Le Ferte sur Marne 6th July 2009

Monday night saw us at this small town which has a huge WWI memorial; it was a bit scary coming onto the town pontoon as it was shallow, behind an island with the channel marked out by a confusing array of buoy. Again we were provided with free moorings, water and electricity, Solent sailors eat your heart out.

Once tied up we set off on our bike to explore and again Kerry and Sue were tying up as we got back to the boat. As was becoming the norm we gathered on Cygnet for drinks before getting dinner. Tuesday morning saw us having a quick look around the village market before setting off again upstream perhaps stopping overnight at Chateau Thierry.

When we turned up a Chateau Thierry although there was space against the town quay when we tried to get alongside the keel touched bottom, had it have been mud we would have stayed buy it was hard and lumpy so we decided that we would have to move on to our next possible stopping place at Mezy-Moulin.

Just after the lock at Mezy-Moulin we found our overnight pontoon which we were very pleased with. It was isolated and very peaceful. Although no water or electricity it is near a beautiful hamlet with the most fantastic, large gothic church which dominates the river valley.

We had a very comfortable night after being inspected by the locals and found acceptable!

More boat life - Hats

It's been very hot on quite a few days and we have therefore had to resort to wearing hats. Luckily we have a fair selection on board, those of you who know Alison will realise that her motto is 'why have one when six will do' - it works for hats too.

Here are a few photos of our tete attire.

You can see that even our hot instruments are not left out.

But before you can wear them you have to find them

I know I had six somewhere!!

Langy 1st July then Meaux

We escaped Paris and diverted onto a new river – the Marne, more locks now but they are smaller – but still daunting. We also had our first tunnel - plus a lock at either end - of course.

We arrived at Langy which is a pretty town, the mooring was on a good pontoon although no electricity or water becuase the system had broken down Its still hot. A couple of local people

stopped by to chat and later we had a walk around the town, buying a baguette and ice cream before moving on the next day.

Meaux 2nd July to 5th July

We arrived at Meaux just after lunch having passed a couple of large motorboats just leaving, which was extremely lucky for us as that meant there was space for us on the town pontoons (with free electricity and water).

The area the pontoons are situated in is beutiful with a fantastic show of floweres.Once we were settled we went for a walk/bike ride into the town across the old market bridge and to the tourist office, it's still very hot, but the Aussies keep the beers coming!!

>As usual most of the other boats sharing the facilities were Dutch, Belgium or German, luckily most of the owners speak English and everyone is always ready for a chat, finding out where each are going too and coming from and generally sharing boating experiences. Interestingly many motorboat owners have been sailing boat owners who have now decided sailing is too much but still want to be on the water; its really interesting talking to them. The bikes are proving very useful and oddly a tourist attraction. The local French are facinated with the petit velos and we have had several offers to buy them - Alison sees a new job.

Throughtout July and August Meaux holds a historique spectacle on Saturday nights and some Fridays,so we booked to go on the Saturday then we had a wander round the old town and the ramparts. Its was a really hot day again so we decided to go into the cathedral which was not only magnificent but lovely and cool.

On Saturday Meaux has a big market for food products, clothes and house wares; there is a great variety of stalls so after getting our provisions and stowing them on board we wandered back into the town to look round the shops. As we arrived back at the boat the Cygnet with Kerry and Sue were arriving, luckily they too managed to get a mooring and after tying up Sue and Nerelle hurried up to the tourist office to also get some tickets for the show that evening.

About 10pm ish the Cygnet's crew and us walked up to the grounds of the cathedral where the show was to be preformed. It was obviously very popular because it was sold out. Anyway we took our seats not knowing what to expect but by the end of the show we were had been very thoroughly entertained and although all in French and having a little knowledge of the town's history it was easily understandable. Also as the show as set against old building including the cathedral it was very atmospheric. It was well worth the 16 euros each.

On Sunday the town had a Braderie and Brocante. It was the largest we'd ever seen and lasted 8 hours. We bought a fishing net for re-capturing those small items that seem to fall overboard now and again - usually Alison's hat!!

We decided to move on from Meaux and head towards Epernay, we weren't sure where we would stay the night on this part of the trip, although we thought we would try Chateau Thierry. Cygnet were also going too but they had to provision first so left later than us. We had a reasonable trip upstream although the locks are often a couple of metres high so tying up is becoming an art form.

Still in Paris

Sorry folks for having updated our blog for a few weeks, we have been enjoying ourselves so much we just haven't got around to doing it. We'll try and do better in the future!!

The weekend proved very entertaining because Paris had its gay pride parade a spectacle we enjoyed watching.

Jim had to pop back to UK for Monday and Tuesday (29th & 30th) which was unfortunate because he missed our French friends from La Souterraine, Sasha and Guy who had come up to Paris for a couple of days. But I (Alison) had a lovely time with them and of course got to practice my French..so sorry Sasha and Guy for murdering your language!! Also had I had a great time with our Australian neighbours Sue and Kerry who kindly provided dinner from their fab Australian BBQ (if it goes missing, it wasn't me honest!) and a evening walking down to St Germain and back. So on Jim's return on Wednesday we left Paris heading along the Marne and our first tunnel albeit a short one, but controlled by a lock either end.