2000

Back to Calendar 2000

Clear sunny morning - cool but very pleasant.

Thought about going for picnic, then thought of boat jobs needing doing, so didn’t.

As far as the boat is concerned, the last 4 weeks at Roanne have been a dead loss - the weather has precluded our doing virtually any of the jobs that we should have done - Albert looks faintly unloved - let’s say "lived in".

However, to-day we were able to get stuck in, redesigned and re-installed new driver’s seat, installed French plug socket for new tel charger, ran engine and watched rev counter playing up, planted out "garden" and gossiped endlessly with locals taking their "feast day" promenades, emptied engine oil in preparation for new filter to-morrow - so on and so on. Muck bloody game - left water in "radiator till to-morrow.

Lovely clear sunny morning.

Got up really early in case mechanic caught us on the hop, and to make sure we got Redquest leaving for the summer (Gordon and Gwen, our favourite Yorkshire professional narrow boaters - built own boat on retirement.)

Saw them off OK, finished breakfast (S forgot to put salt in porridge).

Saw mechanics van along towing path - caught him, and encouraged him to do water pump first.

Took plate off front, to discover no water pump behind it. Our engine is cooled by have a dirty great flat tank of radiator water in side of boat in contact (through steel hull, of course) with canal water. Many engines draw water from the canal or sea, pump it through a heat exchanger in contact with the radiator water, which, of course, also cools it! Our engine is the former, so no impeller to wear out and change - have to admit this was my diagnosis so cannot blame anyone else.

Good laugh all round - French Mechanic had no English - and oil and fuel filters duly changed.

Paid him - call out rates, of course, filled up with oil, ran engine to get air bubbles out of system - quite bad this time.

Went across to le Coteau to get diesel from "Stoc" (S.M.) in jerricans, and deposit washing at launderette.

Quite hot, by now. It is interesting to note that although the weather has been pretty terrible for the past 5 weeks, and the surrounding hills are covered in snow, quite suddenly we are through spring into early summer. Most trees are very much out, the Horse Chestnuts are in full\leaf and flowering, the Wisteria is in full flower, and the heavily pollarded road and canalside trees are sprouting new replacement growth like it is going out of fashion.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that Y.D. was with us watching the first swallows feeding.

Now that we have decided to pull out on Friday, there seem to be 40 million jobs to be done, things to be bought, and panics to be survived. Rushed around all day - did lots - but don’t know what.

Heavy gusty wind arose in middle of night, causing our little Penichere from Canal de l’Est (Branch Sud) to revolve and flap his arms furiously, so waking us. Took him down - he needs a repaint, anyway.

Woke up at 0730 to calm, but again rising wind.

Went to lock to see Desio - Andre and Dymppha - off. Biggest crowd yet - they have been favourites, and prime movers in winter moorings. Had to share lock with G.W.W. Hirers somewhat bemused at attention.

Booked our locking out - 10.00 Friday.

Went off on bike to get money to pay electricity for April - £20.00! - other debts, etc. and confirmed mooring for next winter - we are paid up to Oct, anyway - but Roanne is getting more popular every year.

Wind getting up to real fierce hot nasty, precluding boat cleaning, and reducing us to quivering wrecks - really unpleasant.

S. to Dr for B.P. - way down! Good.

Hot windy lunch in battened down boat, then off on bikes up town for odds and ends.

Managed to get one side and ends of boat cleaned during lull in wind whilst it reversed direction.

Went to buy cheap paint - but paint shop "vanished". This proves that I am not the only one that gets lost.

Messy day that was meant to be cool calm and collected demonstration of experienced boaters getting ready for routine trip, but ended up with reasonable chaos.

Total calm, welcome, with thick heavy clouds overhanging.

Cleaned car, then a bit more boat.

Realised that everything cleaned - and indeed everything else - was quite filthy. All cars in streets (French seem to keep their cars well) covered in filth.

Turned out - so we are told by our neighbour - that the recent winds have brought great dust clouds from the Sahara, and these are they coming to earth. Certainly, the result is spectacularly filthy.

