Unexcused Absences

Commissioning Après Ski after her eight week rest went easier than expected. Arriving in Migennes by train at about 5:30pm, we quickly unpacked the forward cabin (bikes, flags, flower pot holders, seat back, and other miscellaneous items), then our luggage, and were waiting in line at the delicious kebab stand in Migennes by 8. Monday morning I changed the fuel filter with help from Dominic, the LeBoat base manager, checked oil and coolant, and stowed our bags, and then we were off on our fall 2012 cruise by early afternoon. Thumbs up for buying a simple, smaller boat.

Joigny and Côte-St-Jacques vineyards

A quick two hour drive brought us to Joigny, a beautiful town on the Yonne river splayed below an amphitheater of grape vines. Readers might remember Joigny as the site of the ill-fated organ concert from a year ago, where the 300-year-old organ decided to choose the beginning of the concert to have one key stick “on”, making a lovely sound but substantially hindering the performance of the chosen music. This year’s visit was much less eventful, Heather made a chicken curry dinner and we made our best effort to stay awake past 8pm.

Joigny

Tuesday morning we enjoyed a leisurely walk through town, then pointed Après Ski north towards Villeneuve-sur-Yonne for lunch and then on to Sens for the night. Sens was a major power center 2000 years ago, it was the political and administrative capital of a Gaulish tribe called Les Sénons, but its influence has slowly declined to the point that it’s now just a sub-prefecture in the Yonne departement.

Villeneuve-sur-Yonne

One huge surprise, on rounding the river bend and sliding into port, was to see the stunning blue, white and black hull of Izula tied to the quai. Last we heard, Wendy and Roger were in Auxerre, and we were disappointed that our new routing to avoid the Nivernais Canal closure would mean we would not see them or Auxerre. And now here they were spending the night next to us in Sens! They were on a short cruise down the river to pick up some visitors from England, and planned to go only two more nights before turning around and returning to their mooring in Auxerre, so our timing was perfect. A “quick” happy hour on our boat turned into dinner turned into a slightly later evening than planned. But it certainly cured our jet lag!

"Izula" moored in Sens

"Izula" moored in Pont-sur-Yonne

We first met Izula in the Sardy Lock Staircase (16 locks all in a row) on the Nivernais Canal when we were chartering a boat southbound in 2009. We were about to stop for the night when their beautiful péniche came through the lock above us, headed north. They had been through a pretty rough day of travel — Izula is a handful to drive in the locks; she’s about 80 feet long and 90+ tons — and Wendy and Roger tied up for the night earlier than planned near us. We gathered a bottle of wine and some beer in a backpack and sauntered over to their boat, and offered a happy hour “delivery”. Roger was beat and begged off, but Wendy decided a quick drink would be good to revive the spirits, and she invited us on board. Apparently whatever we served did the trick, because soon they were both fully revived and enjoying the company. And happy hour turned into dinner, which turned into about midnight before we said goodbye. The mist had descended and the ambiance of the remote mooring was just spectacular.

Izula was built in 1928 in the Netherlands as a cargo barge, and got converted to a liveaboard in the mid 1990’s by a very particular owner, so when Wendy and Roger bought her in 2004, she was one gorgeous boat. They have continued to upgrade and care for her, so that at this point Izula is one of the best looking boats on the canals.

Amazing painting by Camille Bouchet

Sens is a great town to spend a day or two, there’s a nice walking district full of shops to explore, including one called Le Grenier de Grand-Mere (Grandma’s Attic), and a cathedral full of huge paintings from hundreds of years ago. One of the paintings at the cathedral caught my eye again this year; an artist named Camille Bouchet painted an amazing canvas in 1846 depicting a bishop about to get the chop from a faceless soldier.  The artist perfectly captures the human drama of the scene; the ultimate serenity on the Bishop’s face as he submits to his fate; the apprehension of the other soldiers as they have second thoughts about killing a man of the cloth; and the half-panic half-agressive look of the acolyte as he thrusts his cross towards the executioner. What’s most amazing to me is that there is no description of the painting or the artist at the church, and a further search on the internet shows no entry for Camille Bouchet, other than some posters of a peacock with a bottle of Cognac. In my humble opinion this is a stunning piece of art, and yet the artist, at least to Google, is basically unknown.

