A Map of 2015

Not much excitement in this year's map as we did a bunch of back and forthing but here it is.

Map of 2015

The Real Final Days, August 2-5

Monday morning at 8:30 it was off on the TGV to Paris.  There’s nothing quite like sweeping past the French countryside in a wide, comfortable seat with ample leg room at about 250 k an hour. About 10 we arrived at Paris’ Gare de Lyon, took the RER subway two stops to the Gare du Nord and had a little bite to eat. 12:30 we were off on the Thalys, the high speed train to Amsterdam.  After stops in Lille, France, Brussels and Antwerp, Belgium, Rotterdam and Schipol Airport in Holland, we were back in Amsterdam’s Centraal Station about 3:45. After checking in at our hotel we wandered about the streets a bit, then settled in at a tapas restaurant just down the street for dinner.  Sardines a las plancha, a bunch of other tasty things and a good Spanish red.  Life is good!

We were staying at the same hotel we used when we were in Amsterdam to return the car; this time with a bigger room.  Last time we only had backpacks. Our giant suitcases wouldn’t fit in that room so we did a little upgrade.  Again, a great, newly renovated room and very helpful staff.  We highly recommend the Hotel Linden.

The only picture I took was at night.

This time our room was up at the top right out on the end.

The next morning it was off to the Rijksmuseum.  All of the times we’d been in Amsterdam in the past, the museum was about half closed in order to complete a massive renovation.  Last year they finally pulled down all the scaffolding and opened up the whole thing.  We bought our tickets online so we wouldn’t have to stand in the massive line and enjoyed a wonderful museum.

The big draw is Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch.”  By the time we got there, the crowds had gathered. Luckily its hung pretty high so it can be seen in a crowd but the pictures I took were of some other, smaller works not by Rembrandt.

"Six Wardens of the Drapers Guild" by Pieter Pietersz

"Sir Thomas Gresham" and "Anne Fernely" by Anthonis Mor

The Rijksmuseum gardens

More wandering about town in the late afternoon then a very filling ricetable dinner (an Indonesian speciality, rice with about a thousand (or maybe 10) little dishes to go on it. The goat satay was our favorite.) and our last day in Europe for this year was complete. Wednesday morning about 10 am KLM Airlines whisked us across the Atlantic from Amsterdam to Houston.  We’d spend a week visiting Cathy Jo’s parents and her brother (his birthday was Saturday) with a quick trip up to Dallas to see John and Patti Hardman then back home to Ventura.

Time to start planning for next year!

Last Days, Part 2, July 26-Aug. 2

It just took about an hour from our bankside spot to get into our slip at the Gare, but first we had a very important stop.  Oldtimer holds about 1600 liters of fuel and the Mighty Daf has to be fed.  After lightening our wallets with about 450 liters at the fuel dock on the river, it was back into the slip. Well, not entirely.  There was a boat in the way so we had to raft alongside another boat to wait for our spot to open. That wouldn’t happen until Tuesday morning.  Monday we took a quick train ride to Dijon to pick up another rental car and do a little shopping. Back by the afternoon, the laundry and cleanup cores were waiting.  Our flight was leaving from Amsterdam on Wednesday of the following week but we’d booked our Dijon/Amsterdam train tickets for Monday the 1st because we wanted to spend Tuesday in the city to the visit the Rijksmuseum.

By the end of the week we had a pretty good handle on the chores so we took a day Thursday

to drive around Burgundy visiting the village of Musigny and Nuit-Saint-Georges.
Friday, Cathy Jo had noticed some posters in town that announced live music at the waterfront.  After dinner we took a stroll into town to see what it was about.  We really enjoyed “The Ventura’s”, a 60’s surf rock band, a tribute to the Ventures. They even played “Miserlou”! Only in France!