To Brico for undercoat, and amidst wave of mis-understanding - bought gloss top coat as all the paint is dual purpose, and undercoat, as such, doesn’t exist! Hope they are right.

S disappeared with car at 1400 to park at Viv & Claudine’s farm at Ambierle - they of they of the fondue.

Finally returned brought by Viv&Claudine at about 1700 (should take 20 mins out, and 20 mins back + 20 mins worth of stop-over.

Cleaned rain borne filth off boat some 4 times during her absence - but still as filthy as ever, as silly little light showers brought more dirt.

Drank rather nice bottle of white wine - Muscadet Sevre, 1998, Ffr 27 and gossiped for hours about everything.

Fry up supper and bed - feel thoroughly unready and disorganised although we are "off" to-morrow,

Weather has been thoroughly unhelpful!

Roanne to Iguerande.

WE’RE OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Up at an unbelievable 0715 - or at least that’s when we had coffee.

Rained pretty well all night so with luck some of the Sahara will have been washed off boat. Some hope.

Breakfast.

Still raining.

S dashed off to Dr and chemist to sort out mistake in prescription (on bike - car now at Ambierle.

Self to lock to warn L.K. we would be late - no one there so using immaculate French - phoned the guy. Think he understood. Then did lots of rope and fender and engine things preparatory to leaving.

Still pissing.

Up to Casino for 2 more bottles of last night’s white, and box of C.S. red - just in case we hit a drought.

S. returned at 0945 - very skilful to have managed by then.

Anna from Indifference Profond arrived to say "good-bye".

Did final rope things - checked lock through binoculars - it was ready.

Left jetty very professionally and went across Port to say "goodbye" to Aurora - no one there.

Discovered glasses missing - mad panic - circled back to jetty - glare of publicity "we are waiting to say goodbye to Albert ", "what are they doing?".

Mooring neighbour found glasses on ground - must have pushed them out of pocket when leaning over doing rope things.

"Greyhound of the Ocean" style of departure rather spoilt.

Actually got into lock at 1015 - pretty good for us. - Aurora and Indifference Profond saw us off through lock, pretty little German boat expressed happiness that we would be back in October!

Still raining. Sent e-mail, very quick and easy when it works. New set up seems good - tel automatically charges whilst being used as a modem, and so has max power available. (I think)

Very pleasant - if damp and cold run - to Brienon, where we stopped for lunch and lit the fire, and then to Iguerand, where we moored in usual place opposite "la Belle Mariniere" for night at about 1500.

Sat and snoozed over books in warmth till 1800, then let off on bikes through back country up behind moorings.

Country looks particularly well at present - spring/early summer, etc, even through the rain. All the greens seem particularly green.

Trip on bikes for about an hour - avoided worst of rain, but still bracketed with storms. Bikes are definitely an OK addition to set-up, in spite of a certain amount of totally unjustified rhubarbing about map reading - etc.

Must confess - French maps @ 1:1000000 and with metric far apart contours do give a different impression to countryside cross section from British Ordnance Survey 1:50,000, and much closer contours.

Bike trip included quite a bit of walking - but good for both body and soul.

Fridge ran out of electricity at 2100 - are batteries on their way out?

A bit worrying.

Iguerand to Bourg le Comte.

Woke to dense mist, but over the day this cleared to cloudy sunshine, and we were able to remove top 5 or 6 layers of clothing.

We have trouble over our electricity - the domestic batteries appear not to be holding their charge - so the fridge goes on the blink - quite literally - at bath time.

Perhaps the charger thing under the bed - part of the inverter - is a bit over enthusiastic, and cooked them during the winter.

We’ll see - meantime have to keep running engine at strange times.

Lunch - in chairs on bank and sun - at Artaix, a spot we have now visited 3 times, and slept over at twice - like it!

Great discussions over where to go and when.

Basically we are booked in to dry dock (pressure wash below waterline, and apply black tar) in the middle of May, but if we move it we could be there by the first week, so hurry is not part of the deal. Also we have been told that Mon 1 May is so public a holiday that nothing - including L.K.s - moves.

