South to Verdun

We left Dinant on a lovely fine morning and headed south towards the French border at the town of Givet. The Meuse was beautiful with high cliffs and lovely castles such as Freyr below.

We arrived at the French border around lunch time and bought our 'vignette', the pass that enables you to cruise the french waterways. It costs 130 euros for a month. Then having done the formalities we headed on past the huge fortress that dominates Givet towards our first tunnel at Ham. It was blue skies and warm winds as we entered the tunnel which stretched for 1500m to cut off a huge loop of the Meuse. It was difficult steering in the pitch black with the roof of the tunnel only cms above us and not more than a metre on either side. Eventually we saw light at the end and emerged to our horror into an immense thunderstorm.

The sky was really dark; it was pouring with rain and there was a lock we had to get through which was a struggle in the heavy rain.  The storm had come from nowhere and on one side of the range of hills it was fine and on the other almost pitch black.  Then it started hailing with hailstones the size of golf balls. There was nowhere to stop; nowhere to go, so we throttled back and tried to see our way through the gloom and the lightning bolts. The windscreen wipers were going flat out until one of them packed up.  Eventually as we were approaching the next lock it started to ease.

In France at least until today, all the locks are automatic. We were issued on our arrival with a yellow box like a garage opener and we simply pushed the button when we were near a lock and the gates opened and closed and we went up as if by magic.

The weather remained fairly drizzly for a couple more days as we plodded up river through the best part of the River Meuse. High wooden cliffs towered above us as we motored through remote valleys where civilization only treaded lightly.

There were quite a few boats heading South into warmer climes but with the automatic locks progress was easy. We reached the end of the gorges at Charleville-Mezieres and tied up at a long pontoon and went for a walk around the town. It has what is reputed to be the best square in Northern Europe, the Place Ducal, and it was attractive but I would like to know whose opinion it was the ebst and show them some other squares.

After Charleville-Mezieres the weather turned absolutely gorgeous. Hot and Sunny up until now. The scenery changed as well. No more high cliffs, but a pleasant river valley with cows grazing on the banks and rolling hills in the distance. 

 
We stopped at Mouzon and visited an Abbey Cathedral which for such a small town was outstanding. Then on and on in the glorious weather and glorious scenery through Dun sur Meuse where dined on the deck that night.

Today we have arrived in Verdun passing lots of war cemeteries on the way to take the last place on the quay. Whew!!  It is a lovely quay right in the cenre of Verdun. It is FREE, and has FREE electricty and water and lots of restaurants just off the quay.  We plan to stay 3 nights as I have hurt my shoulder with all the locks and need rest and voltaren.  So far since we left North Holland we have done 732km and passed through 77 locks. We are now further South than Paris and a long way East of the Channel.  We have clocked up 80 engine hours. To Strasbourg where we leave France we have many 80 more locks to do and another 280 km. We will visit the citadelle at Verdun and some of the war memorials and old battle fields over the next few days, and report back next week when we will be (or should be) in Nancy.

Nous sommes en Belgique

On a cloudy day we left Maarsen and headed south towards the Rhine River (though it’s not called that in Holland as it breaks into 3 smaller rivers). We crossed over the Rhine (Lek River) and took the Merwede Canal to Gorinchem which is one of those very hard to pronounce Dutch words  (try Horrkum, and stand get everyone to stand well back if they don’t want to get wet).

The weather gradually improved and by the next day and up until day it has been lovely. 30C today in Dinant and a real day out of the box.  From Gorichem we crossed over another Rhine river and entered the Zuid Willamavaart Canal that would take us South to the very bottom of the Netherlands.  We were putting the foot down as we wanted to get to the Maas River (Meuse in Belgium and France) as quickly as possible and then slow down and relax.  A couple of days later we reached Masstricht, the southernmost city in the Netherlands. We had heard stories of exorbitant marina fees in the town basin and knew of a free mooring in the middle of the river. When we got there we  were luck to find the last mooring albeit near the rubbish bins and  decided to stay there two days as it was such a good position.  The next day we wandered through the town and wondered why the shops weren’t open and there were huge crowds of people. Then we saw a sign that the shops would open at 12 noon as it was  Ascension Day, which is a public holiday. There was a huge flea market in the main square.

Just as well we had stopped over as the locks were on a minimal service. There was a bunker boat in Masstricht so we filled up with diesel  (was 1 euro per litre = NZD2.25) and bought some gas, oil and stern grease and headed south on the beautiful River Meuse into Belgium. No fuss - we hardly knew we had crossed the border if we hadn’t spotted the tell tale French signs, as were in Wallonia which is only French speaking.

