North Eastern France

The weather continued glorious when we left Namur in Belgium and we slowly made our way up the River Meuse to one of the prettiest towns in Belgium – Dinant. It was warm and sunny with not a cloud in the sky as we motored past huge cliffs with rock climbers dotted on their faces.

 

We passed magnificent chateaux right on the river’s edge like the one at Freyr that is supposedly modelled on Versailles.

Then on Monday we crossed the border into France and the charm and the chateaux an the lovely country houses immediately ceased and we we chugged into a remote wilderness with the river carving a gorge through the Ardennes. There was the occasional cottage on the river, but for most of the time our own company were the wild animals in this beautiful part of France.

Then the troubles began… First we lost the good weather. Then the windscreen wipers stopped working. That proved to be a faulty connection and was soon fixed. Then the shower pump stopped working and that too was a loose connection. Then there was no where to stay on the first night so as one does we asked if we could tie up along side another boat. They agreed but early the next morning in the pouring rain knocked on our door and asked us to move as they had some friends coming who were to tie up next to them. So we moved on in the rain and then coming out of the lock at Charleville Mezieres the engine died.  Something similar had happened before in East Germany so I was pretty sure it was the primary fuel filter. I managed to coax the engine into life again and looked for a mooring but it was full as following all the rain the authorities had closed the river and no-one could move.  We spotted a barge flying a British Flag and they kindly let us tie up next to them.  Then I tried to change the oil filter but couldn’t turn it with my oil-filter wrench. It was on very tight. So we tried to get a local mechanic to help but no-one was interested in earning money. I mentioned it to th english guy on the barge and he offered to give it a try and five minutes later he had managed to loosen the filter and 10 mins later I had a new one in place and and that problem was fixed.

But then we noticed water in a part of the bilge we hadn’t seen it in before and a closer inspection revealed a small leak in our water tank base in a hard to get at position. It only leaks about a one litre per day but I have no idea how to fix it. Anyone with any suggestions of knowing someone with experience would be sure appreciated. I guess it is a small hole that we need to cover but with what I am not sure.

The next day the river conditions were lifted and we set sail up the Meuse again for a short way before we turned off on the magic Canal des Ardennes which winds its way through rolling hills and remote villages to join up with the valley of the Seine River.

The canal had been closed for two weeks for repairs and there were lots of boats trying to get through, 95% of which were Dutch. No French or Belgium boats just Dutch, UK, NZ and Swiss. We had a flight of  26 locks to get through. One lock after another. Leaving one lock prepared the next lock for us and so we went from lock to lock to lock until eventually after a long day we arrived at Attigny where we stopped for the night for a well earned G&T. The bridges were very low and it was a matter of millimetres at time as we scraped underneath them.

We had a stick at the front measured to the the height of the boat and used that to judge whether we would get through with out more lowering of canopies etc.

Today it has been drizzly but the forecast is for gradually improving weather as we turn off the Canal des Ardennes and make a change to our planned route by heading across to the Cathedral city of Reims and then down through Champagne country on the River Marne to Paris.

Until then au revoir from us we turn on the satellite tv and watch some good ole BBC programs.

In the Heart of Belgium

It was a frustrating week. Very frustrating. We had a leak in our engine water pump when we started the engine up after the long winter. The mechanic diagnosed it as a faulty seal so on Monday one was ordered. When it arrived the pump was reassembled and low and behold things were worse than before. So the mechanic thought about it and diagnosed another seal and when it arrived the pump was reinstalled. At idle there was no leak but at cruising speed it continued to leak. The mechanic thought about it some more and diagnosed a faulty drive shaft. Now hen to get one of those?  Fortunately the mechanic had a similar pump to our one at his home, but unfortunately the next day was Wednesday and the boatyard was closed. So Thursday arrived (6 days after arriving at the boatyard) and in came the pump. Rather than taking the drive shaft from it, the mechanic took the impellor and new seal from our one and out it onto his pump and the pump was duly installed again. This time it worked 100%.  So we lost no time and cast off to head South.