This turns out to be nonsense!

Made gentle way through 3 locks - including top lock of flight, where, as usual, had to go look for L.K.

Beat up his house, and in behind 2 grubby kids, out he came to inform me that he was no longer the L.K. but worked "on the route".

Met working L.K. down the flight fetching a G.W.W. up (bless the bikes again - there is something very undignified about a boater trudging up or down a flight of locks looking for the L.K., whereas a mounted seeker looks - especially if it is me - brisk and businesslike, and competent) and discovered other guy had been fired for keeping boats waiting too long!

This was our experience of him last year - along with a shrew of a wife with one of those corncrake voices the French do rather well - thankfully, we had not complained.

He was perfectly pleasant, and told us where to find the L.K. - but still rather awkward.

Discussion over where we would spend night. Then one of new fenders broke, so decided sooner the better.

Found nice spot very near first English Gas Cylinder Place of last year, turned boat to get right side to bankside and re-started fender war.

Lost, and took damn thing off till we get into dry dock, and can work upright.

Moved reasonably slowly - put chairs out and had evening drinks in sun - first time this year can’t be bad.

Bloody gas ran out during drinks - judgment for last year?

Heard frog starting up in long grass on far side of canal, turned out to be - we think - a woodpecker. Spent hours with glasses trying to find him/her - no avail.

Got bank statements from I.N. - no trouble at all.

Up with the lark for Sunday Breakfast - French larks do not know that the clocks have gone forward, so we all rose to-gether at 0930.

Printed out bank statements, whilst trying to find excuses for doing nothing.

S. to varnish loo/shower.

Lots of boat cleaning things - we had chosen a good spot yesterday with low bank, and almost enough water to float freely in.

Cleared roof, and scrubbed. Did right side, and front and back. Tried to sort junk we carry on top.

Tidied up flowers - they look good this year.

French couple - not much younger than us, but turned out to be - proudly - the father of yesterday’s L.K. - stopped to gossip.

We were well away from civilisation, but like the promenaders at Roanne they were both immaculate, complete with lipstick and jewellery.

Lunch on bank in cool sun and breeze - found Woodpeckers in holes in tree over far side of canal about 10 yards away.

Lot of fun watching - identified, probably erroneously, as Middle Spotted Woodpecker. Watched for a long time.

Pushed on after lunch to Bourg le Comte lock This is a very deep one - 15? 18? metres, and very large.

L.K. started letting water to fill it for us, whilst we waited on bank mooring. Boat suddenly developed 30+ degree list very quickly, sitting on the mud, whilst pound dropped dramatically.

Shouted at L.K. first word "vala", he didn’t understand. 2nd word "maak toe", he didn’t understand. 3rd word "ferme", he didn’t understand, but appreciated we wanted something. "what me?" and "where" seemed to be the answer.

Did pier head jump onto boat and rammed reverse. Nothing happened, except noise and spray.

Then she came off, principally - one suspects - because the pound had recovered from over-enthusiastic opening of lock inlet paddles. L.K. assured us - cheerfully - that another boat had had the same trouble last week. Once again we are reminded that French L.K.s are there only to wind handles and move gates - safety and boatmanship is up to the skipper.

Rev counter - upon which we depend for aprox speed - was stuck on 3500 afterwards. As we cannot rev over 3000, don’t believe it, but very troublesome. Everything seems to be breaking down.

Warm afternoon run - already looking at potential moorings, with a view as to the shade suitability.

Stopped just below first of last 2 locks that take us into the Canal Centre and Digoin, on spot we had stopped at last year for lunch. Better this year as canal is completely full, and we can almost get into the side and moor up properly.

As it is, we are usually about 2 feet out, with the boat at an awkward angle. But at lease she doesn’t hop about and rock, like she did in Roanne.

Drinks outside in sun, whilst complaining about filth on side of boat, not - as yet - cleaned.

Supper inside - not yet quite warm enough to sit out after 2000.

Heard cuckoo for first time. Were assured by Claudine that they had been calling by them for 2 weeks.