Pont-sur-Yonne

After Sens we continued north on the Yonne River to the town of Pont-sur-Yonne (Bridge on Yonne). And yes, the town has a major road bridge called Pont du Pont-sur-Yonne (Bridge of Bridge on Yonne). Everyone’s a comedian. There’s nothing particularly fantastic about P-s-Y, other than the town has a nice floating pontoon to tie to (no charge), and the second boulangerie (the one past the town square) makes a fantastic baguette. Not up to top-baguettes-in-France level, but very tasty indeed.

In P-s-Y we met up again with Izula, and Wendy and Roger invited us over for a BBQ dinner with their newly-arrived friends, Di and Richard. Roger is quite a gardener, and the on-deck dining area is surrounded by a gorgeous garden. We had a fantastic evening dining outside as the sky slowly darkened for the night. Turns out Di and Richard are of South African extraction (as is Wendy), and they were gracious enough to share some of their biltong (a dried and spicy meat specialty from their homeland), a delicious snack we discovered during our trip to Pretoria last winter.

Roger tends the BBQ onboard "Izula"

From Pont-sur-Yonne we made it to the Seine and then to the turnoff for Moret-sur-Loing in one seven hour stretch. The rivers are where our new prop makes a big difference; last year this same drive took us closer to nine hours (the river speed limits are 12km/hr, vs 8km/hr for canals). Our old prop could barely move us along at 8km/hr, and that was with a tailwind.

Cruising north on the Yonne, now with flowers

Moret-sur-Loing is my one of my favorite wife’s favorite places in France. The town is most well known for its most famous resident, the impressionist painter Alfred Sisley, but another Frenchman of some renown (Napoleon I) passed through and even spent the night. The port is one of the best we’ve encountered; the dock gets morning sun (to warm the boat), but by 2:30pm the area is under the deep shade of some huge trees lining the grass. The nearby path is also one of the main strolling areas for the town, so afternoons find the banks of the river packed with picnic-ers, walkers, joggers, and just-happy-to-sit-on-a-park-bench-ers. The captainerie houses a large shower facility with an unheard of 10 minute blast of hot water for your 2 euro token.

Moret-sur-Loing

The town is home to a spectacular boulangerie, Au Petit Petrin, which I am willing to declare makes the best baguette in France. We also got Heather a taste of Brittany, as her crêpe light was on low. And thanks to the suggestions of our Canadian boat neighbor on the cruiser “Pax 1”, we found both a delicious ice cream stand and a spectacular pizza place in town. A neighboring village held its big annual Vide Grenier (literally “drain the attic”, or garage sale) Saturday morning. And as if Moret-sur-Loing didn’t provide enough reason to visit, Saturday night the town launched a huge fireworks display out over the river!

Bigtime fireworks display in Moret-sur-Loing

This past week we’ve been cruising downstream on the Yonne and Seine Rivers. Starting next week we’ll turn south and begin climbing first the Loing Canal, and then the Briare Canal, on our way to the upper Loire valley.

Fall 2012 Week 1 Numbers:

• Kilometers: 100
• Locks: 18
• Engine Hours: 17
• Cost of Moorings: 28.60 euros

Fall 2012 Total Numbers:

• Kilometers: 100
• Locks: 18
• Engine Hours: 17
• Cost of Moorings: 28.60 euros

Fall 2012 - Week1 Route

Old-time lock mechanism in Migennes

Vines above Joigny

Weir on the Yonne River

The barge "Izula"

Big commercial barge with car and speedboat

Live-aboards

Home port of the big boys, Moret-sur-Loing

Feu d'Artifice (Fireworks)

Old water wheel

Heather enjoys the riverfront in Moret-sur-Loing

Moret-sur-Loing

At the vide grenier; the Electro Shock game (for adults only)?

Chain lock mechanism

Heather with the best baguette in France

Anti pigeon protection, great for churches

At the Sens waterfront

Books at the vide grenier

Front door on the Sens cathedral

Crêpe lunch at La Poterne