Saturday we completed the winterizing chores, clearing the water out of the boats system so the pipes won’t freeze and burst, antifreezing the generator and drains, and packing away the clothes and linens we’re leaving behind. Sunday morning, after stalking the village-wide garage sale (vide grenier) in St. Jean (and buying nothing), all of the outside stuff (bicycles, umbrellas, deck chairs, flagpoles, etc.) went inside, the curtains were closed, the doors locked and we said goodbye to Oldtimer until next spring.

Last Days Part 1, July 19-25

H2O, the brokers who sold us the boat, have three marinas.  The Gare d’ Eau, where we have spent most of our time and Oldtimer would spend the winter, the “Old Lock,” a big disused river lock converted into mooring spaces for big boats, and a new one in Auxonne, about 20k up the Saone River from St. Jean de Losne.  It was dug out of a space just up the river from the town’s pontoons on the river and opened in 2011. Since we paid for a slip in the Gare for a year, we have reciprocal privileges in Auxonne. We could stick around for a few days to do a little touch up painting.  The pontoons in St. Jean are very short so it’s hard to get to the whole side of the boat. In Auxonne, we could lay alongside a dock and get to the whole boat side.  After a couple of days, we turned the boat around and touched up the other side.

Auxonne is a pretty quiet town, dominated by facilities reserved for the military contained in an old Vauban-designed fort and the Marie features the typical glazed tile Burgundian roof.

Wednesday when I went into town for the daily bread, I discovered that another famous American institution had come to France. Le Cascadeurs had come to town for a Monster Truck Rally!

They set up an enclosure with truck trailers and containers just up the road from the marina. Thursday the loudspeaker truck traveled around town followed by the above pictured vehicle; “Attention, attention!  Vendredi et Samedi, Le Monster Trucks!” Friday night there was about an hour and a half of engine revving, sirens and loud, enthusiastic loudspeaker announcements.

Saturday morning we were off down the river in the direction of St. Jean to another great bankside spot.  The temps had climbed again; not to 100 but still well into the 90’s and we needed some shade.  We weren’t going to stay long, however. The plane and train ride home was coming up soon and we were going to have to get the boat ready for winter.

Invasion of the Hireboats

There are a lot of rental boats on the river.  Several of the companies have bases in the general area, the locks are easy and far apart and it makes for very easy cruising.  But there are just so many places to tie up with services that the hireboats need more often than us; like water every couple of days if everyone is taking showers. 

Since the people on the hireboats only have the boat for a week (in most cases) and paid a couple thousand dollars for the privilege, they like to keep moving. They’ll tie up late in the afternoon for the night and stop somewhere for an hour or so for lunch before moving on.  We also think there must be nobody left in Switzerland because they’re all in France on rental boats.

Which brings us to Mantoche. We found what turned out to be the best spot on the 150 meter quay, at the very northern end. There were two other boats there so plenty of room. We had shade from a big willow tree starting at 2 pm and we were out of the way of most of the activity. We arrived about noon, had our lunch and set up our table and chairs in the shade of the tree.  Shortly thereafter, the fun began.

Mantoche has a free water tap. One. Shortly after lunch it was a beehive of activity with boats coming and going, some stopping for lunch and filling their tanks, others just stopping for water.  By 2pm the quay was full but for the spot right in the middle where a typical French fisherman had set up all his equipment (several long poles, a chair, bait bucket, etc.) in that one remaining spot. Arrives a Swiss guy in a cruiser.  Yells at the fisherman he needs the spot.  The fisherman yells back he has just as much right to the spot as the boat and he isn’t moving.  Boater yells back he’s coming in and starts to approach the spot.  Fisherman threatens him with a big stick.  Boater does two circles through the fisherman’s gear, trying to snag his lines or at least muddy up the water and steams off in disgust at high speed.  Fisherman resumes watching his bobbers despite the kids (and adults, us included) splashing in the water all around his gear. Kinda dumb place to fish.

By late afternoon we were the only ones left. By 7 or 8 pm it was full again, this time for the night.

Thursday was a much quieter day; no raging fisherman and about half as many boats. We bicycled to nearby Apremont for a look and then on to Velet where we found a boulangerie.  We must have looked a little warm as one of the other bakery patron said “bonne courage” as we climbed on the bikes for the trip back.