Onwards through the city of Liege where we didn’t stop as it is fairly industrial (third biggest port in Europe!!) and after a long day arrived at the quaint town of Huy and moored opposite a nuclear power station.

We biked into the town and wandered round the cobbled streets. It was good to be back in Belgium. We bought a fabulous apple tart from a patisserie, and fresh asparagus from a beautifully presented small shop. In Holland it is mainly supermarket shopping but in Belgium and France the small shop still abounds in the town centres.

Next day we cruised through some of the most beautiful scenery in Belgium with cliffs towering up from the banks of the Meuse.

We spotted numerous rock climbers on the near vertical cliffs as we motored towards Namur a major town in the area. Dominated by its citadel we stopped right below it and wandered around the town which was having its weekly market and then climbed up to the Citadel from where we could see for miles.  After that on a very hot afternoon I attacked the leaking raw water intake system which the boat yard were supposed to have fixed but which they didn’t  but still charged us for. I stripped it down and rebuilt it and to my surprise it seems 99% better. Still I will wait a few more days before claiming a prize. Wendy emptied the bilge which has been accumulating water from the drip and from a improperly connected shower tray. We went to bed very tired after a great meal of home made scotch eggs and salad washed down with a bottle of Burgundy or taken al fresco in the warm evening air.

Today we left early and cruised through more spectacular scenery.

 

There are lovely houses all along the river’s edge and we even saw a swimming pool made from an old barge.

6 locks and 20 kms took us 4.5 hours and we arrived in the gorgeous town of Dinant and tied up under its citadel. We wandered around the streets to choose a restaurant for the evening and took a cable car up to the citadel where we took part in a French/Flemish guided tour of the castle which didn’t mean a lot to us but was the only way to get access to most parts.

It really is a pretty place with its onion shaped tower on its cathedral and the imposing citadel behind. When we got back I opened up the stern greaser and filled that up as it was almost empty. Then in the 30C heat it was time for a cold beer on deck before a meal out at one of the myriad of bars and restaurants all along the waterfront.

Tomorrow we arrive in France.

Auckland to Holland via Hong Kong

After a flight made miserable by a whining grizzly pair of youngsters sitting in front of us, we arrived at 9pm in Hong Kong, where we were met and taken to our hotel - The CityView in Tau Mau Tei. We had a small but nice room on the 14th floor.

After a good sleep we decided to go over to Lantau Island and see the great Bronze Buddha on top of one of the hills there.  We walked down Nathan Rd, took the Star Ferry and then another ferry to Lantau Island and then a local bus to the Po Lin Monastery. A climb of some 400 steps got us to the base of the huge statue which is some 30m high. Lantau island is a delightful oasis in a crowded city with only 20,000 people on an island many times larger than Hong Kong Island.  We visited the monastery and had a vegetarian meal and retraced our steps back on public transport.   Buying an Octopus card made everything very easy. You can use it on the metro, buses, ferries and even for snacks. If you don't have one, it can be very difficult because all of the above only take exact fares and that can be pretty difficult to achieve. You can hand it back when you leave and get a credit for unused money that is on it. A great idea. It cost us just NZ$25 to get from our hotel to Po Lin and back. In the evening we went down to the harbour and watched the nightly laser show showing off all the impressive skyscrapers that adorn both sides of the harbour.

Our hotel is 3km or so from the harbour but since we had last visited 15 years or so ago, the area by the ferries has become very modern, very touristy and very expensive. The area where we were saying (near Mong Kok) has become the new shopping and market area so we were right in the middle of all the interest. A tube ride to the ferry at the bottom of Nathan Rd was done through a tube station right outside our door, costs $1 and takes 5 mins.

The weather has been goldilocks like all during our stay with no rain and just the omnipresence haze. Hong Kong is very expensive now. Forget electronics; you can buy things cheaper (much cheaper!) in NZ or the UK. Eating out is no cheaper than NZ unless you eat at the food stalls in the markets which we did a few times. It looks every bit like a modern western city with a few high rises thrown in for good measure. It has lost much of its former character, though no doubt its residents are happier with a better quality of life.

