance company, Kaiser, supplied us with an apartment for the duration. They have a whole apartment building within walking distance of the treatment center.

Luckily, the specialists on my “team” said since the cancer had not spread, the prognosis was good and, after the side effects of the treatment wore off I should be as good as new (well, maybe not new, since I am demographically a “senior”!).

Followups to the treatment were going to make it impossible for us to spend the usual 6 months on Oldtimer but we hoped to get over to France for a couple of months, maybe July to September.

Then the virus…

Now we’re wondering if we’ll get over there this year at all. 

The French government if being very strict about the “stay at home” stuff. You need to print out and fill in a form indicating your justification every time you leave the house and you’re not supposed to travel more that one km from home. All parks and gathering places are closed. The cafes and bars are closed for goodness sakes. No one knows when the restrictions, both in France and the US will be lifted so we wait with our fingers crossed.

(Update: As of Monday France is now officially closed to foreigners for the duration of the lockdown. A new form must be presented to the authorities before beginning your trip to the country and you basically have to be a resident to travel. Second homes (or boats) don’t qualify you for entry.)

On a happier note we did welcome a new member of the family over the winter. Audrey Noah was born to our son Cory and his partner Darwin on Jan 22. All are doing well. Our friend Carmen referred to her as a “sturdy” one.

On her birthday.

We have to be satisfied with Skype screenshots for now.

We’re not traveling to Portland anytime soon.

Making lemonade out of lemons, we will be around to enjoy the bounty of our yard and the summer harvest.

The full complement of kitchen herbs in the front.

The artichokes are just about to show their heads.

The back yard just got a full suite of tomatoes, beans, cucumbers and eggplants. Zucchini to follow. We’re also going to have the largest crop yet of avocados.

I’m not going to do a “shelter in place” coronavirus blog. I neglected to post anything about our trip to Brittany in September of last year so I’ll probably put together a couple of entries for that and, if anything exciting happens you’ll read it here first. If things mellow out we’re still hoping to get over to the barge at some point. 

Stay safe and keep that distance!!! Wear that mask!