Friday we were off to see if we could snag the bankside spot we’d used between Auxonne and Gray on the way north.  Nobody was in it so we could.

Another shady bankside spot.

Saturday morning about 10 we were off again.  26 k, 4 hours and 2 locks later we arrived back at the Port Royal Marina.  With just about 2 weeks left of this summers adventure, we were going to have to start what chores needed to be completed before we left Oldtimer for the winter.

Bonne Fete National! July 13 and 14

We returned to Gray, all tied up by a little after noon.  Gray has three different places to tie up; the municipal marina above the lock (which costs, but not much) and below the lock on both sides of the river (free).  The east side has some power and water hookups and quite a few rings on the quay so it’s much more popular. On the west side, no services and many fewer rings but much more water depth.  That’s where we tied up this time. We made a quick trip toward town.  Arc le Gray, the town on the west side would be having their celebration on the 13th, music and entertainment (food and drink) at the stadium with fireworks about 11 pm.  Gray would have their fireworks on Sunday night. We’d have front row seats for them both.

Gray on the right, Arc le Gray on our side.

Where that truck is to the left of the bridge is the fireworks launch pad for Sunday.

After dinner we wandered over to the Arc le Gray stadium to join the crowd of a couple thousand people just in time to catch a couple musical acts on their big stage. The last one was this very French chanteuse called “Desireless.”  I think if you google her you’ll find some youtube videos.  Here's one. Verrrrry interesting!

The fireworks were great!  We sere sitting right under them as they exploded and it looked like they were shooting right down at us.  The show lasted about 20 minutes and was one of the best we’d seen.

Sunday we walked along the quay to check out the fireworks setup for Gray’s display.

That big speaker tower will be blasting music timed to the fireworks.

By 10:30 the quay was packed with people on both sides of the river.  Again we had front row seats.  We didn’t think the show was as good as Arc’s but it was still enjoyed by all.

Wednesday morning is was off, but not very far.  We were just heading about 14 k down the river to Mantoche.  We had liked the look of their quay when we were heading up the river.  It had trees and picnic tables in a grassy area.  We figured we’d stop for a couple of days.

Up the River, Back to Gray, July 10-13

After a quick trip to the supermarket we pushed off from the pier in Gray about 10:30 Friday morning.  We’d head up the river a ways, find a shady spot and hang out for a couple of days, then head back to Gray for France’s Fete National, Bastille Day, the 14th.

After about 20k , 3 locks and 3 1/2 hours, we were snug in the trees just a little way from the village of Autet.  The weather had moderated a bit; it was still into the 90’s F in the afternoon but the mornings were pleasant. Saturday we rode our bikes up the riverside bike path (Veloroute 50.  It starts in Chalone sur Saone and generally follows the Saone River. It ends at the Luxembourg border several hundred kilometers away.) to Ray-sur-Saone, about 18k away and a village we had visited in 2011.  When we visited before they had a half dozen very nice platforms into an arm of the river.  Half of them have now deteriorated beyond use. There were no boats there. It was sad.

Sunday we took a short ride to Dampierre, on the river Salon.  

The best thing about the spot we were tied up in, however, was the plage (beach) that had been set up just a five minute walk downriver. A nice beach was marked off for swimming, there was a camping and picnic area with tables and a buvette, a snack bar, that opened at 4 pm each day and featured live music on Friday nights.  Being a French snack bar, of course, they had fresh made waffles, beer, wine and other liquid refreshments, and an assortment of huge sandwiches that came with piles of frites.  We wandered over for the music Friday night and had our aperitifs there.  It was busy with families and a very pleasant spot.

Oldtimer in the trees

We also discovered a new use for life rings, normally used when people fall overboard…..wait, maybe this is falling overboard! 

Monday morning we shoved off.  We’d gone as far up the river as we would this year.  It was time to head back south and we wanted to be in Gray for the celebrations happening on the 13th and 14th.