The next day we took tube and bus to the Stanley Markets on the other side of Hong Kong Island where we bought a few silk table runners. We bargained what we though was a good price of HKD40  (=NZD9) and then at another shop realised that we had paid too much as we got two more for just HKD50 for the two. Still :)
After we got back we went to the goldfish market, the ladies market and the bird market all just a short walk away. They were all very crowded as it was Sunday and also Mothers Day and every person and their mother was out promenading or eating. Wendy managed to bargain some silk dressing gowns down from HKD400 to HKD120 in the Ladies Market.

  The final day in Hong Kong was spent taking advantage of a free tour of HK island, courtesy of Cathay Pacific.  We did (not for the first time) Aberdeen Fishing Village by sampan, Repulse Bay and Victoria Peak before being taken back to our hotel. There were only 6 people on the tour and there are certainly not many European tourists here at present. At lunch at a huge Dim Sum restaurant we were the only white faces.

 

Our flight to Amsterdam left at midnight but luckily thanks to Cathay Pacific we had a late checkout of 6pm so we went down to the Temple St Night Market to fill in time before our airport transportation picked us just before 9pm. We wandered from stall to stall having a beer here, a chilli crab there, another beer here and a delicious plate of clams there.

  Then back to the hotel and off to Amsterdam on a full flight. We were met at the airport by our friend Petra who took us back to their place in Montfoort, 30 mins south of the airport. After a welcome shower we went out to visit a local castle, th biggest in Holland (Kasteel de Haar) and then after a lovely dinner hit the sack for a well earned sleep.

  Then the next day Petra and Nico very kindly took us up to Ossenzijl where Le Fabuleux was awaiting us. She seemed in good spirits and we spent the rest of the day spring cleaning and checking over the systems. We had a new shower base fitted (at extortionate price) and the engine seemed to purr in just the right way so we made the decision to leave next morning on our new adventure.

The day dawned sunny and bright and we cast off and headed down the canal to Steenwijk a two hour cruise away. We tied up in the town harbour and went to the local Aldi and C1000 supermarkets which are close enough to the harbour to wheel trolleys back to the boat. So we bought beer, wine, water and supplies and continued on our way until we got to the Ijsselmeer where instead of heading out into the open we turned inland into the area of water that the Dutch call the Randmeren or Ring Lakes. They lie between the new province of Flevoland (reclaimed in the 1920s from the Zuider Zee) and the mainland. Wide in places they are more like small seas and very popular in summer for sailing. We tied up at small free mooring area and watched some BBC TV on our new HD satellite receiver. Wow!

The weather deteriorated from then, and we cruised along the Randmeren in drizzle stopping at another lovely mooring spot on a island in the middle of one of the lakes. We were heading South on our way to Belgium and France and after leaving the Randmeren turned up the River Vecht, one of the most beautiful rivers in the Netherlands. The weather was fine again for a short while and we passed lovely aristocratic houses lining the river banks.

Today we are in Maarsen on the River Vecht awaiting the rain to lift before continuing South. The boat has been going well albeit several of the things the boat yard were meant to have done and paid to do were not done. Too late to go back now and complain. We won't stay there again as we will have a new base in Roermond in the far south of the country.

Le Fabuleux heads to the Blue Danube

This is a synopsis of our planned trip for 2009.

We leave Auckland on May 8th and spend 3 days in Hong Kong before flying onto Amsterdam. Then hopefully if there are no issues with the boat, we head south through Holland, Belgium and into Northern France where we follow the Meuse Valley to Toul, before heading East on the Canal Marne au Rhin to Strasbourg, where we meet the River Rhine.

Then its downstream on the Rhine, visiting the tributaries of the River Neckar which leads to Stuttgart, the River Main which will take us over the highest navigable point in Europe before we descend into the valley of the Danube.

We retrace our steps, and continue down the Rhine passing through the awesome Rhine Gorge before heading up the River Lahn near Koblenz. Then its downhill all the way to Holland, where we head up the River Maas to Roermond - our base for the winter.

We then set off from Roermond in a Renault lease car and take the slow roads to the Amalfi coast in Italy, where we are staying in a villa in Praiano for a week. Then we head further south and over the Straits of Messina to Sicily where we are staying in two villas, one near the
capital Palermo and the other on the eastern coast near Syracuse.

Our trip on Le Fabuleux is shown on the Google maps along side this blog entry. You can click on any map to enlarge it and see more or less detail. And if you want to track our progress, click on the link about Google Latitude and you can see where we are in 'real time'. We get
back to Auckland on October 15th.

The next blog will appear on May 18th and thereafter every Monday.