The previous 5 days had been quite wintry with a maximum of 13c and a cold North wind. The forecast was changing for sunny warm weather so off we headed through the deepest lock in Holland (12.5m or 40ft) and onto the Juliana canal.

The Juliana canal goes to Maastricht and is 100m wide, 5m deep and 50 km long. A motorway of canals. We arrived in Maastricht and tied up at our usual place in mid river by the old stone bridge. No facilities but free. After dinner we went for a walk through the old cobbled streets of the town. It was Thursday night late shopping and it was full of people sitting outside at cafes, shopping and just strolling. Maastricht is a very pretty town but having been held up for almost a week we couldn’t spare the time to stay another day. We did however goto the weekly market the next morning and bought some lovely freshly smoked mackerel and vegetables.  Then it was off to the third city of Belgium – Leige. A lovely old university city it too has lovely squares and a friendly ambience. We wandered around the streets until we were exhausted and headed back to the boat for a nice smoked mackerel fish pie.

The weather is sunny and warm and today we headed into the very picturesque part of the River Meuse to Namur.  All of this route an next weeks as well we covered last year so it may sound familiar to you.

We moored under the huge citadel that towers over the town and sat outside in the warm sunshine with a g&t watching the scenery and boats.  This week we head South into France on our way to Paris which will take another 20 days or so.

The Voyage Begins (or does it?)

We left Auckland on a wet Sunday afternoon on our Singapore Airlines flight arriving 10 hours later in a hot and humid Singapore where were met and taken to our hotel - Pan Pacific Orchard. The next morning we headed down to Orchard Rd and took in the shopping plazas and department stores like Tangs but only bought some trousers from Marks and Spencer. In the evening went to a nearby food court where the food was superb and oh so cheap. A three course meal for two cost NZ$20.

Each of the food shops specialises in a different dish like Yong Tau Foo. You select the the components of your meal from the items on display and they will cook it for you in any number of diiferent ways.

Then on Tuesday we caught the Singapore Airlines Stopover Bus to Sentosa Island for a look-see. There were not many people there (and in fact Singapore was very quiet with only a few tourists.) It was OK but too touristy. We spent most of the time at Fort Siloso where a few of the big guns that Singapore had during WWII remain. There were tunnels to excplore and excellent displays of life under Japanese occupation.

We dined out that night at Tony Romas with a great meal of baby-back ribs accompanied by a Singapore Sling.

On Wednesday after we checked out we went on a bus trip to Changi where we toured the Changi Museum and Chapel commemorating the imprisonment of soldiers and civilians during WWII. Then we continued to visit a modern Singporean town to learn how modern Singaporeans live before heading out to the airport for our night flight to Amsterdam.

At Amsterdam we were met by our lovely friend Petra who took us back to her house in South Holland. After a relaxing day, next morning Petra and her daughter Ellen drove us to the famous Koekenhof Tulip gardens.

It wasa lovely sunny day and the tulips were glorious in their park like setting. The park was due to close just two days later at the end of the tulip season so we were lucky to have such great weather (albeit a bit cold). The park was vey very busy but somehow the flowers managed to overpower the crowds.

Early the next day Nico drove us drown to Roermond where our boat had been wintering. With a new coat of antifouling it looked lovely in the sunshine. It was soon craned into the water and we were expecting to head off when we noticed that the water pump was on all the time. We couldn't find a loose hose anywhere and were beginning to get worried when Wendy had a look at the back of the boat and discovered that the engineer in winterising the boat had aleft the cockpit shower taps on. Problem solved. But... I noticed another leak from the engine and the mechanic said it was the engine cooling water pump bearing. Unfortunately it had to be ordered and that could not be done for another two days after the weekend. So we remain in Roermond awaiting a new pump bearing. But it has given us time to clean the boat and do lots of maintenance so it has not been a big problem for us. As soon as it is fixed we will head into Belgium and start our trip up the River Meuse and into France.